The Characters
All of the characters featured in the film live in the Huasco Valley in northern Chili where the Atacama desert begins. Father Chepillo is the only exception. He lives in the parish of Caldera a little farther north on the coast.
Sergio Campusano is the chief of the Huascoaltinos (Diaguitas), the indigenous people of the Huasco Valley, who live mainly from farming and herding. He is determined to denounce Barrick Gold and Xstrata for robbing his people of their land, with the complicity of the Chilean and Canadian governments. He says the companies usurped his people's rights to some 50,000 hectares of land through a fraudulent sale, made without the consent of all the members of the indigenous community.
Father Chepillo is a follower of liberation theology and is closely involved with the communities in northern Chili. He is well-known for his opposition to the succession of foreign mining megaprojects in the heart of the Cordilleran Andes. This priest is a true guide and opened the doors of the communities affected by the mining companies.
Osiel Cubillos is the head of the first union set up in the Barrick Gold Pascua Lama project. This charismatic man with incredible presence was one of the first workers hired by Barrick Gold. He says the company did not respect their contract, which included construction of roads and infrastructure as well as professional training that would prepare the workers to have jobs at the Pascua Lama mine. Instead, the company used trickery and pressure to get rid of the 90 workers of Union number 1.
Luis Faura is a municipal councillor at Alto del Carmen, in the Huasco Valley. He decided to get involved in the struggle of the community after his wife died and after he made a trip to the northern mining region of Chili, where he witnesses the environmental disaster being wreaked by unchecked mining operations. His social activism, his involvement on the ground and his pilgrimmage to the halls of power to confront the Chilean and Canadian governments make up the backbone of the film.
Mario Mautz is a Huasco Valley farmer and one of the first to sound the alarm against Canadian mining development under the glaciers which are the source of the rivers that irrigate the valley. His active presence in the farming communities and in the the media, his commitment, activism and thoughtfulness make Mario Mautz a symbol of the region's resistance.
Mauricio Rios was in the struggle from the beginning and is president of the Valley Defense organization grouping the people of the area who oppose mining megaprojects. He is a tireless activist and has organized numerous demonstrations against Pascua Lama and other mining projects throughout Chili. He is working to develop ecotourism in this marvellous region of the Andes that he has criss-crossed on horseback. We travel with him into the heart of the country, a virtual no man's land being surrendered to foreign mining companies.