Huancavelica, Peru: From Sacred Shrine to Contaminated Capital

This essay discusses the work of an American NGO, the Environmental Health Council, in documenting and remediating mercury and other heavy metal contamination in Huancavelica, Peru. The nearby Santa Bárbara and Challacatana hills are among the most extensive cinnabar deposits in the world. Mercury distilled in Huancavelica during the Spanish colonial period was dispatched throughout the Andean region and was a requisite input for the production of silver through the amalgamation process. While this stimulated the rise of modern globalism, it has left extensive contamination in its wake with which contemporary residents contend.