The La Oroya Conflict: The Intractable Conflict Between Health and Work

Abstract

Focused on the conflict that unfolded during 1999–2009, this chapter describes the context in which a human rights trade-off in La Oroya first became visible in the national and international spheres. It discloses the most immediate causes of the conflict, most notably the smelting company’s non-compliance with environmental obligations and the Peruvian government’s leniency in enforcing them. Both influenced a community division that led to a collective defense of health and work as two separate and conflicting demands. The chapter argues that events in this timeframe only reveal the first explanatory layer of this community’ conundrum, pointing to the need for deeper and wider analysis in order to identify the root causes of the trade-off dilemma.