 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
|
|
GLOSSARY Peru glossary |
transcript |
| Section 2 | Janios, tell me about the Rancas feasts. We have many feasts in Rancas. One of the most important is the animal's feast, the rural feast, which we call Erranza. This is when we mark the cattle mostly in February and March which coincides with Carnival. The Erranza feast is celebrated by each family on their farm and by each man and woman who has worked with the animals, the paspotes, throughout the year. These people rarely go to town and sometimes they can't even go to school...But, those of us who live in Cerro de Pasco go back in a group to celebrate this feast as it should be, with the whole family and we become part of that once again.... It begins on the Friday evening when we have to set up the table, the Saturday is for the chewing. Some then enclose the cattle whilst others do it on the Sunday, and then Monday is Carnival. That's when we adorn the cattle with ribbons, sing local songs, chew coca, drink and mark the cattle. Tuesday is for the sheep, but I the cattle get marked over Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Carnival finishes on the Wednesday, on Ash Wednesday, and that's when we make a pachamanca (meat and vegetables cooked in underground ovens) for everyone present. We finish marking the cattle with dye and we treat their diseases, and that's the end of Carnival. What do you do to lay the table? Well, this custom in my opinion is a mixture of customs from the Inca period and Catholicism, the religion introduced by the Spanish. When we lay the table we include coca (South American shrub the leaves of which are used as a stimulant or narcotic), cigarettes, fruit, liquor and the other things we need for the day we enclose them. Apart from this we also lay a table for the mountain, the Jirca. I have helped my mother to prepare the table for the animals and at the same time we prepared the table to take up the mountain, to the Jirca. It's not the same table as the one for the cows, sheep and llamas, no it isn't. We prepare them both together and in the meanwhile we drink and chew coca. The table for the mountain is separate, we set it up at a little cave or boulder. That table has a little quart of liquor, biscuits, sweets and a portion of coca, as an offering to the mountain to increase the cattle and to ensure all goes well with no farming problems over the year. It's one of our local traditions which we still keep. |
Does everyone do the same? Yes, I have seen that people do the same thing all over the Andean highlands with very little variation, in part because of the custom of chewing coca. This is done throughout the cattle area. And what other feasts are there? In the countryside, ... there's nothing else apart from the Erranza. In the countryside there's nothing else really to do with farming, etc. Then there are purely Catholic feasts as you must have seen, every village, every community has a saint in its name, that's part of the Catholic heritage. Rancas celebrates its patron saint, San Antonio, on the 13,14 and 15 of June. It's a very big feast but it's at the village level. We do the Chonguinada dance and there is an agriculture and animal husbandry fair, an exhibition of local dishes, horse racing, chuto (?) competition, etc. It used to be smaller feast before the fair, all we used to do was the Chonguinada dance, we used to have mass and then dance. One custom that hasn't changed is that everyone goes to the mayordomo's (master of ceremonies) house. The mayordomo is responsible for organising the feast and he takes charge of organising and making it happen. He is the follower who offers mass to the patron saint, San Antonio in this case, the one who prepares the food and the liquor for the whole feast, for all who come to it. The rule is that each day there is a different mayordomo because it is expensive and so you have to prepare all year. Some mayordomos are better off than others so they share the costs amongst them. But it has to last the whole period and there have to be bands, fireworks and the dancers for the Chonguinada or the Baile Viejo (dances). |
|
| Section 3 | And when is the mayordomo chosen and who does that? The mayordomo receives the feast or rather he is chosen during mass each day of the feast. The priest announces the incoming mayordomo at the end of the Mass. They have already agreed this beforehand during the feast, during the dancing and the toasting. The current mayordomo proposes someone from the assistants and if the person accepts the mayordomo makes much of him and they are compadres (literally, godfather of your children, also used as a term of respect) from that moment ... The priest's role is to bless the agreement during mass, you mustn’t think that they wait until the mass to find a mayordomo for the next year. |
You don't have mayordomos in the rural feasts? In the country, each farmer, each head of family organises the feast. Of course not all cattle-owners live in the countryside. I have a couple of lambs which I didn't buy myself. Last year I went to the feast and my friend who owned the farm gave me a little sheep which fortunately was female and now there are two. He marked it for me and now I have to help with the table at the next Erranza. I will have to take liquor, coca, and all the other things you need for the feast both for the shepherd and the farmer. This is the way to participate and share in the feast, so there are no godparents or Mayordomo's, nothing like that, only the farmer, the cattle owners and of course help from the family. This is when they all get together. This is mainly a family affair ... Another important feature of the Erranza is that every farm holds it on the same days. That's what I have seen at least. On several occasions going to and from between Rancas and Cerro de Pasco as I have passed by the farms celebrating, drinking, playing with flour and paint and I have had to stop for a while and share with them and that's in every estancia (farmstead). So the Erranza is celebrated by every family for the family which also includes friends and guests but that doesn't change the essence of it. And this is a very marked difference from the patron saint's feast which is held for everyone in the village. Could you explain what an estancia is? Here, an estancia is a place a family has on community land. It's not necessarily where the family actually lives. It's a dwelling or hut with pasture lands around it and it’s near a river or a spring which is also used collectively. And I emphasise that this land doesn't belong to the farmer, and the land is not fenced, so the livestock move around though there is no danger of confusion because each little animal can be identified by the colours on its ribbon, by the paint. All the land belongs to the campesina community. |
|
| Section 4 | What do you know about other traditions from Rancas? Hmm, traditions ... like feasts? |
No, not necessarily, traditions include other ways of life, myths and customs which have survived through the generations and which distinguish a place or a region, which make it different, different from the others ..., maybe you know something about this ... We have our traditions in Rancas. When the land is divided up we all work with a common principle, like a law, we have to comply with. All land is communal. When a family is formed they become comuneros, members of the community, and they raise cattle. Then they ask for a place to put up their farm and raise their animals... As far as marriage is concerned we do it the same way as in other parts. In the past there were customs but not any more. Most young people in Cerro de Pasco get married after a period of courtship. Then they formalise their commitment and after a while they get married, it's nearly always Catholic with a party. Young people don't marry so young these days, that has changed, it wasn't like this before, most of them are over 25 when they get married. |
|
And why do you think this has changed? They used to get married young because that was the way our elders used to do it, and the custom was to arrange the marriage. That means that the parents of the lad and the girl would make the match and this had to be obeyed. Sometimes they didn't know they were going to be married. We don't do this any more in Rancas and I think it's a thing of the past. It's well known in Rancas that in past decades there were major disputes and confrontations with the old Cerro de Pasco Corporation owned by the north Americans. You must have heard about this from your parents? Yes, everyone from Rancas must know about the town's history. Yes, there were numerous disputes with the old Cerro de Pasco company. One of these disputes was only resolved when it became Centromin and the case was closed. It was about the way the company used the Ocoroyoc area between Quiulacocha and Yurayhuanca. It was a well known area because it still had remnants of the mining infrastructure from the colonial period, because they used to wash the minerals there, to process them, and because a large part of the land had belonged to a very old estate owned by Spaniards who fled during the war of independence. This area was prized for its abundance of crystalline springs. The land is now in the hands of Centromin Peru, of course after a drawn out court case because they didn't want to take responsibility for anything. In the end they did and they paid two and a half million dollars compensation to the Community in exchange for the land... Now, the company is building a great dike to store the relaves (mining waste). We do know that after 20 years Centromin has to give the land back in the same condition as before. I think that's impossible because of the level of pollution... I remember that on May 2 1960, a major problem erupted with Cerro de Pasco Mining Company in Rancas because the estate had expanded so much that their was no land left for the Community. When the Community set out to recover their land and clashed with the ex civil guard leaving three members of the Community dead, three of my brothers and sisters: Don Alfonso Rivera, Mrs Silveria Tufino and Don Teofilo Huaman. They died 35 years ago fighting to get our land back. The company expanded by building fences, enormous fences, around the land they thought was theirs. Our people could no longer move freely as they had done in the past and if some unfortunate animal crossed over, the estate people would take it as theirs and cut its throat. That's what brought about the Rancas uprising which ended they way I told you ... Later the Yarusllacan Campesino Community joined the struggle and then other communities. There was also the Rancas and Pacayan Estate confrontation. All these lands now belong to Rancas, to the Community. Nevertheless, despite all this suffering the government recently issued a Supreme Decree re-opening the revision of boundaries in each community. The Yanahuanca Community has taken advantage of this to occupy land which belongs to Rancas which has brought us to the verge of conflict between campesinos. Nevertheless, some of the boundaries in the Chapacruz area were verified this week. |
|
| Section 5 | Another aspect of development in Rancas is the wealth of experience in farming. The Agrarian Co-operative "San Antonio de Rancas" with the Multiple Services Company are symbols of this progress. Rancas cooperative which was set up many years ago was one of the first in the whole region and it stands out to this day despite technical limitations and little government support. But if we look at the Community Cooperative in terms of the national and the international markets we cannot deny that we have stagnated. So we have to support any measure which will improve productivity and help us become more efficient. There is also ECOSEM, the Community Company for multiple services. ECOSEM was set up with Centromin's two and a half million dollar rent paid to the Community. This Company aims to create employment in Rancas and a development role. At present we have heavy duty machinery, mostly transport, which services Centromin. This Multiple Services Company plans to build a bakery large enough to serve the whole area and also a tannery. The government offered credit for the industrial processing of wool - washing and spinning. We bought the machinery but unfortunately its nothing but scrap now. They say there are 40 industrial looms for wool. No they're not industrial looms. They are machines for a certain part of the process, from the washing to the yarn stage. But they haven't been installed, in fact some are still containers complete with their cargo and haven't been touched. There's no doubt that what was lacking was the other part of the investment for the installation, functioning and organisation of the production process. Many years have gone by since this story began ... |
On the basis of this experience do you think that there aren't the skills available to industrialise cattle farming? I think we have to meet this challenge but within our own possibilities. Look, a fundamental issue is the level of technical training for our young people as its not what we would like. I'm thinking in terms of the complete production process which would have to bring in the whole region for inputs and marketing. We have come to this conclusion through our experience of trying to get the machinery up and running and we have seen the implications. Even if we had succeeded all the wool from this region would not have been sufficient so what would we do then with the extra machine capacity? In both woven fabrics and skins Rancas has production levels for small industry, so why should we dream of large-scale plants which will be nothing but white elephants. All that money invested would have been better spent on equipment scaled to our capabilities and it would probably be working now. And is there a market for industrial wool production? There is a market but we haven't produced anything yet .... so what are we going to sell? |
|
| Section 6 | I heard you produce rugs. Well yes but this is on a cottage industry scale. Cottage industry is something else. Four or five people make blankets, ponchos, shawls and rugs and they all agree there is a share of the market for these. They have even begun to compete with San Pedro de Cajas in wall-hangings and rugs, and they are lovely too. Though there isn't much of a market they are showing that they can improve production from their own skill and resources. Janios, your life is mainly urban, what do you do for a living? I'm a teacher and my main responsibility is education in the Pasco Sub-Region in the Education Ministry. In my spare time I go to Rancas and we always get involved in the Community's working groups though we have tried hardest to strengthen the media sector. We have bought a transmitter for Rancas. Rancas gets two television channels and we add youth programmes made by our own young people from the Community and the Municipality. We also have an FM radio station and we are working on a project for a 5 to 10kw AM one. Nevertheless, we have a problem with the license because the government issues them mainly to private companies rather than to community ones. Despite this difficulty we already have funds for the equipment and running of the station which means we will be able to get Radio Rancas on the air again. Radio Rancas was a pioneer in radio in Cerro de Pasco. This will be a tribute to the people who initiated Radio Rancas. I think that in a few years time the sound of Radio Rancas will be well heard throughout the central Andes. Lots of people from Rancas have settled in Cerro de Pasco. What do they do for a living? I think they are mainly in mining and public administration. How do you view development in Cerro de Pasco as a mainly mining town whose resources have been milked for decades. How can you explain the backwardness, the poverty in a city which is supposed to symbolise the wealth of this country? Well, ... I have to say categorically that mining in this area, specifically in Cerro de Pasco has neither benefited the city itself nor the countryside because since 1902 when the big Cerro de Pasco Corporation came here not one of our Communities, even though they have willed their way into getting our land, our pastures and our water resources, have been able to firmly defend what is ours and we haven't taken action at the right moments. In our case in Rancas we only did something when we had no more land for our cattle. In Quiulacocha, Centromin built them a little square in return for polluting their lake with the silt from the washing of the minerals. No, I don't agree with this. What has happened here? Was this kind of deception what our people wanted? No, no it's not right ... On balance it's clear that mining is very important in the national economy but it has only benefited a few small groups. Even from before the Cerro de Pasco Corporation - now other groups benefit from mining but the towns in this area get nothing out of it. |
| Section 7 | The presence of a big company like Centromin Peru in Cerro de Pasco has attracted a lot of migrants from distant places such as Arequipa, Puno, Piura or Cajamarca. What have all these people contributed to local culture? You should really ask a Cerreño (a native of Cerro de Pasco). Many people came in the early decades attracted by the promises of the enganchadores (contractors, literally those that hook people in) which in the end were nothing but lies because they were "hooked into" mining in the worst conditions with starvation wages. And I'm talking about thousands of workers who came and left mining when they needed workers. That's why it was quite normal to find people from Jauja, Huancavelica, Quebrada de Chaupihuaranga, Puno but few Cerreños. Nevertheless, most of them precisely because they were outsiders thought they would work for a while and then go home - they would complete their contract with the enganchador (literally person that hooks you – contractor) . The result of several decades of this is the great mixing which is so characteristic of Cerro de Pasco. Little by little the migrant workers found consolation from the solitude and the harshness of the work in the women of the Cerro. The growing number of families also solved the problem of the lack of workers. Thinking about this phenomenon do the different origins of the population have an impact on the festivities here? Yes that's true... by this time they are their children or grandchildren but they still feel and treasure the culture brought by their fathers or grandfathers. Now if we consider the growth of Cerro de Pasco we can see evidence of the different cultures and music which come from other Andean regions, and they are now part of Cerro de Pasco's culture. For example, in May all neighbourhoods celebrate the Feast of the Crosses, and in July, September and November the political founding of Cerro de Pasco, etc. Most of the feasts are religious with a patron saint which identifies one neighbourhood from another. |
Why is the Feast of the Crosses one of the biggest feasts in Pasco? First because it has to do with religious life and is a legacy of Spanish culture. But it should also be seen as part of indigenous culture because over the three or four days of the feast both the Negritos and Chonguinada dances are performed. They have their Masters of Ceremonies and traditional dishes such as charquican made from charqui (dried llama meat), the dried meat of the llama, green broth, pachamanca, etc. The feast has grown with the city. It began with a Fraternity, a group of followers of the Cross, and then became part of the whole community. Between them they cover the costs of the feast. But some customs such as in my own village have a different Master of Ceremonies for each day of the feast and they cover the costs. This feast has a mass and then dancing ... It begins with the mass and the dancers and bands and the participants all dance. |
|
| Section 8 | Are these festivities a means of lightening, alleviating or helping people with their problems or do they encourage people to be conform to their situation in life? The dancers in the Chonguinada are mostly mineworkers who take part through their faith and devotion. It's a local traditional dance as are the bands that play the music. People dance in pairs to a very special rhythm. It's a colourful dance and the dancers use costumes, chonguinos, which represent the Spanish, white people, that is the conquistador (conquerer) and the dominant caste of landowners, cattle breeders and owners of the mining wealth, ... with their costumes and make-up the dancers are the chonguinos. The chuto is another dancer who represents the Indian and the cholo (urban Indian) ... The Chonguinada is mostly presented in May but more recently it has also been brought into the July and September feasts. The Cortamonte or Unza is another feast celebrated in this area during Carnival. Dancing takes place round two or three trees which are planted the day before the main feast day. In the Cortamonte they dance in a ring, the couples dance and throw axes at the tree until it falls down and they continue the dance. The new padrinos (godparents/ sponsors of the annual festival) for the following year's Cortamonte are the couple whose axe finally fells the tree and the next year they will plant the tree in the same place and organise the feast, which means decorating the tree with presents and surprises, making food for everyone and paying for the band of musicians. |
And what other customs are still around? Well talking about customs, we also have the jala pato (lierally, pull the duck, a game). You put a well-adorned duck in a basket. The you hang the basket with the duck by two strings and you dance to the band in a circle round the basket. The basket is at an appropriate height, the dancers jump up to try to pull the string and the one who manages it is the new padrino for the following year's jala pato. There is also the tornero de cintas (literally, wheel of ribbons, like a maypole) which is similar to the jala pato where everyone who takes part give a ribbon to the master of ceremonies or godfather of the feast. Apart from all of this we have other feasts like the baile viejo (old dance), the Mama Rayhuana, the Juy Juy ... Tell us about them one by one please.. The baile viejo is a very old dance. The choreography still has vestiges of the era of the Vice-royalty. It's still done in the Quiulacocha campesina community. It's mainly about Spanish exploitation of the mines. .. The Mama Rayhuana comes from the Inca era though some historians think it goes back further to the pre-Incan period. It's a warrior dance and the dancers have costumes only for this occasion and they also use arrows, lances and other instruments of warfare. It's danced in Villa de Pasco and around Quebrada de Chaupihuaranga ... The Huancas Dance is found in Huaylasirca and it is another pre-Incan warrior dance and is accompanied by the tinya (little drum) and a quenacho (Andean flute). What is the tinya? The tinya is a little drum made with cowhide, it's about 15 - 20 cm in diameter with a very unusual sound. The Juy Juy is another warrior dance because it also uses the same clothes. It's a pre-Incan and Incan dance from Tusi around Quebrada de Chaupihuaranga. The music is unusual because it is whistled ... As you can see there's a lot to learn and perhaps I have only been able to mention a little. |
|
| Section 9 | Do they take place at times of religious feasts? No, ... because the Pre-Incan and Incan dances still done today have retained features of the great Incan culture throughout the centuries. But, there is still a feast which isn't about war and it's for young people. Today it's called the Fiesta de los Compadres (kin). This feast goes back to pre-Incan and Incan times and it's aim is to bring people together, to marry young people from a certain Incan territory, ... and it's still the same today. What do they do? Men and women stand in lines and they have to pass tests which are physical, and also of skills and abilities. All of those who pass the tests and are the right age go back into line with the girls but this time back to back without looking each other in the face. Then both lines turn round, they become couples and they promise to marry. In ancient times the commitment was probably more stringent, especially fulfilling the commitments... This is the Fiesta de los Compadres ... a mass has been added at the beginning from Spanish influence, ... and they are not so fussy about the tests now. In most of the feast they are face to face and then they form couples because everyone who takes part knows why. The dance is mainly for single men and women, in between the drinks they become couples and they tell their respective parents right away and they too become kin. As you can see in this feast the essence, the reason behind is one and only one ... And the older singles? Only married people are forbidden to participate ... At the beginning they come out dancing after the mass with the band to the square. Up till that point they all take part, the dads and mums. After that no, because the women make a long line and so do the men and they go dancing along opposite ends of the square and they come together at a certain point. The they separate again into different lines and they repeat this again and again which means they can change partners and so they go on until they find who they want ... and maybe the beginning of a couple. Is this celebrated throughout the region? It's only celebrated in Chacayan, in the Quebrada de Chaupihuaranga ... which is another province. The Fiesta de los Compadres has been dying out in Cerro de Pasco, it's no longer done. It seems that we have been losing our customs and traditions much more in the city than in the countryside. In the countryside people are more rigorous with their customs and traditions. A grandparent who has celebrated a feast is much more demanding of their children that they celebrate it in the same form and with the same customs. Here in the city the form of celebrating a feast is constantly changing. In the last Feast of the Crosses many of the Masters of Ceremonies put the Chonguinada and dances from Puno together. There will come a time when they will forget about the dances from the Cerro and bring in those from other regions. Well, in the end this is the change I was telling you about, the mestizaje (mixture) in the social composition of the Cerro people, so we're now quite used to seeing the Diablada and the Morenada (dances) which are part of Puno Folklore. |
| Section 10 | Has the colony of people and descendants from Puno grown in Cerro? Yes, ... I have to admit that the number of people from the Cerro is small compared to the majority who are not from the Cerro. There is a big influence from Huanca, Jauja and Ayacucho in particular. During Carnival the Jaujas dance a Cortemonte in their own style. This is because of the mine, the mine has brought people from different places to the Cerro. |
What is authentically from Cerro? Authentically from Cerro ... in the countryside, the Erranza and the Jaramuruy. |
|
What is the Jaramuruy? It's a part of a custom from Quebrada Chaupihuaranga. It's part of a feast ... which is linked to the change-over of responsibilities, or the change-over of the authorities in the Campesina Community ... There is another feast called the Feast of the Fields which is quite similar, the fields are called upon to protect the crops so that they are not ruined by the animals. Four or five are named here and one in particular is chosen because he has hung the skins of the skunks he has caught on the front of his house. At the end of the period the best field is awarded a prize, to the one who has killed most skunks and contributed most to the protection of the crops. There is also the Charicamay which has spread throughout the region but is most felt in Chacayan. It 's celebrated at the end of Carnival. This feast has a band and they enter the main square from all four corners. Now, the village is divided up into the upper and the lower neighbourhoods and the authorities head the proceedings each with flags and pennants. Once in the square they form groups with someone always at the head they dance and carry on to see who ends up with who ..., and that's the Feast of Charicamay which means ... catch me, catch me. It's a lovely feast and the whole village takes part. It looks as though they have kept their Andean culture in Chacayan. Yes that's true. The feasts in Chacayan have a good rhythm which is quite infectious, maybe that's why they are still so treasured. Another factor is the attitude of the people from Chacayan to their customs and traditions which you can see each year when they celebrate their feasts. They come from Lima, from the Jungle and other parts of the country - I mean the people from Chacayan who have had to leave the area maybe for work or in search of a better future. But they don't forget their land, their traditions, their customs. They don't add in anything modern, nothing like that. For example, the women, adults or girls, all wear the village costumes and put aside their clothes from the capital for a few days ... that's the way it is. In other villages like Tambochaca and Tusi they commemorate the death of the last Inca who was killed by the Spanish when they conquered Peru, the Inca Atahualpa, the same as in Carhuamayo. |
|
What days do they do this? On different dates. In Carhuamayo it's in August, in Tusi in July and in Villo Tambochaca also in July. This feast marks the arrival of the Spanish and the death of their Inca. It's a longing which is still there, latent, in many Andean villages. |
|
| Section 11 | This feast must also have its ritual form? Yes because it is the longing for the Incan Empire. There is also a legend which says that they killed Atahualpa in Cajamarca and the Spaniards decided to take the body to Cuzco. And when they were near what is now the town of Carhuamayo the Spanish column was heavily attacked by armed Indians who carried off Atahualpa's body. Then they buried him on the shores of Lake Junin. As you can see throughout this region there is a history which has yet to be recovered. Carhuamayo and Tusi are quite far from each other but their feasts are identical. The women dress like pallas (nobility) with shiny elegant accessories only used in these feasts and they represent the Inca Atahualpa. It's just the same in Yanacocha and Villo Tambochaca. In this area there are still remnants of what were the Inca roads laid in stone. They celebrate the same feast in exactly the same way in Cajamarca where they killed the Inca which is in the north of Peru. During the time of the Inca Carhuamayo it used to be an important tambo (inn or stopping place) for the whole region and perhaps that's why it is the largest feast. |
Where are the Incan roads and what's left of them now? If you go to Carhuamayo near Lake Junin, by Rancas, Pacoyan you get to Yanahuanca and Huarautambe. There is a beautiful tambo which dates from the pre-Incan and Incan era. The Inca used to rest in this tambo when he travelled from Cuzco ... There is a special room with elegant baths, rooms like those found in Cuzco which were described by the Spanish chroniclers of the time. Unfortunately they are not given the importance they merit. Well ..., from here you go to Huanuco, then Ancash and all the northern part. You also have to distinguish between the development of the Cerro de Pasco province which was linked to mining with that of the Yanahuanca which is where our customs and traditions are best kept. Even food, because most of the people of the highlands don't use much from other areas, things which have been prepared or put into jars. They don't use money much, they don't have much experience in transactions and that's why they are often taken advantage of. If you eat there they'll give you potato, beans, wheat, barley all made in different ways - local dishes. They also eat mashua, caya, chuño (potatoes that have been conserved/processed by freeze drying). The local dishes include locro (a soup or stew), tocle made from pork crackling, chick peas, chuño, wheat, beans with little bits of charqui (dried llama meat). They also have puchero (dish eaten with guinea pigs) which was brought by the Spanish but taken on here because they have all the ingredients: cabbage, potatoes, meat, etc. Finally, I'd like to emphasise that we have to value what's left of our culture much more. We cannot continue losing our true culture and that's what we are trying to do in this particular part of Peru. This area of campesina communities was strictly cattle-based and logically became a mining area because of the enormous quantity of mining reserves in the bowels of the Andes. This was a major change for us and logically for our ancestors which is what I have tried to show in my testimony. I am from a campesino community, my family and I are witnesses to the changes and we really want to preserve some of our customs which are part of our tradition and our heritage. They shouldn't be allowed to ruin what's left of Incan architecture and civil engineering which can still be seen in the buildings and roads. We need to value our traditions much more and persist with our customs because this is what identifies us as peoples. |
|
| Section 12 | Thank you very much. Thanks to you. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|