Public Broadcasting’s new film Water for Life is the heartfelt story of how indigenous peoples of Latin America fought back when their environments and lives were threatened by corporate vultures.
There are certainly many stories of how large international corporations, often headquartered in the United States, have used their money and influence to exploit the resources of smaller, less powerful nations and peoples. Director Will Parrinello and writer/producer Sarah Kass’s film has put a human face on the specific recent struggles over water rights in Chile, Honduras, and El Salvador. Parrinello has done a great service with his detailed narrative of the heroic work of Alberto Curamil, Francisco Pineda, and Berta Cáceres.
One would think that a country’s government would include its own people’s needs when planning to make changes in natural resources that inhabitants have depended on for generations. The United Nations has repeatedly passed resolutions that indigenous peoples should be considered and consulted when such natural resources are planned for development. But over and over, the native populations’ needs and desires are ignored, particularly when potential profits might be jeopardized.
The Chilean constitution did not even recognize the existence of its Mapuchean population when it sought to exploit its precious resources in the 1970s. Mapuche Chief Alberto Curamil’s ancestors had been active leaders in their community for generations, fighting off Spanish attempts to steal land and water. But after Chilean dictator August Pinochet’s U.S.-aided, bloody overthrow of the legally elected democracy, the new right-wing dictatorship restarted encroachment on local natural assets.
The Mapuche indigenous people fought back. Direct action included acts of non-compliance, demonstration, and sabotage. Police attacked these challenges, beating locals, including Chief Curamil. Surveillance teams stalked Curamil and other Mapuche leaders. They were accused, and their homes were ransacked. They were arrested without evidence and imprisoned for over a year.
In El Salvador, the Pacific Rim Mining Company, headquartered in the U.S., sought to use local waters to engineer its mines. Their proposed gold mining would use vast amounts of water and heavy metals that would pollute water, ground, and air. Company President and CEO Thomas Shrake had promised “socially and environmentally responsible mining.”
However, 90% of the surface water in El Salvador was contaminated. Despite promises to “protect the water”, Pacific Rim pumped the rivers dry by 2004. One hour of Pacific Rim’s pumping used as much water as an average family used in 30 years. The project would have used two tons of cyanide a day, contaminating underground as well as surface water.
Local farmer Francisco Pineda organized against this abuse of local waters. But Pacific Rim filed lawsuits and hired thugs to terrorize the local opposition. One organizer’s tortured body was found thrown down a well. A college student was executed while putting up anti-mining posters. A woman was offered $2,000 to poison Francisco Pineda. And in case violence didn’t work, the company sued the government of El Salvador, as well!
In neighboring Honduras, when the U.S.-backed coup seized control, the government approved over 1,400 mining and hydraulic concessions, creating an environmental disaster. Amidst rampant corruption, the World Bank stepped in to finance DESA Hydroelectric Company’s purported attempt to electrify Honduras’ rural villages.
The company soon began to act as if it owned the villages. The army evicted local farmers and destroyed fields and crops. Nothing was paid for damages. West Point graduate and Honduran Army Intelligence Officer David Castillo took control through the local police. The Honduran Public Utilities Commission secured permits to construct dams through back-room deals.
Local indigenous peoples, led by Berta Cáceres, co-founder and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, and Salvatore Zuniga, organized opposition. They won local elections against dam construction. When the army was brought in to make way for the dams, they were met by indigenous blockades. Soldiers fired into the crowds, killing farmers.
When their actions and threats couldn’t secure compliance, leader Berta Caceres was murdered in cold blood by assassins trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, at the former School of the Americas, the planning and training ground linked to thousands of murders of human rights and environmental activists throughout Latin America.
In each of these three cases detailed in Water for Life—Chile, El Salvador, and Honduras—the film painfully traces how the lure of profits secured corrupt government compliance and violence against local populations. Director Parrinella clearly outlines the issues involved and the motives of the participants.
The murderous actions against indigenous peoples by corrupt right wing juntas were repeatedly supported by U.S. politicians ranging from George Bush and Dick Cheney to Hillary and Bill Clinton.
Despite overwhelming odds against them, the indigenous peoples were able in each of these cases to triumph. In Chile, charges against Chief Curamil were dropped, and in El Salvador, Francisco Pineda was acquitted of charges, and Pacific Rim had to pay $8 million in damages.
In 2017, El Salvador banned the mining of gold and other metals. Even in Honduras, seven of the eight people who had assassinated Berta Cáceres were convicted, and David Castillo, President of DESA development, was convicted of masterminding Cáceres’s murder and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
As Water for Life ably shows us the truth to the words of Berta Cáceres’s daughter after her mother was assassinated: “La Lucha Continua!”
Water for Life premieres Monday, April 21, on PBS channels and streaming on pbs.org.
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