In the Peruvian Andes, the mining city of La Oroya, once one of the most polluted places on the planet, seeks to reactivate the heavy metal smelter that was a lifeline for its economy but also made its inhabitants sick.
"The vast majority of the population have been eager and have been waiting for a long time for this to be reactivated again, because this is the source of life"Hugo Enrique, a 48-year-old taxi driver, told AFP.
La Oroya, located 175 kilometers east of Lima, has been dying since 2009, as it depopulates and commerce falls due to the bankruptcy that year of the enormous metallurgical complex that has been the axis of its economy since 1922.
In almost a century, it processed copper, zinc, lead, silver, gold, bismuth, indium, tellurium, antimony and selenium that came from nearby mines.
Today, in this city of some 20,000 inhabitants, abandoned houses and empty shops cluster around the emblematic 167-meter chimney, one of the tallest in South America. Hills without vegetation surround the urban area built at about 3,750 meters above sea level.
La Oroya’s economy may revive in 2023 if the metallurgical complex reopens, as its former workers announced in October after becoming the new owners.
But at what cost?
Manuel Enrique Apolinario, a 68-year-old professor who has lived opposite the smelter in a brick and wood house since 1975, told AFP that his body has levels of lead, arsenic and cadmium.
"Here the worker or the merchant seems to have gotten used to that way of life in smoke and toxic gases."he pointed. "For a lifetime, those of us who have lived here have been ill with cases of flu and bronchitis, especially respiratory".
According to the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in 2013, 97% of children between six months and six years, and 98% of those between seven and 12 years, had elevated levels of lead in their blood.
– "Environmental responsibility" -The La Oroya smelter began operating on November 23, 1922 under the US Cerro de Pasco Corporation. In 1974 it was nationalized and in 1997 it was privatized, passing into the hands of Doe Run, of the American Renco group.
In June 2009, Doe Run halted work for violating an environmental protection program and filed for bankruptcy.
Now, under the name of Metalurgia Business Peru, 1,270 former Doe Run workers are betting on reopening the 19,000-hectare complex in March, with the commitment not to pollute.
"We will operate with the consent of our population, with social and environmental responsibility"Luis Mantari, the new owner, told AFP.
"What we want is for this unique complex in South America to celebrate another 100 years"emphasized José Aguilar, head of Human Resources.
Some 14 million tons of copper and lead waste or slag are stored at the site awaiting conversion.
"We, who have fought against pollution, have never opposed the company to work. That it be reactivated with an environmental plan"said Pablo Fabián MartÃnez, 67.
"I would like it to be reopened because without the company La Oroya lost its entire economy"added Rosa VÃlchez, a 30-year-old merchant whose husband must work in another city because of the closure.
– Respect health – In 2011, La Oroya was listed as the second most polluted city in the world, two years later it had fallen to fifth place, according to the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based conservation NGO. He rubbed shoulders with Chernobyl, after the nuclear disaster in Ukraine, or with the Dzerzhinsk chemical waste dump in Russia.
But since the smelter’s closure, concentrations of toxic gases have dropped significantly, according to environmental groups.
José de Echave, director of the NGO CooperAcción, considered "the legitimate expectation of the workers"but warned that "it is not possible to think of creating a source of work at the cost of a significant impact on ecosystems".
In 2006, a group of inhabitants of La Oroya denounced Peru before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for violating their right to health. In 2021, the IACHR held the Peruvian State responsible and referred the case to the Inter-American Court (CorteIDH), whose rulings are binding, which has yet to be pronounced.
The plaintiffs allege that the companies that controlled the smelter were not supervised, allowing high levels of contamination to the detriment of the population.
"We are aware that the metallurgical complex is a source of work. We do not deny that"Yolanda Zurita, one of the litigants, told AFP, who plants trees to reduce contamination.
"But a source of work must be respecting the health of the population"he claimed.