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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.
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  • Quechua peasant farming with the use of this “chaquitajlla” –an upright plouh used since pre-Colombian times. Willoq, Peru.
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  • Aymara peasant farming with the use of this “uysu” –an upright plouh used since pre-Colombian times. Bolivian Altiplano.
    bolivia_altiplano_012.jpg
  • Planting seed potatoes. Bolivian Altiplano.
    bolivia_altiplano_013.jpg
  • Planting seed potatoes. Bolivian Altiplano.
    bolivia_altiplano_014.jpg
  • Shearing their llamas. Jesús de Machaca, Bolivian Altiplano.
    bolivia_altiplano_015.jpg
  • Bolivian Altiplano.
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  • Pampallajta, Peru.
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  • Tintin, Bolivia.
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  • The typcial "chicha", an alcoholic beverage of South America, is made with corn derivatives. "Chicheria" in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
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  • Singani is a clear alcoholic spirit distilled from white muscatel grapes. It is produced only in the Bolivian Andes and is considered the national liquor of Bolivia and a cultural patrimony. Singani has been produced since the 16th Century shortly after the Spanish arrived in South America. Konko, Bolivian Altiplano.
    bolivia_altiplano_carnival_019.jpg
  • Konko, Bolivian Altiplano.
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  • Lying down by the "chicha". Cochabamba, Bolivia.
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  • This woman has tuberculosis while pregnant. Belen, Peru.
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  • The Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
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  • Silver miners in the Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
    bolivia_ miners_silver_023.jpg
  • The coca leaf is indispensable to the miner; it helps him fight off fatigue, hunger and thirst. Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
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  • Miners preparing the jackhammer in Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
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  • Extracting silver in Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
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  • Extracting silver in Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
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  • Co-operative workers in the Rosario mine in Cerro Rico have lost the seam. They have not extracted a single gram of silver in the last two months. Bolivia.
    bolivia_miners_silver_028.jpg
  • Offerings to the "tio": an anthropomorphic figure which represents the devil, lord and master of the mine, for whom the miners have an unwavering devotion. Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
    bolivia_miners_silver_029.jpg
  • Siglo XX tin mine. Llallagua, Bolivia.
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  • Most of the richest seams of tin are located in “kjoni” zones or hot spots. The teams known as “mandingas” (devils) consist of seven miners and owe their name to the fact that they have to endure temperatures of 40º at their work station. Siglo XX tin mine. Llallagua, Bolivia.
    bolivia_miners_tin_031.jpg
  • Working at 4500 metres of altitude and in extreme temperatures means that the “mandingas” have to “pijchear”-chew coca leaves- for an hour in a small gallery before going into the mine shaft. Siglo XX tin mine. Llallagua, Bolivia.
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  • To get to the seam they have to haul themselves through a tunnel barely 60 centimeters in diameter.  Siglo XX tin mine. Llallagua, Bolivia.
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  • The miners take turns in working on the seam, in pairs; there is no room for more in the tiny dug out of the depths of the earth. Siglo XX  tin mine. Llallagua, Bolivia.
    bolivia_miners_tin_034.jpg
  • As there is no ventilation system, the miners cannot endure more than 45 minutes working on the seam so they come out exhausted, soaked in sweat and covered in a fine layer of metallic dust which a few years later will solidify their lungs. Siglo XX  tin mine. Llallagua, Bolivia.
    bolivia_miners_tin_035.jpg
  • A "mandinga" resting after having completed his stint in the Siglo XX tin mine. Llallagua, Bolivia.
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  • Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
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  • Miner silicosis diseases. Llallagua's Hospital. Bolivia.
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  • Death of a miner who had worked for the last 30 years in the mine shaft. He had no right to a pension. The Cerro Rico miners’ encampment. Potosí, Bolivia.
    bolivia_miner_038.jpg
  • When a miner dies in a gallery 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. Cerro Rico of Potosí. Bolivia.
    bolivia_palliri_039.jpg
  • Doña Alejandra, 65 years old, is a "palliri" of Cerro Rico. Her arthritis is getting worse and will soon prevent her from working. Potosí, Bolivia.
    bolivia_palliri_040.jpg
  • Doña Alejandra, 65 years old, is a "palliri" of Cerro Rico. Her arthritis is getting worse and will soon prevent her from working. Potosí, Bolivia.
    bolivia_palliri_041.jpg
  • A "palliri" from Siglo XX mine at her house in Llallagua. Bolivia.
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  • "Palliri". The Cerro Rico miners’ encampment. Potosí, Bolivia.
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  • Martial law. Bolivia 1995.
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  • Martial law. Bolivia 1995.
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  • Man injured in serious confrontations with the police and the Bolivian army. El Alto, Bolivia 1995.
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  • The steep fall in the price of products such as coffee or cocoa on the international market for raw materials, is forcing millions of peasants to abandon traditional crops in favour of drugs, witch are much more lucrative. Chapare, Bolivia.
    bolivia_coca_047.jpg
  • The steep fall in the price of products such as coffee or cocoa on the international market for raw materials, is forcing millions of peasants to abandon traditional crops in favour of drugs, witch are much more lucrative. Chapare, Bolivia.
    bolivia_coca_048.jpg
  • The steep fall in the price of products such as coffee or cocoa on the international market for raw materials, is forcing millions of peasants to abandon traditional crops in favour of drugs, witch are much more lucrative. Chapare, Bolivia.
    TOMAS 02-2.jpg
  • Peasant who grows coca leaves in the Bolivian Chapare. Cochabamba, Bolivia.
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  • Bolivian counter-narcotics unit destroys cocaine lab. Chapare, Bolivia.
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  • Counternarcotics forces in Chapare to eradicate coca patches that exceed the legal limit. Bolivia.
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  • The arrest of the military chief of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) in Lima, Peru 1991.
    bolivia_ _054.jpg
  • Prison cell. San Antonio Prison. On the grounds of the San Antonio men's penitentiary in Cochabamba, 80% of the prison population is linked to drug trafficking crimes. Bolivia.
    bolivia_coca_055.jpg
  • For a modest payment made to the prison Governor, the prisoners wives can spend as much time as they like with them. In the San Antonio prison there are 10 women and 15 children living on a permanent basis together with their husbands and/or fathers, as well as rest of the prisoners.  San Antonio Prison. Bolivia.
    IMG_0716.jpg
  • For a modest payment made to the prison Governor, the prisoners wives can spend as much time as they like with them. In the San Antonio prison there are 10 women and 15 children living on a permanent basis together with their husbands and/or fathers, as well as rest of the prisoners.  San Antonio Prison. Cochabamba, Bolivia.
    bolivia_coca_057.jpg
  • San Antonio Prison. Cochabamba, Bolivia.
    bolivia_coca_058.jpg
  • For a modest payment made to the prison Governor, the prisoners wives can spend as much time as they like with them. In the San Antonio prison there are 10 women and 15 children living on a permanent basis together with their husbands and/or fathers, as well as rest of the prisoners.  San Antonio Prison. Bolivia.
    bolivia_coca_061.jpg
  • San Antonio Prison. Cochabamba, Bolivia.
    bolivia_coca_059.jpg
  • San Antonio Prison. Bolivia.
    bolivia_ _060.jpg