Danilo Antón
La Rinconada in Peru
In the city of La Rinconada in the Department of Puno, Peru, more than .50,000 people live.
La Rinconada and its neighboring villages Ritt'icucho, Yurajpampa, Lunar de oro and Ananea constitute the highest urban nucleus in the world: 5,100 meters above sea level.
The reason for the existence of this population is the presence of gold deposits.
The gold is exploited by the Ananea Mining Corporation S.A.Rinconada. The miners work FREE all month and one day a month they allow them to remove all the ore they can and they keep the gold they get in that single day in a system called "cachorreo": Generally what they get is insufficient to live for what women and children must rake the sterile to see if they get a little more. There the average annual temperature is only 1 degree and much less oxygen in the air. The gold is obtained by amalgamating it with mercury and then "boiling" the mercury with a torch. The gaseous mercury condenses on the roofs of the houses from which the "potable" water draws the families melting the snow accumulated there. Therefore many people suffer from mercury poisoning. There is no sanitation and municipal and public services are practically nonexistent.
The city is extremely poor despite the mineral wealth. Colonial exploitation continues in very similar terms. As always riches are gone and misery and suffering remain. In the following posts I include two videos illustrating the serious problem that the inhabitants of La Rinconada in Peru are living.
References:
http://www.lucidez.pe/nacional/video-ciudad-peruana-es-descrita-por-un-youtuber-como-la-mas-horrible-del-mundo/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p585wssXMzA
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