Peruvian Anti-Mining Activist Máxima Acuña to Newmont Mining Corporation: ‘I will never give up my l

Peruvian Anti-Mining Activist Máxima Acuña to Newmont Mining Corporation: ‘I will never give up my land’
Written by Roxana Olivera Published: 05 August 2016



Photo by Roxana Olivera

Source: The New Internationalist

In April 2016, Peruvian farmer Máxima Acuña was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her environmental advocacy and courageous stand against the Newmont Mining Corporation, the world’s second-largest goldmining company. This is her story.



As a teenager, I never went to the movies, to theatres or parties, or on any dates. By the time I was 14, I got married. I had no choice… My husband Jaime, then 16, worked in agriculture. At first, I didn’t know what to expect of marriage. My first baby died during childbirth. After giving birth four more times – each time pretty much totally on my own – I had four wonderful children, all of whom went to school so that they wouldn’t be illiterate like me.

When my children were growing up, Jaime and I laboured on other people’s lands. We often took care of animals, breeding goats, sheep, horses, pigs and cattle for several farmers from our community. In compensation, we would keep one of the offspring. We grew all sorts of roots and potatoes, which we exchanged for grains and fruits with people from the region. We would usually keep half of that produce for our own consumption and sell the rest. That’s how our local economy worked back then.

In 1994, we bought a parcel of 27 hectares of land from my husband’s uncle in Tragadero Grande, where we built a small hut. To buy it, we sold everything we owned: one bull, a foal, several sheep and a whole bunch of small animals.

For many years, my family and I had a tranquil and peaceful life here. We live high in the mountains near a beautiful lake called Laguna Azul, our source of drinking water and our source of life. For us, our lakes are our real treasure.

More:
http://www.towardfreedom.com/32-archives/environment/4311-peruvian-anti-mining-activist-maxima-acuna-i-will-never-give-up-my-land