IN STEREO

The mountain from 4400 metres upwards should not be touched. That’s it. I believe that the people don’t want work to continue on the mountain, their patrimony. The mountain is heritage. As it is the city’s heritage [and] it is Bolivia’s, we have to preserve it. Everyone wants the mountain, but the needs of the people cannot be met. People live off the mountain. People in need go at night, and they don’t work under a plan. They pump out the load; they take it out; they sell it – [by] necessity. If there is no mining, Potosí will not survive.

The policy of the government is lacking. The government has to give work areas to these cooperatives: other sectors in the rural areas, in the city. All the people – most of the mining cooperatives, the workers themselves – depend on the government. It should give something to the people. I don’t know how many loads have come out of the mountain each day, [for] so long – 500 years! I think it will continue about five more years. It may be that it sinks. People don’t want that, but they have to see the needs of the people. – Don Lazario