IN STEREO

I’m Potosíno – I was born here and have lived here all my life. I had a normal childhood, but with limitations because my father was also a miner. But there was a time when COMIBOL had a good boom in mining, in that time from the eighties to ‘94. In ‘86 it was the first relocation of miners [when the corporation restructured], then my father was in the second relocation in ‘94. So I had a good childhood – good school, good things, we were lacking nothing. But then when the relocation came, there was a little crisis in the family. My father continued working in mining, but he was not like before with a safe salary: it was more or less a little pay each week, and it wasn’t a prompt payment. We are seven brothers, I am the eldest, and as an older brother I saw the obligation to support my father.

[So] then I just started working with him in mining. At 15 I went into the mine. Then I started to learn about the mine – I had never been in the mine. I was always a quiet young man at school, but I realised how my dad sacrificed himself to give us something to eat. Then I started to really value the work of the mine. I said, “No, not anymore, I'm going to study.” I studied and finished high school. Working in the mine, I started university. I was in college two years – [studying] Arts – but I don’t know… I was the older brother so my dad only paid attention to me, and my other brothers were a little careless and I didn’t like that. I had to go back to the mine and I've been working until now. I have also got used to it, over so much time. – Carlos