by ALICE BERNARD and DIEGO CUPOLO
Dr. César Aliaga Díaz at a rally in 2011
This Interview is part of a series on resistance to mining in Cajamarca, Peru, written by Alice Bernard and Diego Cupolo.
Read Part 1: Peru: Cajamarca Protests Continue as Conga Gold Mine Awaits Green Light
Dr. César Aliaga Díaz is the regional vice president of Cajamarca, Peru. His government has taken a central role in the fight to stop the proposed Conga Gold Mine, a $4.8 billion project owned by Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. The mine will be located in Cajamarca’s Andean highlands, where five major headwaters originate and supply the region’s drinking water. If passed, Conga is set to become the biggest investment in Peru’s history and second-largest gold mine in the world. The following interview was conducted on Monday, March 19, 2012.
It’s been almost twenty years since Newmont opened its Yanacocha gold mine just outside Cajamarca and started the region’s mining boom. You studied the industry’s impacts on local communities in your book, A Tajo Abierto. What types of changes has gold mining brought to Cajamarca?
Well, the region’s transformation has created many problems. Before the mines, we were an agriculture-based, pre-capitalist society. You could say we were still living in the medieval era. People traded livestock and milk. Our economy was simple.
Then Newmont came and we changed directly into a modern capitalist production center. We grew very quickly. We got new social classes. Land prices went up ridiculously. Some properties here cost more than properties in Lima.
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