February 4, 2020

When Two Worlds Collide:

            The suckling pigs at the beginning of the documentary, to me, is a foreshadowing of what the documentary is going to cover: greed of people on natural resources. There also could potentially be a comparison to the people who are consuming as pigs as well. The imagery of the documentary at the beginning really shows of the natural landscape that Peru has to offer, so when Pizango mentions “savage development,” he is talking about people killing the landscape, culture, and sometimes people to accumulate material wealth.

            The introduction of the laws in Peru that the indigenous people are against is very interesting. According to one of the commentators in the documentary, these laws were meant to take away the communal property and resources from the people of Peru and benefit big companies and government. There are many differing opinions of these laws. Alberto Pizango believes the land cannot be sold and they don’t do negotiations with their land. He does not think Garcia, the president, understands that because he doesn’t mind doing business involving land. They believe that they will only have the money for a few years and then they will have extracted everything and all that will be left is death in a physical and metaphorical sense. They also quote their constitution which gives them the right to deal with their own land. They believe they were not consulted before a law was made they would affect them. They are simply asking for respect in their strike. There are no natives in the government to represent them. On the other hand, Garcia believes that the land belongs to the whole nation. That the riches of Peru should be for all Peruvians, not just the indigenous people. He believes they are outnumbered and is trying to do the most amount of good for the most about of people. The government must remain strong to keep the country going

It seems however, that there is some corrutption and controversy over these laws as well. Belaunde, a former congressman, said that Garcia’s government lied to get them to not change the laws. He said that if they even change done comma, that it would cause the Free Trade Agreement to completely fall apart. He said he knew that was a lie, and that was the biggest fraud of Garcia’s government to him.

When the protests turned violence, Garcia defended the police defending themselves, even though it seems that they are the ones that started the aggravation. He said they were only defending their country, and that 11 policemen died. He said do not let the natives say that they were the victims, that the police were. Even though 82 natives were shot and 9 died.

Galeano:

            In this section, Galeano looks at petroleum as “black gold” or even silver, which is the connection we made in class to open “veins.” He uses a royal metaphor to discuss the ways in which this black gold has such influence in the world around it. He also makes the comparison of the benefits and disadvantages in Latin America and the United States when it comes to oil production. He explains that the richer countries profit more from the consumption than the poorer countries do even though the poorer countries are the ones producing it. A paradox forms out of American consumption as well; the laws of market become inversed: when demand rises for petroleum, and the means of producing it multiply, the value and price of petroleum fall. An even more interesting paradox: while the price of petroleum drops, the price people are paying for this fuel rises. Out of the Chaco War came the nationalization of the Gulf and the annulment of the “Davenport Code.”

Standard Oil Co.:

            The imagery of bodily systems is prevalent in this poem. It reminds me of the opening scenes of the documentary where we view much of Peru’s nature. It also connects with the idea of Galeano’s “open veins” concept. It shows the corruption when it discusses that the petroleum’s arteries buy the things it wants and buys help from people who are supposed to be loyal to their country, not company (stanza 4). I picture the violence of the documentary when it discusses guns, machine guns, and war. I am reminded of the Chaco War when it discusses Paraguay and Bolivia and the disagreements over petroleum.