How One Indigenous Woman Took On A Multinational Mining Corporation, And Won

Máxima Acuña suffered violent eviction attempts, beatings and a lengthy legal battle for four years to protect her land from a multinational coal mining corporation – and won. Acuña and her family depend on her farmland and the clean waters of Lake Laguna Azul for drinking water and crop irrigation. The Minera Yanocha and Newmont Mining corporations attempted to displace this family in order to build an open-pit mine near the lake, but Acuña courageously defended her community and the environment. Photo credit: Jorge Chávez Ortiz