Meet Carlos Saico: Creating a Dialogue with BHP-Billiton
6 October 2003
As President of the Alto Huancané community, Carlos Saico is working with Oxfam partner organizations to create a space for debate and consensus building between community leaders and the representatives of the BHP-Billiton mining company.
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| Carlos Saico led his community in the creation of a development plan that addresses problems arising from its proximity to the Tintaya Copper Mine. By: Diego Nebel/Oxfam |
In 1982, the new Tintaya Mining Company expropriated lands belonging to Carlos Saico's mother. It was the only inheritance she had to give to her two children: 18 hectares (about 44 acres) of land on one of the countless peaks of the imposing Peruvian Andes in the Espinar Province of Cusco. In exchange, she received the promise of a permanent job for Carlos at the Tintaya mines so that he could support her. She never imagined then that, years later, Carlos—now unemployed because of declining copper prices—would be leading his community in the struggle to reclaim their rights with the same mine that had left him without an inheritance.
In the year 2000, Oxfam and its partner organizations, CONACAMI, CORECAMI-Cusco, and CooperAcción, initiated an effort to create a space for debate and consensus building between community leaders and the representatives of the BHP-Billiton mining company. The idea was to discuss and find solutions to the principal problems regarding land, environment, and human rights afflicting the mining-affected communities. This space, called the Mesa de Diàlogo (Dialogue Roundtable), began in 2002.
Undefeated by unemployment and with renewed energy, Carlos is now a member of CORECAMI-Cusco and President of the community of Alto Huancané, where he has coordinated the efforts of some 50 families to produce the first community development plan elaborated by the inhabitants of the area affected by the mine. They hope to incorporate their proposal into the process of the Tintaya Dialogue Roundtable.
"All of the affected community members have worked on this project," Carlos says proudly. Meanwhile, the presidents of other communities who are gathered in the modest headquarters of CORECAMI-Cusco praise the initiative of Alto Huancané and try to replicate the experience in their own communities.
Community presidents like Carlos who are organized in CORECAMI receive training from CooperAcción in order to improve their skills in areas like conflict resolution, proposal writing, and the creation of systems for monitoring the environment, among others.
"We were able to achieve this dialogue because of them. They've helped us a great deal in monitoring, and we've received orientation about how to present our complaints, how to sit down at the table with the business representatives, and how to prepare our plans," says Carlos, who participates every week in orientation and coordination sessions with other community representatives brought together by CORECAMI-Cusco.
The biggest problem in his community is the pollution of their water sources. Alto Huancané is located on the edge of the mine's tailings pond, which holds waste from the mine. The community is concerned that toxic substances filter into their creeks and springs, and some of the community's inhabitants say they have begun to feel the physical effects of the contamination.
"The water is contaminated. Our animals are getting sick with illnesses they never had before the mine was here. It's no longer fit for human consumption or for agriculture," Carlos explains.
The Mesa de Diàlogo currently has four working commissions on issues of land, environment, sustainable development, and human rights. And though the dialogue process has just begun to evaluate the concrete responses to be given to each one of these issues, community leaders appreciate the fact that they have been able to fight for and gain a space where finally, after so many years, their concerns will begin to be heard and acted upon. As Carlos himself says, at least the company "has recognized its errors and agreed to respond" to their demands even though the form of this response will take has yet to be fully determined.
