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Faces of South America

  • Gilmer Ugkaju Intakea Edad, 20, bottom, an Awajun, ferries passengers across the Chiriaco river. One month after a bloody clash between indigenous natives (Awajun), local migrants and the Peruvian national police, life outside the provincial city of Bagua, Peru has returned to normal. On June 5, 2009 the police, using tanks, helicopters, tear gas and firearms, attacked a roadblock approximately 450 miles north of the capital, Lima. Protestors had been blocking roads for two months to demonstrate their opposition to laws that gave logging, mining and oil companies access to their ancestral grounds - the Amazon.
  • One month after a bloody clash between indigenous natives (Awajun), local migrants and the Peruvian national police, locals visit a memorial in honor of their family, friends and neighbors who died fighting for indigenous rights. On June 5, 2009 the police, using tanks, helicopters, tear gas and firearms, attacked a roadblock approximately 450 miles north of the capital, Lima. Protestors had been blocking roads for two months to demonstrate their opposition to laws that gave logging, mining and oil companies access to their ancestral grounds - the Amazon.
  • Gold miners leaving the mountains make their way through a pathway of garbage. The horrendous sanitary conditions result from the unregulated disposal of garbage and human waste.
  • An Afro-Bolivian woman, Irma Medina, 45, pauses while walking up a hill to her home.
  • A young girl toils at a small-scale gold mining site along with members of her family.
  • Two Peruvian neighbors pose for a photograph.
  • Several Afro-Peruvian men relax over a game of cards in the northern region near Ecuador.
  • Thousands of Peruvians gather at an outdoor mass and procession in honor of Our Lord of Miracles (Senor de los Milagros). It's the country's most widely attended religious event.It is rooted in African culture. According to tradition, in 1651 an enslaved man from Angola, who had converted to Catholicism, painted the depiction of Christ crucified on the wall of a building in Lima. In 1655 a major earthquake hit the area destroying the building, but the wall adorned with the painting was unharmed. Another earthquake, in 1687, caused the building to collapse and again the wall with the painted image remained intact. This cemented the importance of the image to the faithful. A replica of the image (with the Virgin Mary on one side) was created and is taken out in procession through the streets of Peru annually. The veneration of the image has international as well as national significance and it is associated with miraculous incidents.
  • Maria Yuly, 25-years old, the daughter of a miner, washes clothes as several gold miners relax overhead during their morning break.
  • Juana Vasquez, 71, picks coca leaves in the lush Yungas Valley.
  • Exhausted from picking coca leaves Juana Vasquez, 71, chats with her 7-year old grandson after preparing his lunch.
  • A young Afro-Bolivian girl washes her hair.
  • An Afro-Bolivian hunter returns home at the end of the day in the lush Yungas Valley.
  • As the sun sets a group of Afro-Bolivian children play soccer.
  • Two Afro-Bolivian girls stroll home.
  • An Afro-Ecuadorian woman observes pedestrians from her front window.
  • Afro-Bolivians and indigenous community members participate in a ceremony marking a religious festival ('Fiesta de San Benito').
  • A young girl, 12-years old, masquerades in blackface as an Afro-Latino prostitute as she solicits tourists for money.
  • A young Awajun boy carries a papaya from his father's canoe.
  • Gilmer Ugkaju Intakea Edad, 20, bottom, ferries, via a rope operated bridge, passengers across the Chiriaco river.
  • Two brothers share a carefree afternoon.
  • Colombians come and go at a busy marketplace.
  • Nancy Avila, 29, right, chews coca leaves while Hilda Cahuana, 40, grinds ore in search of gold.
  • Miners dump a container of ore that has been examined for gold.
  • A young woman waiting for a local bus to go into the nearby town, is temporarily joined by her naked child outside their home.
  • Workers use rocks to pave the streets of this north Yungas community.
  • Workers in downtown Buenos Aires pass a theater which features a Broadway play.
  • Folkloric groups and dancers march through the streets in celebration of La Festividad de Nuestro Senor Jesus del Gran Poder. It began in 1939 as a candle procession proceeded by an image of Christ. It has evolved into a large celebration honoring the Aymara culture.
  • An Afro-Bolivian woman observes a church service.
  • An Afro-Bolivian dance troupe performs for churchgoers during a celebration marking a religious festival ({quote}Fiesta de San Benito{quote}).
  • Friends and family gather on a neighbor's porch.
  • Jose Castillo, 17, left, navigates the boat as his father Vicente Castillo, 68, bails out water that is leaking inside. Justiña Ayovi, 58, is a passenger. The Castillos use the boat as a taxi to service communities along the Santiago and Cayapas Rivers.
  • Pinta y Canela, an Afro-Peruvian music/dance group, performs at a local restaurant. To many outsiders, contemporary descendants of the transatlantic slave trade are not as well known in Peru as they are in Columbia or Brazil. Afro-Peruvians are mostly concentrated along the coast.
  • Several young Peruvians hangout after watching a local soccer game.
  • An Afro-Peruvian girl, right, watches as two evangelical women, with children, go door-to-door distributing religious material.
  • Activists hand out leaflets denouncing the racist depiction of Afro-Peruvians on national television shows.
  • Eduardo Castillo answers his cellphone as his brother Victor Castillo struggles under the weight of a heavy coffin. Afro-Peruvian men (a vocational identity known as Camalenque) are highly sought to work as pallbearers - clad in tuxedos and white gloves at the most upscale funerals - under the belief that their skin-color lends an aura of elegance to the job. On May 18, 2010 Peru's Ministry of Culture denounced the practice of the Camalenque as racist and requested - to no avail - that the mortuary business end the service.
  • Yani Andrea Mina, 17-years old, plays with her 5-month old daughter, Mailin Andrea Mina, with her grandmother in the background.
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