00:02Tipuani, this village minero of Bolivia, is two months under the water.
00:08There are almost 500 houses submerged since the beginning of the Riadas,
00:12at the beginning of January, after the earthquake of Tipuani.
00:16This village is so beautiful, so beautiful now that we see this disaster inundated,
00:23it is worth it, it is capital, capital of gold.
00:29With a balsa improvisation, Kispe navega every day by the village,
00:34with the hope of seeing its home from two plants.
00:38But there are streets that even llevan more than a year in pantanadas,
00:42in a mixture of river water, rain and desagües collapsed.
00:47It is the third summer consecutive year that the village of 7500 inhabitants
00:51is flooded.
00:53And in Chima, in a nearby village, the situation is similar.
00:58I live in a living room, in a tremendous difficulty,
01:02so my house is almost a year, a year, in the water.
01:06And no one says anything, the authorities don't come to say,
01:10at least what they are going to do with this.
01:11My family has gone from here, because there is no where to live.
01:14The flood of the river Tipuani was caused in part by rain outside of the common area,
01:21that scientists associated with the forest fires of the last year in the north of the country,
01:26and the climate change.
01:29That is totally normal.
01:30The phenomenon of the Niña has been characterized by raining menores,
01:36inundations much menores, inviernos, pardon, more cold.
01:40So, that increase in January has been the saturation of the soil in that region.
01:49But it is not the only factor.
01:52Tipuani and Chima are falling due to the fiebre of the gold,
01:55a metal whose price has increased 260% in the last 10 years.
02:01As cooperatives mineras remueven terrenos cerca del cauce del río,
02:06que no tendría que removerse,
02:08y ocasionan que en periodos de lluvia el río busque su cauce,
02:12lo que deriva en inundaciones de las poblaciones.
02:27Cambiar las cosas no es fácil.
02:30Según datos del municipio, el 92% de la población de la zona se dedica a trabajos relacionados con la
02:37minería.
02:40Puede desaparecer el pueblo porque todos tenemos que seguir trabajando.
02:44Todos tenemos que trabajar.
02:45¿De qué vamos a vivir si no trabajamos?
02:48Hay al menos 14 cooperativas en todo el municipio que trabajan sobre el cauce del río,
02:54y algunas reconocen que su labor puede haber tenido impacto en la subida de las aguas.
03:00Bueno, es así, muchas cooperativas trabajamos, esto no es desde ahora, sino desde hace muchos años atrás.
03:06Todos los desmontes han ido al río, pero ya en estos últimos años, como dije,
03:12estarán trabajando cerros y desde más arriba podría ser también que ha afectado.
03:18Luego de la entrevista con la France Press, Vargas fue reportado como desaparecido.
03:23Su familia dijo en redes sociales que su camioneta fue encontrada arrastrada por el río.
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