IN STEREO

For those who work, five years and usually they get sick. That’s the life. One [disease] is silicosis and the other, tuberculosis. The two are like family, like close relatives. It has become like a professional disease of the miners, silicosis. I have enough disease to go into retirement. It is just beginning: at 38% I do not feel anything, but it’s progressive. If a patient appears with five years [of service] in total, he can retire. Because there is no hope of life for those that are sick with 100% – you can die at any time. Many people who have worked on this mountain for over ten years have 100%. – Don Francisco

I was leader [of the cooperative] in the years ‘65 to ‘71 and tried to improve things. I worked very hard in the cooperative, until 1999. [By then] I was tired, and sick from the mine. The mine has arsenic – it entered my lungs fast and I could no longer stand it. The dust is fine, and it enters the lungs. Unfortunately, we are affected, little by little. Everything changes. We become miserable and we can feel it in our bodies. Even the doctor discourages us: we are not going to be cured, they tell us. “Go home and be with your family.” We see the family, we see the children – and we feel even worse. – Don Juan

For the miner there is no justice
For the miner there is no forgiveness
Poor exploited labourer, capitalist without shame
Since I love my country, I work day and night
In the mine I give my life, I do not want to die tomorrow