Farming communities accuse Yanacocha of contaminating their water supply and the mine was responsible for a mercury spill that poisoned over 900 people -- the focus of our first film: 'Choropampa, The Price of Gold.' (www.guarango.org/choropampa)
We met Father Marco during the filming of Choropampa, 12 years ago. In the immediate aftermath of the spill, he visited the affected villages and published the first independent study on the devastating impacts. But Marco insisted on remaining 'behind the scenes' and doesn't appearin the film. "The farmers are the real heroes of this story," he told us.
Over the years, Marco and his group of young activists known as GRUFIDES continued their defense of farming communities affected bythe mine and we were honored to film them in their labors. In 2004, Marco was awarded Peru's most prestigious human rights award and in 2009 was declared an 'Environmental Hero' by TIME magazine.
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