Transcription
[Music] [Music] This is Laguna Azul. I've lived near the lake for almost 20 years. I walk my sheep and other animals here; there is water everywhere here. It has always been like this. Our lakes provide water for the communities downstream.
In 1994, Maxima Acuña bought land and built a small home. That same year, just 10 miles away, Colorado's Newmont Mining Corporation opened the Yanacocha mine. It's Latin America's largest open-pit mine and one of the world's most [Music] profitable. The Yanacocha mine has destroyed our water sources and drained our lakes. Our water has turned an orange color, and there is cadmium, lead, and arsenic.
Maxima's land provides direct access to additional gold and copper deposits in the surrounding plateaus. Newmont plans to drain Laguna Azul and three other lakes to develop a new mine called Conga. Maxima stands in the way of billions of dollars of gold and copper on this mountaintop. They came and asked me to sell them my land, but that's an absurd idea. I will never sell it.
When they offered to buy the land didn't work, the mining company tried to evict Maxima, claiming that she and her husband were not legitimate owners. I stepped out with the title to my land and I said, "Gentlemen, there are no grounds to kick me out. My husband and I bought this land with the sweat off our backs." I was crying and I said, "Please don't do this to me. Where am I supposed to go?" I was attacked by the police and the company's security team. When Maxima's daughter tried to stop them, the two were beaten and left unconscious. The mining company made up some ridiculous charges; they accused them of being illegal squatters on their own land. Then they took them to court. The court punished Maxima and her husband with a suspended prison sentence of nearly 3 years and fined them almost $2,000.
Maxima appealed and used the verdict to galvanize community support. Local citizens organized themselves as the Guardians of the Lakes, camping on Maxima's land to protect her and Laguna [Applause] Azul. After 2 years of appeals, the courts overturned Maxima's prison sentence and stopped her eviction. This legal victory stalled Newmont's development of the Conga mine. When my lawyer told me they ruled in our favor, I was thrilled because I thought the conflict was finally over and I would be able to live at peace again on my land.
Maxima's bravery has been recognized throughout Latin America. She received a special award from Peru's National Coordinator for Human Rights for her [Music] activism. But now things are worse because they won't leave us alone, not even for one second. They literally have my house surrounded; they've even built a fence around it. But I will never kneel before Yanacocha, and I am never going to give up. No way.
For outstanding environmental achievement for South and Central America, the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded to Maxima Acuña de Chaupe, Peru.