DOCUMENTARY SERIES
"Seated on a bench of gold"
Saving Mt. Quilish
Cajamarca, Peru

Sacred Mt. Quilish is an important watershed for dozens of farming villages in Peru's northern Andean mountains. But the Yanacocha gold mine plans to destroy the mountain and use a highly toxic cyanide solution to extract gold and silver. Yanacocha is South America’s largest gold mine and is owned by Newmont Mining Corp, the world’s largest gold mining corporation.

Fears of environmental contamination and loss of their water supply prompted farmers from the Porcon valley to stage a massive road block of the mine’s vehicles in September 2004. Their goal was to pressure the Peruvian government to revoke the mine’s permission to explore Mt. Quilish. During the 15-day blockade support grew into a state-wide event, with supporters arriving from remote communities across Cajamarca. Students and citizens from the state capital even joined in, staging marches and protests and marking a historic moment for Cajamarca: the first time city and country people have joined together en masse to protest the mine.

Father Marco Arana, a local parish priest known for his opposition to the mine and defense of peasant farmers, is called upon to mediate the conflict. This heroic yet humble priest averts violence at every turn, negotiating the release of police hostages, calming stone-throwing protesters and halting riot police who tear-gas demonstrators in Cajamarca’s historic city center.

“If you throw stones the police will respond with tear-gas,” he tells a crowd after a violent encounter with the police. “We are here to save our water, and water is life. None of us wants to die. We do not combat injustice with more injustice. If we respond with intelligence, with legal arguments and with peace than we will win because the truth is on our side.”

As a result of the protest, the company asks the government to withdraw its exploration permission for Mt. Quilish. The blockade has been heralded as a victory for non-violent resistance and negotiation – even by mining industry professionals. And Father Arana received Peru's most prestigious award for human rights because of his role in resolving the conflict.

The video will focus on these incredible two weeks, and splice in background information and footage shot four years earlier of visits to Mt. Quilish with Father Arana and peasant farmers. These farmers have a special bond with Mt. Quilish – their irrigation channels begin at the mountain’s peak and were built by their ancestors nearly 100 years ago.

Father Marco’s successful mediation was a triumph for nonviolent conflict resolution – not just for Peruvian mining communities, but for the entire nation. And proof that community-based mediation and conflict resolution can work in cases where the courts have failed.

This is the third and final advocacy video in our series on Peruvian communities and transnational mining. The first, entitled Choropampa, The Price of Gold, exposed the negative environmental and social impacts of unregulated mining after a devastating mercury spill. Tambogrande, Worth More Than Gold, the second film, celebrates innovative methods of community resistance, including grassroots democracy and artistic protest. It chronicles the campaign of mango farmers from Peru’s northern coast to preserve their fragile fruit-growing valley from mining development. Saving Mt. Quilish rounds out the series, focusing on conflict resolution through mediation.

Film in development.

Expected release date: 2006

For more information, please contact the film makers: Ernesto_Cabellos and Stephanie Boyd.

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