Not all the
metals of the Chuqui pit area belonged to Codelco, the Chilean national mining
company. Recently, a middle eastern conglomerate, Jheru Zahab, had purchased
gold and silver mining rights to surface and underground sites adjacent to the
giant excavation. Carlos had seen their advance team working in the field and
overheard the head geologists discussing precious metal yields in the
laboratory with some of their engineers. They had very strong Arabic accents
and for some reason Carlos took an immediate dislike to them. Perhaps it was
the way they refused his offer of coffee with a flip of the hand. Maybe it was
because they never seemed to smile. He decided to keep his distance.
If he would have overheard and understood
their comments in Arabic, he might have understood his attitude better.
Machmoud, the taller of the two Saudi engineers whispered through his thin cut
mustache. "Soon, we'll own enough of this land to easily control the
exports. Then we won't have to pretend"
The other turned and spoke
quietly. "From your mouth to God's ears."
"¿Que pasa
Miguel?" Carlos took a chair
alongside Miguel and signaled the waiter for a beer pointing to Miguel's bottle. "Bueno...
¿cómo están las cosas en la mina? Miguel inquired about life at
the mine. "Asi...another day, life as usual. " Carlos reported.
They met often
for lunch, taking turns with the bill. The fish was always fresh and always
excellent. Carlos was from Santiago and had been accepted to work at Chuquicamata
several years back. He met Miguel's sister at a party and they married after a
relatively long engagement. It was a good life for him, good salary,
interesting work and good company at the lab. Maria was a beautiful girl, encouraging,
strong for her small slender figure, and outgoing, as were all of the Sanchez
family. His family were not descendents of
fishermen though. They had been more like professionals. Accountants, clerks,
and a few doctors and lawyers described the Escobars of Santiago. His father taught Chemistry at the University.
So there was a
rift. Carlos was far better established along currently accepted economic
lines, while Miguel and his family were more firmly anchored in the social
fabric of the region. Carlos was still an "outsider" in the Atacama.
