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Journalism of Courage
The survival of 33 miners trapped a half-mile underground and the governments unblinking effort to pull them out alive are giving Chileans reason to be proud as they celebrated their nations bicentennial on Saturday.
But the mine disaster also is forcing Chileans to acknowledge aspects of their society long hidden from view. The miners faces displayed across the pages of Chiles leading newspapers reflect lifetimes of scratching out livings in difficult conditions. And Chilean pride about the rescue effort is balanced by frustration that the government hasnt done more to provide for all of its people.
Indeed,the miners arent the only marginalised group whose survival has become a national concern during this bicentennial: 34 imprisoned Mapuche Indians are 67 days into a hunger strike,their latest tactic in a long and violent campaign to regain land and government resources.
Chile is successful partly because we have inherited the Mapuche culture of the nations original inhabitants,said Marta Lagos,director of the Latinobarometro regional survey firm based in Santiago. Its an austere culture hard,dry,tenacious,persistent,and all of this has to do with success, she said.
The miners survived for 17 days after 700,000 tonnes of rock collapsed in the San Jose gold and copper mine on August 5. They kept their wits,washing tiny bits of canned tuna and peaches down with sips of milk every other day to stretch a 48-hour emergency food supply. Above ground,their rescuers never gave up,despite bad maps of the mine that initially frustrated their attempts to reach their refuge with a narrow bore hole that eventually found them alive.
The government has refused to estimate the cost of the rescue effort,which now includes three huge drills working simultaneously. But the drilling alone will cost nearly $5 million,meaning the overall bill could reach $10 million or more before the miners see sunlight. Saturday the anniversary of Chiles declaration of independence was the 46th day of their confinement.
Chiles largest mining companies are flush with cash,apply modern safety standards and have access to the worlds best technology to extract the minerals that provide 40 per cent of the revenue. But these men toiled in the hardscrabble lower ranks of the industry,in a poorly financed mine already proven to be unsafe,precisely because the risks meant earning slightly better wages,netting up to $19,000 a year.
In celebrating them as heroes,Chile is recognising a group of people who have lived on the margins of society.
