53 images Created 9 Jun 2013
The Children of the Sun (Bolivia and Peru)
In the high lands and Andean valleys of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, some 15 million Qhiswa and Aymara Indians live. Heirs of the upper Andean civilizations that once inhabited South America, for more than five centuries the Qhiswa and Aymara have survived a campaign of border subjugation in a massacre legitimized by the racist ideology of the dominating culture. Despite the social destructuring and acculturation processes they have suffered, these people have not lost their identity or their awareness.
The victory of Aymara Evo Morales in the elections held in Bolivia in 2006 made him the first indigenous President of an Andean country since colonial times. His purely pro-indigenous political platform is harshly protested by the elite, of white or mestizo origin, that has historically governed the country.
The Earth
Surviving in the puna, the high Andean plateau some 4,000 metres above sea level, is not an easy task. During the day, the puna is horribly hot because it is very close to the sky, but at night, the cold seeps into your bones. Intimately identified with the Earth through centuries of labour, the Qhiswa and Aymara worship the pachamama, or Mother Earth. The farming cycle establishes the ritual and festive calendar in these peasant communities.
The silver and tin mining
In 1985, the Bolivian government did away with state mining. Thousands of miners, who suddenly found themselves out of work, decided to rent the mines out to the State. And so arose a surrealist system of cooperatives where the members ferociously self-exploit themselves in order to extract some sliver or tin so they have something to live off of. In the mining cooperatives of Cerro Rico of Potosí or Llallagua, if no silver or tin are extracted, there are no wages. When a miner dies in a gallery – life expectancy is 48 years – his widow is granted the right to be a palliri. The palliri collect the rocks that the miners dispose of in order to recover the silver or tin remains they contain.
Bolivian coca
On the grounds of the San Antonio men's penitentiary in Cochabamba, 80% of the prison population is linked to drug trafficking crimes. Most of them are peasants accused of being pisacocas day labourers that work in clandestine cocaine paste extraction laboratories. An average of 350 inmates is crammed into just 1,200 m² of prison surface area. The 90 available cells are sold to the prisoners with the greatest acquisition power; the prices range from between 650 and 2,500 dollars, but most of them sleep on the ground.
The victory of Aymara Evo Morales in the elections held in Bolivia in 2006 made him the first indigenous President of an Andean country since colonial times. His purely pro-indigenous political platform is harshly protested by the elite, of white or mestizo origin, that has historically governed the country.
The Earth
Surviving in the puna, the high Andean plateau some 4,000 metres above sea level, is not an easy task. During the day, the puna is horribly hot because it is very close to the sky, but at night, the cold seeps into your bones. Intimately identified with the Earth through centuries of labour, the Qhiswa and Aymara worship the pachamama, or Mother Earth. The farming cycle establishes the ritual and festive calendar in these peasant communities.
The silver and tin mining
In 1985, the Bolivian government did away with state mining. Thousands of miners, who suddenly found themselves out of work, decided to rent the mines out to the State. And so arose a surrealist system of cooperatives where the members ferociously self-exploit themselves in order to extract some sliver or tin so they have something to live off of. In the mining cooperatives of Cerro Rico of Potosí or Llallagua, if no silver or tin are extracted, there are no wages. When a miner dies in a gallery – life expectancy is 48 years – his widow is granted the right to be a palliri. The palliri collect the rocks that the miners dispose of in order to recover the silver or tin remains they contain.
Bolivian coca
On the grounds of the San Antonio men's penitentiary in Cochabamba, 80% of the prison population is linked to drug trafficking crimes. Most of them are peasants accused of being pisacocas day labourers that work in clandestine cocaine paste extraction laboratories. An average of 350 inmates is crammed into just 1,200 m² of prison surface area. The 90 available cells are sold to the prisoners with the greatest acquisition power; the prices range from between 650 and 2,500 dollars, but most of them sleep on the ground.
