Potosí, the highest city in the world, 3,967 above sea level. But, alas, this is not the only reason this place is famous .. I do not know if you've never heard of, yet Europe's wealth of our time also depends on what happened here five centuries ago, and that unfortunately continues to happen.
Potosí, with the arrival of English colonization, was converted in a short time in the largest silver mine in the world, able to thrive in European markets and can starve, exploit and kill 9 million Indians a couple of centuries.
The famous "Cerro Rico" (the mountain that still dominates the city) of silver contained the hitherto unimaginable, the silver mines of the ancient world were abandoned and quickly all the production of time concentrated here. Slaves were always the Indians who populated this land, they knew the silver, but its use was limited to religious services, had never checked out to get rich, simply did not need it ... the money did not exist and even mines. Other slaves were brought from Africa, were weaker than the native Indians, they could not stand the high ground and do not chew coca, was another massacre.
miners in Potosí is now 24000, with a guide (ex-miner) we went into the mine for three hours, an hour after you already want to go out .. spaces are narrow, the belly of the mountain is a maze in which it is easy to get lost and to the sides of the "streets" underground real open abysses that veins are already 'over and in a moment where you can' slip ..
Death is always present the miners down there and take account of not caring too much of alronde know they can die every day coming in, or 35-40 years of silicosis. The resignation is a palpable feeling, mine are in up to 24 hours straight, chewing leaves cocaine, smoking and drinking pure alcohol (96 degrees .. and I'm not kidding), say that the health of your liver is not too worried about them, will be another evil to take them away ..
The miners are organized into cooperatives, but am not able to understand well the function .. Generally, the miner here works for himself, he entered the mine in search of a vein, the costs will all be against it until they have successfully found (explosives, cocaine, alcohol and miscellaneous equipment), the guards are too expensive for poor miners None of them wearing masks and gloves ..
Fotunato if it will be quite large and the vein may take other miners to their dependencies, but this does not mean the end of his work under the ground ..
The Cerro of Potosi is now gutted, the 5100 m high mountain is now down to 4800m, they say that in 12 years there will be nothing and Potosi will become a ghost town like so many others .. For now, we continue to remove lead, copper, zinc, tin and other minerals, the silver is now rare, the English mined only one ..
In the book "The Open Veins of Latin America," Galeano explains much better than me and the history of the Cerro Rico of Potosí, really good book ..
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