(Music)
"We traveled the Amazon jungle of Peru,
to the region of Madre de Dios,
famous for its impressive biodiversity,
but also for its illegal gold mining.
The miners invade everything
and act without compassion towards nature
and the people."
In the distance they're just going to kill you there.
"We enter towns reminiscent of the Wild West."
It is a parallel state that exists there.
There is no authority there.
"And we know the story of those who resist
to the Guardians of the Trail,
the local mob."
The threat is like this:
"Do you come in with us or already...
don't count on your life."
"Today 'On the cover' The golden cage."
And it was a Saturday
my son tells me: "Dad",
he says that on Sunday the invaders will meet there
and he wants you to go that they want to fix.
And to me, I said:
"What do I have to fix with that? If they are illegal."
If they would have any right there if we can talk,
from right to right.
No, and there is nothing to talk about.
Sunday was not...
We came here, my son did not enter.
On Monday he enters
and at our table, which served as a dining room,
there in the camp, they found a bullet.
"We entered the Peruvian Amazon,
a dense network of unpaved roads,
The trails take us into the interior of the jungle.
It seems out of place, but the transfer is incessant.
They are gold diggers,
illegal miners.
No border, law, or property title stops them.
They work in rivers,
natural ponds or in any terrain
where in the past there was or passed the water."
How many grams do they take a day?
More or less per day.
-Two grams.-About two grams.
-Two grams.
-Be careful with the sand.
-And how much is that, more or less in soles?
-400 suns.
-600, 700? 400 soles.
And how long do they take?
How long are they working per day?
-7 hours.
-7 hours or so?
Are you controlled by someone?
Is someone coming to check what they're doing
or directly work without anyone bothering them?
-We're here for us.
"The destruction caused by mining
it is difficult to conceive.
In addition, the land and water are contaminated by mercury.
that the miners use to separate the gold from the stones
or the sand."
(Music)
"The miners have come to stay.
They settle where they want,
normally in enclaves close to their places of work.
Their settlements are born of total anarchy.
Hundreds or thousands of people live
with all kinds of services and businesses,
but all outside the law.
There is no mayor or police here.
There are no taxes or ordinances.
It is the true Wild West, but in the Peruvian Amazon."
In the year 2008,
It turns out that gold starts to rise in price.
There is an incredible demand for gold.
The gold that was useless to buy
pants for a boy
back then,
yes it started to rise a lot in price
and many people began to work this activity.
The mining camps grew.
This starts to appear
this madness of saccharoro of the earth.
But with gold it also begins...
The miners also begin to demand, on the one hand, food,
They start demanding clothes.
But there are also other demands, right?
Fun, then, is liquor and sex.
"It has barely 6,000 inhabitants,
but this is one of the gold capitals of the region,
meeting point for hustlers and achievers,
a powerful market that moves money, logistics and people.
Oscar directed here for years
this reception center for minors,
victims of the gold rush."
A demand for minors begins to be generated.
The bars are organized,
They go to the communities to bring adolescents fundamentally
and thus begins a situation of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
But in the workplace there are also many male children
who comes to work in mining.
Teenager, mostly.
-I understand that the conditions in which you welcomed in this house
to those children,
the conditions that brought complicated.
-Here in the small square there was a roundabout
and children and people who passed by spent the night.
We noticed these guys who came from the mining area,
unsuccessful boys and girls too
and many of them carried diseases with them,
sometimes wounds, infected wounds and all that.
And, well, it was like not to stay calm.
-Once they told me to be with a guy I didn't know.
So I didn't want to do it
and they took me and locked me up there.
And they didn't feed me well
during three months.
There was no meat for me.
So, the food was passed to me under the door
because they were afraid that I would run away.
There is a table where the men sit
and where you have to pull your chair
and sit with them
talk to them, laugh and let them grope your body.
And then people ask you
what they call "the service".
That's how I heard it.
And well, there they undress and do those things.
But they always made me sit at the tables.
-In other words, the owner forced the company to speak.
-Yes.
-Why did they drink and drink?
and that way they will earn money, right? -Of course.
-Didn't you get out of there for nothing from the brothel for nothing?
-The owners don't help you there.
You live with what you work.
According to what you earn, you eat.
According to what you do
you buy your things
If you do nothing, you have no money.
(Music)
"We access an officially protected area,
an indigenous reserve of 24,000 hectares,
home of the Harakmbut,
a community in the middle of the jungle, far from modern civilization.
But illegal mining has also reached here."
For you,
What does all, all this land mean?
-For us the territory is important.
Is a...
this is an inheritance
that our ancestors have given us,
that, for many years,
have existed from generation to generation
and we are here proud of our territory.
When we have come on a trip we have seen a lot of mining,
lots of mining.
-The Peruvian State
has been giving concessions within the communal territory,
without any prior consultation with the community, or with the assembly,
or the board of directors.
Within the communal territory
70 percent is concessioned
to third parties so that they can work in mining
and that the State, for many years,
has been giving permits,
authorizations behind the communities
and behind the backs of our indigenous organizations.
And that is what it has been doingsocial environmental impact
to the communal territory.
We are very angry
because it is not possible for them to give concessions
within the communal territory.
"The indigenous natives live under siege.
For a farming and fishing community
economically underdeveloped
live with mining
it is being a true trial by fire
for its conservationist traditions."
Hi how are things?
Very good.-No, do not record.
Don't record.-Okay.
Talk to the owner.
-With whom, excuse me? -With the owner.
- Where is he? - In the camp.
Do you have a concession to be able to do this?
Is that why we have to ask for permission? Or do you not have the concession?
The owner is from San Jose.
Talk to the owner of San José.
-From San José de Karene? -Yes.
-With who? Tell me the name to ask for him.
Talk to him.
There he is, talk to him.
That he is not filming.
"In the end, mining is not only a matter of alien invaders,
some indigenous natives have ended up succumbing
to quick and abundant money."
The context is so obvious
that I have to ask.
Have you ever engaged in mining
or do you plan to do it?
-We have been dealing first with the invaders.
It cannot be an invader of the territory.
We have been facing, having social conflicts,
clashes with bladed weapons
and other kind of... at times
what can there be
You have to be honest
Here, some have dedicated themselves to the mining issue.
But not with the issue of profit,
but with the subject of doing a little economy.
So that?
To buy your sugar, your salt and some cartridges.
-And you have also done it? -I also did it at the time.
The most urgent thing was always to feel safe,
feeling welcomed.
For me that was one thing that surprised us.
Before even anything else that could...
Before your health
feeling the security of being in a place where they will protect you,
that was essential.
Everyone had a responsibility.
For example, cleaning the house.
This was totally self-managed.
The cleaning of the house was done by them in shifts.
house was cleaned,
we had a lady who cooked
and she, also in turn, was helped.
And without meaning to, she would cook it in a very special space,
where they counted, they vented with the lady who cooked.
Then it was time for lunch
everyone at the table
and it was like they were waiting to meet again
with the other children.
Gabriela, as she wants us to call her,
took advantage of a police operation to flee on his own
of the brothel that held her.
She was only 14 years old,
but managing to escape is not usual,
nor what is feasible."
It is not convenient for you to escape,
why do you run away
and you will not find a taxi driver to take you.
You will have to run for kilometers, for hours,
to escape from the people who follow you.
But even then you won't be able to,
because in the distance they're just going to kill you there.
And that's it.
"In Madre de Dios, crime, delinquency, threats,
Many life scripts change.
Oscar's Shelter
when it was assumed by the Peruvian State,
moved from Mazucoa to the capital, Puerto Maldonado,
looking for more security.
He did the same."
Did you ever feel dangerous living in Mazuco
and when you did what you did?
-Many times or almost always, that is,
even though the town is small,
but you will have noticed, for example, that there are no police,
who protects you? Do not?
And now there are more police than before.
So who could protect?
Who could help?
People like this always came
very insolent, asking for such a person,
wondering if we had
authorization from the Ministry to work,
how is it possible?Who are you? Why?
Why do they get involved? This is not their problem.
There were from very insolent messages
even the worst threats.
There was a girl whose integrity he had to protect, right?
So that was what scared me the most.
what scared me the most.
They could attack her
she could do anything.
"Oscar traced his change of course following this road,
the Interoceanic.
It is impossible to understand Madre de Dios without traveling through it.
We cross it for 170 kilometers.
Opened in 2008,
Many Peruvians from the rest of the country arrived through the Interoceanic
especially high Andean,
trying to escape extreme poverty.
They could reach Madre de Dios in a matter of hours,
instead of weeks, as was the case years before,
but the mafia also arrived by road."
It's all outside the law.
The rules are set by the miners,
a very special organization.
Merchants, for example,
They have to give a fee to maintain this organization.
And it coincides with the inauguration,
with the commissioning of the highway, right?
"The Interoceanic was raised
as a key to develop the region,
but ended up catapulted into illegal mining.
Path cleared for the crime that came with it."
Demetrius, what happened to his son?
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One who accompanied him was caught and they made a mistake,
they thought he was.
"No, he's not," he told her,
and they hit him here on the head
and they took him about 200 meters,
he was tied up and his head was bandaged
and there they left it.
And just a little while later, my son would appear there.
And there yes, now, surely they already knew who he was.
And there the evidence.
Right now there is a tremendous leafy chestnut tree,
from there they had this
and to the side there is a stick that has been pierced
for him to get out of the vehicle that was
to remove it
and at that moment is where they put the shot.
And it looks from there, he seems to have wanted to walk
and he falls there.
And there he was.
So this...
- They ambushed him.
Yes, yes, they ambushed him.
Once he passed on his son,
Haven't you reconsidered things, your activity,
his life?
-I always bet on the forest
and I can't leave the forest.
I have to stay there.
It would be the high.
We killed the son
The old man is gone and now we do what we want here.
No, I'm still there, I'm still controlling,
I continue to monitor and continue to file complaints.
So, whoever arrives and no one tells him:
"Hey, he's getting out of here because you're already committing a crime."
So he thinks he's entitled
and he is empowered and they are empowered.
-He told me that you had to go
to Puerto Maldonado.
Yes, through security.
I don't live here all the time
I come during the day
or if I stay, I stay one night or two nights already.
-Who are you afraid of?
-That they can come to attack me.
Who are they? The same. They are currently there.
They have returned.
"Life is worth little in Madre de Dios.
Illegal cemeteries populate the gutters.
Buried with simple nicknames,
the dead that no one claims,
deceased working in the mine
or killed.
And suddenly...
we are not allowed to record.
We have arrived at La Pampa.
We circumvent the prohibitions from the air.
La Pampa is the capital of everything illegal, of mining,
of smuggling and the local mafia.
An improvised settlement over several kilometers
at roadside.
Here the only authority is the Guardians of the Trail,
a violent group, almost paramilitary,
that protects this ecosystem based on greed,
secrecy and destruction."
It is a parallel state that exists there.
There is no authority there.
nor from our regional government,
because when we want to go there,
the police says:
"I have no men to facilitate."
But how can this happen?
This happens simply because
The state has failed to fulfill its role.
That is why we say that if there were an entity
that he bought gold there,
well, that title of contraband would end.
Hey, Bolivia exports gold
and Bolivia has no mining enclaves.
Where does the gold come from? From Madre de Dios.
The gold leaves our borders to Brazil
and also goes to the United Arab Emirates,
towards Europe.
Unfortunately, he leaves us nothing.
a sun even to say
a contribution to be able to do works
and infrastructure in our region.
"The only visible and permanent institutional presence
in the area of La Pampa
They are health centers.
Although abandoned to their fate,
with few means and in an environment of continuous threat."
And you don't know who you live with.
Fear is that, isn't it?
That one day it can go well for you, two days it can go well for you,
and the next day many things can happen.
So yeah, we're scared
because there are times when we are just women.
Fear is that.
So that's why it is not attended,
We do not serve at night.
We try to get along with the community.
We haven't had any kind of problem.
Far apart, rather we are a little protected by the rounds.
"For the...excuse me?"
-Because of the peasant patrols that are here.
-Who are the peasant rounds?
They are made up of members of the community.
Since 98.
So we feel a little calmer.
But then do you get securitycivilian people who live here
and not the police or the state security forces?
The police hardly see her.
Only when there are serious accidents,
because, imagine,
for all this area
three patrol cars or two, no more,
starting from Mazuco.
There's no more.
Imagine, for that amount of population
What's in La Pampa?
there are only four or six policemen.
"It is a good summary of the reality of this region.
They leave Madre de Dios illegally
more than 2 billion euros in gold each year.
But its inhabitants have to defend themselves
and this medical center has been without running water for more than five years.
(Music)
How far away are you from the mining influence zone?
-Look, they tell me that it is 2 kilometers away,
they are working.
There's an entrance 500 meters from here,
an entrance that enters the mining.
And there is another one here 100 or 200 meters away as well.
But they are not working one hundred percent,
what they are is accommodating.
What is cutting down trees, they are settling
and that is what we have right now the great fear that we have,
that they begin to cut down mountains and all that.
-In other words, you're surrounded, Victor.-Yes
And many people who know me,
I'm talking about the property that I have,
and they can't believe it
They tell me it's illogical
that mining is close.
Mining is two kilometers away
and that you are still keeping, right?
Why don't you engage? As you say.
Because it is not born to me.
I don't like to kill the bush.
I have seen mining.
Before I walked, I went fishing,
I even went hunting before,
I spoke to you 15 years ago,
hunting and fishing were done.
I did it in those mountains, now there is none, everything is sand.
I have seen beautiful, large trees,
animals that I don't see now anymore.
They are not seen and will not be seen either.
(Music)
-The miners or representatives of the miners
they will have offered to buy you the land,
They will have offered you money...
-Yes...
They come to me, they say: "You know what?
I'll give you a kilo for a kilo of gold for your land."
But thinking about it with a cool head,
a kilo of gold is nothing.
I told him: "With that I won't even buy a house,
It doesn't buy me peace of mind, nothing."
It's not much.
If you offered me a million dollars, I'd think about it.
If I tell you a million dollars, that's a lot.
And to my neighbor if he bought it with a kilo of gold.
My neighbor is a miner, right?, but...
And so he offered it to me and I told him no.
And when you tell them no,
how do they react?
Look, the threat is like this:
come in with us
or you no longer count on your life.
But I'm not one to destroy nature, am I?
"Say no to mining
nor does it mean abandoning other illegal practices.
The shoulders of the road
they are an endless showcase of the informal economy.
Many try to subsist away from gold,
but they never quite escape.
La Pampa, the Guardians of the Trail,
intimidation, violence...
they are omnipresent and set the pace."
Well, it's from La Pampa, for example, it's like they say,
It's no man's land.
Really, they with their money
they see it and hire people, security,
so that the police do not suddenly enter.
It's against the law
That's why they don't let them pass.
We ourselves are not allowed to pass.
That's the thing.
The leader of La Pampa,
the leader of the Guardians of the Trail,
a witness told me,
a very reliable source in this area told me
That man is so powerful
that he is closely linked above with political power.
This gentleman, who collects quotas in this area,
you can travel to Lima,
he can return to Madre de Dios,
he can make money transfers at the Banco de la Nación,
the State Bank,
have current accounts in the State Bank,
savings in the Government Bank
and he is not arrested,
he is not identified
despite the fact that most of the children of Madre de Dios
we can tell who he is.
-Therefore, the authorities, politics, the State.
he is not facing the problem.
-He's not coping with the problem,
because mining generates
the activity and generates other businesses,
transport, for example, trade...
And he's so big he's such a powerful constituency
that they put the authorities.
We have had a congressman who was a miner,
we have had a regional governor
that he was a miner,
the last congressman we had who had an advertising business
to hire people for the mining sector,
he has the investigation related to human trafficking
and they have an official speech
towards economic activity.
"For the first time in a long time,
Madre de Dios has a governor,
in principle not linked to mining.
Luis Hidalgo is a medical surgeon,
but he is under investigation for alleged relationships
with an illegal logging mafia.
A few hours before this interview,
The Prosecutor's Office requested three years in provisional prison for him."
I am not a bandit, I am, as they say,
the head of that criminal organization,
because it does not exist.
-Do you trust
that your closest collaborators are clean?
-No, I can not.
Now, after reading
transcripts of wiretaps,
I can't put my hand to the fire for anyone.
- What future do you see Mother of God?
-I think it will not change
because people are buying the gold in the world.
The price of gold is very high.
That price, gold,
generates huge profits that can finance all this,
all this we are seeing.
I am very sorry to say it, but I think this is not going to change.
Madre de Dios's problems continue to grow.
We are in a process of Mexicanization
of the problems of Madre de Dios.
This will happen later
as they happen in the State of Mexico,
where the power of crime
is the authority
and they control everything and they make the rules.
That is why Madre de Dios is on that path.
-Do you trust the society that is here?
-In the people? -Yes.
No, but in me yes.
And I know that with my energy,
with my work, with my effort,
With my courage, I will always be fine.
"When did it happen? When was the murder of her son?"
-September 10 last year.
-A year ago.-Already a year and months.
And do you know who the authors were?
-The intellectual authors are fully identified.
Two people.
And is there any conviction?
-That they have been interrogated for seven days, investigated,
but then they have been given freedom.
-Why?
Because she says that they had not found any responsibility on her.
"We're leaving Madre de Dios
thinking that she was winning the game with impunity,
That those who resist the voracity that surrounds them
They are few and they are very lonely.
We left here thinking
in all that has been lost and in all that remains in danger.
And wondering if anyone cares.
During our trip we have not known El Dorado,
just a land that lives trapped in its golden cage."
Mining will always try to destroy
this little green here.
The miners keep blowing up engines,
they keep arresting miners
and I think a large part of the population
of the penitentiary institute that we have in Madre de Dios
they are miners and they are for human trafficking,
but this is not over.
When is this going to end?
(Music)