It is estimated that there are about two thousand shipwrecks on the coasts…
Illicit Trade, Ep. 03 - Vicuña
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
View on the Pragda STREAM site
Vicu
Citation
Main credits
Breit Lira, Diego (film director)
Guzmán Storey, David (researcher)
Sanhueza Melendez, Paulina (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, Guillermo González; editor, Darío Órdenes; music, Wesley Slover.
Distributor subjects
Activism; Environment + Sustainability; Anthropology; Sociology; South America; Criminal Justice; Science + Technology; Geography; Latin American Studies; Economics + Social Class Issues; International RelationsKeywords
WEBVTT
00:00:41.017 --> 00:00:43.821
Vicunas have these big eyes,
00:00:43.821 --> 00:00:46.291
wet, puffed out faces,
00:00:46.291 --> 00:00:49.004
rounded skulls,
00:00:49.004 --> 00:00:52.658
and that makes you look at them and have
00:00:52.658 --> 00:00:54.509
and have this feeling of:
00:00:55.173 --> 00:00:57.073
\"What a cutie\".
00:01:02.089 --> 00:01:05.099
The vicuna fiber is the finest
animal fiber in the world,
00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:06.539
after the silkworm.
00:01:07.505 --> 00:01:11.785
You are not only dressing in the fiber,
you are also dressing with the species.
00:01:11.785 --> 00:01:14.060
You are wearing the fabric
00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:15.970
of a charismatic species.
00:01:17.975 --> 00:01:20.509
We have always found them dismembered,
00:01:20.509 --> 00:01:22.192
other times we find
00:01:22.192 --> 00:01:24.962
the remains of the animal\'s body
00:01:24.962 --> 00:01:27.200
so it can later be processed
00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:29.990
and have good economic profitability,
00:01:29.990 --> 00:01:31.780
in the illegal market.
00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:37.661
Up there... up there shit is wild.
00:01:37.661 --> 00:01:38.857
Up there, there is no law.
00:01:39.362 --> 00:01:41.500
Only the quickest survived.
00:01:42.139 --> 00:01:45.288
It\'s the far west.
Up there, only the bullets\' whistle.
00:02:12.920 --> 00:02:14.210
The vicuna has always,
00:02:14.210 --> 00:02:16.170
since it has a bond with humankind,
00:02:16.170 --> 00:02:18.110
been the fiber that dresses
00:02:18.110 --> 00:02:19.655
the powerful.
00:03:46.172 --> 00:03:47.600
On one time,
00:03:47.600 --> 00:03:49.490
we were doing a big inspection.
00:03:49.490 --> 00:03:51.739
We were resting for a while.
00:03:51.739 --> 00:03:53.123
When suddenly...
00:03:53.123 --> 00:03:56.193
five pickup trucks appear,
speeding fast up the road.
00:03:56.683 --> 00:03:58.543
They were avoiding the inspection.
00:03:58.543 --> 00:04:01.849
Everyone got into the pickup trucks
to go chase them.
00:04:02.423 --> 00:04:05.093
The first thing we got was a gunshot.
00:04:09.824 --> 00:04:12.343
We began to repel the attack.
00:04:21.050 --> 00:04:23.681
And when we started...
00:04:23.681 --> 00:04:24.850
... interrogating...
00:04:24.850 --> 00:04:26.860
the person we had under custody,
00:04:26.860 --> 00:04:28.770
I asked: \"Why did you cross the border?\".
00:04:28.770 --> 00:04:31.014
He said, \"we came
to get pickup trucks...
00:04:31.014 --> 00:04:32.754
\"... but we also need to take skin\".
00:04:32.754 --> 00:04:34.553
\"What skin?\"
\"Vicuna skin\", he said.
00:04:34.553 --> 00:04:36.603
\"Why are you taking the vicunas?\"
00:04:36.603 --> 00:04:38.913
\"Because we are selling them\".
00:04:39.601 --> 00:04:41.800
\"And why do you also
carry weapons?\"
00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:43.760
\"To face the police...
00:04:44.493 --> 00:04:46.433
... because we know this is illegal\".
00:04:54.564 --> 00:04:55.663
At the beginning,
00:04:55.663 --> 00:04:58.447
it was created but not enabled
00:04:58.447 --> 00:05:02.577
the Department of Illicit Behaviors
in Environment and Ecology.
00:05:02.577 --> 00:05:04.561
That\'s what it was called before.
00:05:04.561 --> 00:05:05.571
After that,
00:05:06.301 --> 00:05:07.743
at the end of 2000,
00:05:08.096 --> 00:05:10.196
the general director of that time
00:05:10.666 --> 00:05:13.229
comes up with the name BIDEMA,
00:05:13.811 --> 00:05:15.631
they name me chief
00:05:15.631 --> 00:05:18.091
and that\'s when we begin the whole
00:05:18.446 --> 00:05:21.281
environmental-operation, so to speak
00:05:21.651 --> 00:05:24.881
investigating, just like you would work
on any other felony,
00:05:24.881 --> 00:05:26.861
homicide, drug trafficking...
00:05:26.861 --> 00:05:29.063
Everyone looked at us weird.
00:05:33.284 --> 00:05:35.314
I realized that
00:05:35.314 --> 00:05:36.673
I had to
00:05:36.673 --> 00:05:40.314
gather a team that would investigate
the vicuna: Why were they hunting it?
00:05:40.989 --> 00:05:42.661
And I also realize
00:05:42.661 --> 00:05:47.011
that, in this broad piece
of land in the highlands,
00:05:47.011 --> 00:05:49.558
how to know when they come in
00:05:49.558 --> 00:05:52.158
how to know when they start hunting,
00:05:52.158 --> 00:05:53.648
and how to know
00:05:53.648 --> 00:05:55.501
when they are going out with the skins.
00:05:57.745 --> 00:06:01.315
You stand in the desert.
You don\'t see anything anywhere around.
00:06:01.315 --> 00:06:03.267
There is nothing.
00:06:03.267 --> 00:06:05.960
You look that way: rocks.
You look the other way: rocks.
00:06:06.616 --> 00:06:11.018
So I said: \"Well, boys. We do the same
here as any other crime,
00:06:11.018 --> 00:06:13.431
we have to make
the desert talks to us\".
00:06:14.638 --> 00:06:16.603
\"Feel the smells...
00:06:16.603 --> 00:06:19.113
Feel how the desert talks...
00:06:19.113 --> 00:06:21.008
Look at the tracks they leave.
00:06:21.008 --> 00:06:23.508
Why are the footprints of these animals
00:06:23.508 --> 00:06:26.281
buried in the ground.
00:06:26.281 --> 00:06:29.618
Why is the stone where they went by,
cracked this way:
00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:31.709
Did they escape?
00:06:32.186 --> 00:06:33.896
Were they being hunted?
00:06:34.274 --> 00:06:36.154
Are there tire tracks?
00:06:36.154 --> 00:06:39.223
Were they running from left to right,
or from right to left?
00:06:39.764 --> 00:06:42.013
Did they go around the hill?
00:06:42.013 --> 00:06:44.287
Feel how the desert
will start to talk to you\".
00:06:44.287 --> 00:06:47.929
All of that information
that is being raised,
00:06:47.929 --> 00:06:51.109
will tell you what type
of poacher comes here.
00:06:55.355 --> 00:06:59.351
We have to understand that the vicuna has
a very expensive fiber,
00:06:59.351 --> 00:07:01.413
for the international market.
00:07:01.913 --> 00:07:06.040
And the limits of the Parinacota
province are very extended
00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:09.580
and has a large number of vicunas.
00:07:11.643 --> 00:07:17.273
Therefore it is attractive for poachers,
whether they are Chilean, Peruvian or Bolivian.
00:07:37.494 --> 00:07:40.517
The vicuna has no homogeneous
distribution in the territory.
00:07:40.517 --> 00:07:45.617
It\'s not like they are all one meter
away from each other, no.
00:07:46.367 --> 00:07:51.512
They concentrate depending on the food
and water supply.
00:07:57.287 --> 00:08:00.840
At night they go to higher places
to sleep.
00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:04.957
And during the day they descend
to the feeding spots.
00:08:04.957 --> 00:08:06.688
So, that route
00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:08.983
they already know it.
00:08:27.489 --> 00:08:30.440
And so what the poachers did
was to stay the night
00:08:31.405 --> 00:08:32.645
and wait until dawn
00:08:33.448 --> 00:08:34.668
and...
00:08:34.668 --> 00:08:36.527
... they shot them.
00:09:00.611 --> 00:09:02.795
They would normally shoot the male first,
00:09:02.795 --> 00:09:04.791
who is the one to lead the group.
00:09:04.791 --> 00:09:07.429
Therefore they beheaded
the chance...
00:09:07.429 --> 00:09:09.659
... these animals had to escape.
00:09:10.199 --> 00:09:14.844
And in this mess, they shoot every
other member of the group.
00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:19.689
The killing shifted to
00:09:19.689 --> 00:09:23.089
a skinning process made very
violently and very fast.
00:09:23.089 --> 00:09:26.099
One, two, three, four, five... even
00:09:26.099 --> 00:09:27.789
twenty vicunas
00:09:27.789 --> 00:09:29.509
dead, skinned.
00:09:29.509 --> 00:09:31.519
It didn\'t matter if they were offspring,
00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:33.739
male, female,
pregnant, not pregnant...
00:09:33.739 --> 00:09:35.290
...it made no difference.
00:09:57.436 --> 00:10:01.389
I think the poacher
does a horrible thing,
00:10:01.389 --> 00:10:04.428
because he kills an animal to take
its skin, even though
00:10:04.428 --> 00:10:06.914
you don\'t need to kill the animal
to use its fur.
00:10:08.318 --> 00:10:10.496
Like every corrupt entity,
00:10:10.496 --> 00:10:14.460
it\'s taking the wrong path.
00:10:17.247 --> 00:10:18.734
With the vicuna fiber,
00:10:18.734 --> 00:10:19.767
you can make
00:10:19.767 --> 00:10:21.197
coats,
00:10:21.197 --> 00:10:22.517
jackets,
00:10:22.517 --> 00:10:24.161
you can make stoles,
00:10:24.161 --> 00:10:25.237
scarfs.
00:10:25.237 --> 00:10:30.169
I mean, the fiber allows you to make
stitched fibers or flat knitted fibers.
00:10:30.169 --> 00:10:32.121
A poncho, a cape...
00:10:34.637 --> 00:10:38.234
This fiber is very thin and, therefore,
00:10:38.234 --> 00:10:42.356
it keeps you very warm,
but it\'s very light.
00:10:42.356 --> 00:10:44.459
It practically doesn\'t weigh at all.
00:10:44.459 --> 00:10:51.129
And this is the main reason for
its quality and fineness to the fabric.
00:11:03.508 --> 00:11:06.532
In the case of the vicuna, since
the Inca Empire, and even before,
00:11:06.532 --> 00:11:09.965
they understood that the vicuna has
a very important feature:
00:11:09.965 --> 00:11:12.905
When kept in captivity
they cannot reproduce.
00:11:12.905 --> 00:11:15.993
Therefore, they had to live
in the wild pampas
00:11:15.993 --> 00:11:18.778
that are four thousand meters high,
or more, and there
00:11:18.778 --> 00:11:22.478
where the indigenous communities
that looked after them and kept them.
00:11:27.734 --> 00:11:33.479
In this morning, Monday 16th,
all of us here, are going to make a
00:11:33.479 --> 00:11:37.964
plea of license and authorization to
proceed to make a film recording,
00:11:37.964 --> 00:11:40.824
with Glaciar Films.
00:11:41.405 --> 00:11:43.557
Tata Willka or Tata Inti,
00:11:43.557 --> 00:11:47.037
we ask for the authorization
00:11:47.037 --> 00:11:50.947
and the license to begin
these film recordings.
00:11:50.947 --> 00:11:55.627
Protective hills,
the gods that are present,
00:11:55.627 --> 00:11:59.854
we thank you for the license
to continue this work.
00:11:59.854 --> 00:12:00.934
Yuspagarpa,
00:12:00.934 --> 00:12:02.434
¡jallalla!
00:12:04.769 --> 00:12:08.246
The vicuna is Wari,
00:12:08.246 --> 00:12:10.364
that\'s the Aymara name.
00:12:10.364 --> 00:12:12.309
The vicuna is an emblem,
00:12:12.309 --> 00:12:15.730
as important as the condor
and the cougar.
00:12:16.529 --> 00:12:18.718
The indigenous communities
00:12:18.718 --> 00:12:20.998
of the Aymara and the Quechua people,
00:12:20.998 --> 00:12:23.128
the original authorities dressed:
00:12:23.128 --> 00:12:27.901
with the vicuna scarf, vicuna poncho,
the women wore vicuna blankets.
00:12:27.901 --> 00:12:32.386
They are part of the experience and
the culture of the Aymara people.
00:12:37.788 --> 00:12:40.624
There is a whole ritual
involving vicunas.
00:12:40.624 --> 00:12:43.719
The vicuna is the sacred animal
for the Incas.
00:12:45.014 --> 00:12:48.406
During the ceremonies
the Inca King would dress...
00:12:48.406 --> 00:12:50.058
... with the fur of the vicuna.
00:12:50.650 --> 00:12:53.420
He would wear it like a blanket,
as a trophy.
00:12:57.426 --> 00:13:01.926
The vicuna lives over the 4.500 meters
high, that\'s its habitat.
00:13:01.926 --> 00:13:03.696
In the mountain.
00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:07.940
The spirits live in the mountain.
00:13:11.036 --> 00:13:13.517
Our fathers, our grandfathers,
when they pass away,
00:13:13.517 --> 00:13:15.047
they physically disappear,
00:13:15.577 --> 00:13:20.286
but their spirit lives in the mountains,
from where they look at us.
00:13:21.095 --> 00:13:24.127
And who lives at that same hight?
The vicuna.
00:13:44.418 --> 00:13:48.196
The South-American camelids,
are physiological wonders.
00:13:48.196 --> 00:13:51.134
They are animals that have
an enormous resistance
00:13:51.134 --> 00:13:53.619
and are very efficient
in their use of resources.
00:13:54.225 --> 00:13:57.330
And the vicuna in particular
it\'s a species that...
00:13:57.330 --> 00:14:01.590
... perfectly endures very low
temperatures and very unfavorable
00:14:01.590 --> 00:14:02.916
climate conditions,
00:14:02.916 --> 00:14:06.436
and a food supply
which is very crude and scarce,
00:14:06.436 --> 00:14:09.888
that gives very low energy,
anyhow they live and reproduce perfectly.
00:14:09.888 --> 00:14:13.844
They are one of those species
that live in extreme conditions.
00:14:19.824 --> 00:14:23.311
An animal is able to run at about
at 50 kilometers per hour
00:14:24.010 --> 00:14:27.091
at 4.000 or 5.000 meters above sea level,
00:14:27.091 --> 00:14:28.741
In my opinion, it\'s remarkable.
00:14:28.741 --> 00:14:30.732
And I have seen vicunas running,
00:14:31.785 --> 00:14:32.785
like a gazelle,
00:14:33.765 --> 00:14:34.765
above
00:14:35.370 --> 00:14:37.211
4.500 meters above sea level
00:14:37.657 --> 00:14:39.791
with no trouble doing so.
00:14:54.485 --> 00:14:59.361
If you go to a 4.500 meters high
location you realize
00:14:59.361 --> 00:15:01.592
that you are actually not designed
to be able to survive there.
00:15:03.148 --> 00:15:04.903
And as much as you make an effort,
00:15:05.465 --> 00:15:09.233
your physical performance is precarious.
00:15:09.233 --> 00:15:10.403
It\'s very precarious.
00:15:16.693 --> 00:15:18.707
Where I have felt the coldest
00:15:18.707 --> 00:15:19.814
in my life
00:15:19.814 --> 00:15:21.253
is in the highlands.
00:15:21.253 --> 00:15:23.303
You\'re there during the day and say: \"Well,
00:15:23.303 --> 00:15:25.743
the night will come and
00:15:25.743 --> 00:15:26.973
it\'ll never be that bad\".
00:15:26.973 --> 00:15:29.398
But it can get to 30 degrees below 0.
00:15:36.227 --> 00:15:39.506
The people that live up there, do so
because they really know the territory,
00:15:39.506 --> 00:15:40.899
otherwise, you won\'t endure.
00:15:42.026 --> 00:15:43.296
You don\'t survive.
00:15:44.486 --> 00:15:46.816
Someone who lives in the highlands
in this moment,
00:15:46.816 --> 00:15:49.636
is a person who knows
practically all of the territory.
00:15:51.866 --> 00:15:53.694
That requires experience.
00:15:54.395 --> 00:15:55.642
It\'s nights,
00:15:55.642 --> 00:15:56.762
it\'s freezing mornings
00:15:57.980 --> 00:15:59.779
and to get that, you have to be there.
00:16:22.199 --> 00:16:24.101
The animals are everything,
00:16:24.101 --> 00:16:25.832
for an Aymara family.
00:16:27.557 --> 00:16:29.114
Your livestock are your meat.
00:16:29.937 --> 00:16:31.584
Your livestock are your milk.
00:16:33.828 --> 00:16:35.447
Your livestock are your clothes.
00:16:36.377 --> 00:16:38.617
Your livestock are your footwear,
your leather.
00:16:38.617 --> 00:16:41.426
It\'s the animal for the ceremonies,
to celebrate the rituals,
00:16:41.426 --> 00:16:44.336
the ceremonies for Mother Earth,
the Pachamama.
00:16:45.026 --> 00:16:49.359
And for millennia it has been the economic
foundation for the highlands\' economy.
00:17:31.003 --> 00:17:35.118
When they killed the first policemen,
because there were two episodes,
00:17:35.118 --> 00:17:38.947
in the second one, I had retired,
and in the first one,
00:17:38.947 --> 00:17:41.455
they shot the police officer on the head,
00:17:41.455 --> 00:17:42.840
and the officer laid dead
00:17:42.840 --> 00:17:44.407
on top of his horse.
00:17:44.407 --> 00:17:46.603
And the horse turned
to the left,
00:17:46.603 --> 00:17:49.051
and then they shot another
17 times to his body.
00:17:53.274 --> 00:17:54.606
We said:
00:17:54.606 --> 00:17:57.428
\"This is not about just going up there
to the highlands...
00:17:57.428 --> 00:18:00.068
... looking for people
that go around hunting vicunas\".
00:18:27.144 --> 00:18:29.282
The hunters, in general,
00:18:29.282 --> 00:18:32.432
work during the night, they use the moon,
00:18:32.432 --> 00:18:35.100
so they can see better
00:18:35.100 --> 00:18:37.560
and they try not to be seen at all.
00:18:39.528 --> 00:18:41.337
That\'s the Tacora volcano.
00:18:42.176 --> 00:18:43.837
We are getting closer
00:18:44.887 --> 00:18:46.916
to a place where
00:18:46.916 --> 00:18:49.745
we once found 12 dead vicunas,
00:18:49.745 --> 00:18:51.115
skinned.
00:18:55.348 --> 00:18:59.387
They were spread, I would say in a
50 or 70 meters radius.
00:18:59.712 --> 00:19:01.252
It was during the night,
00:19:01.252 --> 00:19:02.422
there were a few of us...
00:19:03.412 --> 00:19:06.392
And the climate conditions,
which is the hardest thing.
00:19:36.312 --> 00:19:42.268
Our lab got involved because I made an
invitation to law enforcement entities in Chile
00:19:42.268 --> 00:19:43.951
to come to our lab
00:19:43.951 --> 00:19:48.015
and learn how to process
a wildlife crime scene.
00:19:51.208 --> 00:19:57.819
This is a law enforcement lab focused specifically
on criminal violations or criminal cases,
00:20:00.449 --> 00:20:05.644
Dedicated solely to looking
at illegal wildlife trade.
00:20:06.812 --> 00:20:12.453
And its kind of a difficult expertise because
there is roughly 4.500 mammals in the world.
00:20:12.453 --> 00:20:14.810
There is about 9 thousand birds,
00:20:14.810 --> 00:20:17.509
there is about 12 thousand herps,
00:20:18.159 --> 00:20:20.545
and there is about 60 thousand trees,
00:20:20.545 --> 00:20:25.338
so identifying the evidence for
non-human cases its a bit of a challenge.
00:20:33.504 --> 00:20:35.256
This specimen...
00:20:35.256 --> 00:20:38.161
... was obtained at the airport of Chicago.
00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:41.160
The person that had it with him,
00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:43.237
simply bought it in Poland.
00:20:43.734 --> 00:20:46.491
How does a condor feather...
00:20:47.461 --> 00:20:50.866
... get to Poland?
It\'s hard to understand.
00:20:50.866 --> 00:20:52.436
But this, also,
00:20:52.436 --> 00:20:54.016
proves a condor\'s death
00:20:54.016 --> 00:20:56.884
for a very trivial and simple
00:20:56.884 --> 00:20:58.316
reason.
00:21:03.638 --> 00:21:08.150
When one first arrives to a wildlife
crime scene the question is:
00:21:08.150 --> 00:21:11.746
Is it a crime or is it
a natural mortality of the animal?
00:21:11.746 --> 00:21:14.773
When one doesn\'t know
how to answer those questions,
00:21:15.394 --> 00:21:18.235
what you tend to do is just
throw your hands up in the air
00:21:18.235 --> 00:21:19.794
and say: \"I don\'t know\".
00:21:19.794 --> 00:21:23.775
\"Obviously this animal died several days ago.
There is nothing here I can do about it\".
00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:27.764
But there is.
00:21:34.065 --> 00:21:37.711
Sadly, the place where
these events take place,
00:21:37.711 --> 00:21:40.024
as you can see, is very wide.
00:21:40.024 --> 00:21:43.162
It makes it really difficult for us
to get more information.
00:21:43.162 --> 00:21:46.888
For example, if it was a crime in the city
where there may be security cameras,
00:21:46.888 --> 00:21:47.903
witnesses,
00:21:48.788 --> 00:21:50.998
or the place itself delivers more evidence,
00:21:50.998 --> 00:21:54.685
here the location sometimes delivers us
very little evidence.
00:22:02.419 --> 00:22:05.579
This is generally what\'s...
00:22:06.455 --> 00:22:08.099
... what\'s left.
00:22:08.099 --> 00:22:10.148
From the front limbs,
00:22:10.812 --> 00:22:13.636
they take out all the skin.
00:22:14.848 --> 00:22:16.323
And this is what\'s left:
00:22:16.323 --> 00:22:17.893
what they couldn\'t take off.
00:22:21.648 --> 00:22:25.518
It\'s like an indicator that this
vicuna was hunted
00:22:25.518 --> 00:22:27.417
it didn\'t die from an illness,
00:22:27.417 --> 00:22:28.569
it wasn\'t run-over.
00:22:29.739 --> 00:22:31.179
It was a victim of...
00:22:31.179 --> 00:22:32.913
... poaching.
00:22:36.139 --> 00:22:39.843
If one was able to take the clothing
00:22:40.442 --> 00:22:42.005
or the knife
00:22:42.005 --> 00:22:46.784
or the objects they used for skinning
the animal, and collected its DNA
00:22:47.365 --> 00:22:49.965
and compare against the animals
found in the crime scene,
00:22:50.574 --> 00:22:53.280
then you can make
that one to one connection.
00:22:58.296 --> 00:23:00.847
It\'s likely that they are
recurrent hunters.
00:23:01.513 --> 00:23:04.333
The way they make the cuts is
also well known by now,
00:23:04.333 --> 00:23:06.733
the person who did it
00:23:06.733 --> 00:23:10.382
holds knowledge in this sort of felony
00:23:10.382 --> 00:23:13.548
or illegal trafficking he does
for whoever requests for it.
00:23:14.046 --> 00:23:17.482
So there is an interaction between
the victim and the suspect,
00:23:17.482 --> 00:23:19.378
and the crime scene proper.
00:23:20.416 --> 00:23:22.932
And collecting the evidence
at the crime scene,
00:23:22.932 --> 00:23:25.866
is your only one chance opportunity
00:23:25.866 --> 00:23:27.652
to figure out what happened,
00:23:27.652 --> 00:23:29.398
to solve the crime.
00:23:34.061 --> 00:23:35.508
I imagine
00:23:35.508 --> 00:23:38.650
that the suspects,
doing the vicuña killing,
00:23:39.708 --> 00:23:43.463
have to be covered in blood
from the vicuña.
00:23:45.384 --> 00:23:48.174
So, all of that evidence, if it\'s collected
00:23:48.174 --> 00:23:50.246
and preserved properly,
00:23:50.246 --> 00:23:51.246
can link
00:23:52.052 --> 00:23:53.052
the suspect
00:23:53.750 --> 00:23:55.448
to not only the crime scene,
00:23:55.448 --> 00:23:56.898
but to the victim.
00:23:58.915 --> 00:24:02.257
What hunters do, obviously,
is to skip through the whole process
00:24:02.942 --> 00:24:04.770
of handling the vicuna.
00:24:05.892 --> 00:24:08.072
For whatever reason.
00:24:08.072 --> 00:24:09.948
Then, they sell it.
00:24:09.948 --> 00:24:12.858
It has to be sold to people who
are willing to buy
00:24:12.858 --> 00:24:15.650
and skip through all the procedures,
all the processes.
00:24:15.650 --> 00:24:19.546
Is there an informal market? Of course
there is an informal market for it.
00:24:23.131 --> 00:24:27.607
At one point we captured an illegal
hunter and we saw the tools they carried
00:24:27.607 --> 00:24:29.727
and they were really rudimentary.
00:24:29.727 --> 00:24:31.662
The truth is that it\'s a lifestyle
00:24:31.662 --> 00:24:34.082
that demonstrates the...
00:24:34.082 --> 00:24:38.703
... the scarcity of many
people who live in the highlands.
00:24:39.023 --> 00:24:42.837
During the wintertime it\'s
minus 25 degrees, so...
00:24:42.837 --> 00:24:45.399
they are used to it.
they walk around in sandals.
00:24:45.962 --> 00:24:49.027
The tracks I followed were sandals tracks.
00:25:13.648 --> 00:25:16.192
The communities protect the vicunas,
00:25:16.192 --> 00:25:17.013
but
00:25:17.013 --> 00:25:19.228
people from other places come
00:25:19.228 --> 00:25:22.378
and they even cross the border
from one country to another.
00:25:22.378 --> 00:25:24.608
And, in the last ten years,
00:25:24.608 --> 00:25:27.244
we have seen that they kill them
00:25:27.244 --> 00:25:28.668
and they take their leather.
00:25:28.668 --> 00:25:30.514
Although people don\'t believe it,
00:25:30.514 --> 00:25:33.037
the vicuna is a very important animal
00:25:33.037 --> 00:25:36.268
within the knowledge and the culture
00:25:36.268 --> 00:25:38.888
of the animal wildlife on the planet.
00:25:38.888 --> 00:25:41.570
Because of its beauty, its prominent eyes,
00:25:41.570 --> 00:25:43.753
its rare colouring,
00:25:43.753 --> 00:25:46.373
and for the unique
places it lives in,
00:25:46.373 --> 00:25:50.613
the vicuna, as a species, has an iconic
place in this part of the world,
00:25:50.613 --> 00:25:51.827
and moreover
00:25:51.827 --> 00:25:54.453
it was considered by ancestral cultures as
00:25:54.453 --> 00:25:56.623
the Queen of the Andes.
00:26:00.174 --> 00:26:03.904
During the Inca empire,
a big festivity was held,
00:26:03.904 --> 00:26:05.754
which was called the Chaku
00:26:05.754 --> 00:26:09.338
where hundreds of people came down
to the hills at dawn,
00:26:09.338 --> 00:26:11.509
herding the vicunas,
00:26:11.509 --> 00:26:13.539
towards these big stone yards,
00:26:13.539 --> 00:26:17.511
where they were sheared
and some were sacrificed.
00:26:17.511 --> 00:26:20.506
They were probably more than seven
million vicunas, if not more,
00:26:20.506 --> 00:26:24.852
at the time when Incas lived
all over the highlands.
00:26:40.779 --> 00:26:43.829
For the Incas, the dresses
are very important.
00:26:43.829 --> 00:26:47.293
The people used a lot of camelid fibers,
00:26:47.293 --> 00:26:51.403
but they used different kind
of camelid fibers:
00:26:51.403 --> 00:26:53.417
Llamas, alpacas
00:26:53.417 --> 00:26:55.193
and also vicuñas.
00:26:57.043 --> 00:26:59.910
The vicuña wool is very different
from the alpacas.
00:27:00.321 --> 00:27:01.748
Is so thin that,
00:27:01.748 --> 00:27:03.218
at first sight,
00:27:03.218 --> 00:27:05.218
we are not sure if it\'s painted
00:27:05.218 --> 00:27:06.638
or if it\'s waved.
00:27:09.065 --> 00:27:12.835
If you look at an alpaca or llamas,
they have long hairs,
00:27:12.835 --> 00:27:14.035
quite long,
00:27:14.035 --> 00:27:18.625
but the vicuña is very short,
so it\'s difficult to make the threads.
00:27:18.625 --> 00:27:21.389
So you need specialists to do that.
00:27:22.371 --> 00:27:25.938
It\'s also a reason why we know that it is
00:27:26.468 --> 00:27:28.705
dedicated only for the emperor.
00:27:31.575 --> 00:27:36.399
Most of the Pre-Columbian people
00:27:36.399 --> 00:27:38.826
are working on a duality.
00:27:40.256 --> 00:27:42.300
There are always two things:
00:27:42.300 --> 00:27:43.830
there is sun and moon,
00:27:43.830 --> 00:27:45.280
days and night,
00:27:45.280 --> 00:27:46.280
woman and man...
00:27:46.280 --> 00:27:49.108
And for them, the weaving is
00:27:49.108 --> 00:27:52.058
just putting vertical
and horizontal lines,
00:27:52.058 --> 00:27:55.053
and so its a combination
of those two lines.
00:27:56.168 --> 00:27:59.070
So when you are creating a textile,
00:27:59.070 --> 00:28:01.950
you are participating to the creation
00:28:01.950 --> 00:28:05.504
of this duality and the
combination of this duality.
00:28:05.504 --> 00:28:08.445
So there is a philosophical reason
and a practical reason
00:28:08.445 --> 00:28:10.621
why the textile are so important.
00:28:10.621 --> 00:28:11.898
And we know that,
00:28:11.898 --> 00:28:16.218
if you want to make a very nice
sacrifice for the gods,
00:28:16.218 --> 00:28:19.061
the most valuable things you can do
00:28:19.061 --> 00:28:21.041
is to create a textile and then,
00:28:21.041 --> 00:28:22.171
offer it to the gods,
00:28:22.171 --> 00:28:24.079
and burn it.
00:28:36.598 --> 00:28:40.553
Once the Inca empire falls, the
Chaku disappears as a phenomenon
00:28:40.553 --> 00:28:42.991
and it probably transcended but
00:28:42.991 --> 00:28:45.126
in less significant form.
00:28:47.593 --> 00:28:53.230
The Spanish empire brings the use of
firearms in Latin America; therefore,
00:28:55.090 --> 00:28:58.791
hunting vicunas becomes an
alternative to the Chaku.
00:29:04.466 --> 00:29:09.533
And the garments, capes, hats
and other clothing items,
00:29:09.533 --> 00:29:12.447
of the royalty in France, Great Britain,
00:29:12.447 --> 00:29:14.413
had vicuna fiber in them.
00:29:14.413 --> 00:29:17.616
That fiber had been the cause
00:29:17.616 --> 00:29:19.876
of fierce hunting
00:29:19.876 --> 00:29:23.376
in all of the highlands of Peru, Bolivia,
Chile and Argentina,
00:29:23.376 --> 00:29:24.806
for centuries.
00:29:24.806 --> 00:29:26.337
I believe that during the \'70s,
00:29:26.337 --> 00:29:30.176
the vicuna population was
an endangered species, that\'s right,
00:29:30.176 --> 00:29:31.426
just as...
00:29:31.426 --> 00:29:33.925
... just as the worst situation of...
00:29:33.925 --> 00:29:37.787
... of the charismatic species
that inhabit the African steppe.
00:29:42.560 --> 00:29:44.465
Vicunas were almost nowhere to be seen.
00:29:44.779 --> 00:29:48.411
You just saw the dust from when they fled.
00:29:48.411 --> 00:29:51.977
They stayed far away from
the human population.
00:29:56.806 --> 00:29:58.980
Until it got to a critical point,
00:29:58.980 --> 00:30:02.780
and Chile started protecting
around 500 vicunas
00:30:02.780 --> 00:30:04.844
that still survived in the highlands,
00:30:04.844 --> 00:30:07.803
on what was next to be
Lauca National Park.
00:30:12.627 --> 00:30:17.373
When the CITES convention began, it started
as a reaction from the countries that
00:30:17.373 --> 00:30:21.075
had trouble because of
the illegal trafficking in their borders,
00:30:21.075 --> 00:30:23.993
with species that were
being preserved,
00:30:23.993 --> 00:30:25.268
during the \'70s.
00:30:25.268 --> 00:30:29.256
It\'s especially done for the Asian
and African animals, where
00:30:29.256 --> 00:30:32.186
there was a lot of trophy hunting.
00:30:32.186 --> 00:30:37.377
They took advantage of this
situation, and the vicuna was included
00:30:37.377 --> 00:30:40.395
on the endangered species.
00:30:40.827 --> 00:30:46.866
Police patrols were implemented to
several areas of the vicuna habitat.
00:31:00.840 --> 00:31:03.080
People from the surroundings got hired,
00:31:03.080 --> 00:31:05.417
as forest rangers, so
00:31:05.417 --> 00:31:07.467
the community was involved
00:31:07.467 --> 00:31:11.467
and then CONAF started to take action,
00:31:11.467 --> 00:31:15.154
and make scientific investigations,
because they didn\'t know much...
00:31:15.154 --> 00:31:17.234
... about the species...
00:31:17.234 --> 00:31:18.234
... at all.
00:31:22.949 --> 00:31:25.458
The population increase
00:31:25.458 --> 00:31:27.729
was exponential,
00:31:27.729 --> 00:31:29.219
until the year 1990.
00:31:29.219 --> 00:31:32.794
The census that year estimated
around 20 thousand individuals.
00:31:36.556 --> 00:31:37.556
It started to grow.
00:31:37.556 --> 00:31:40.034
The vicunas started to be seen
00:31:40.034 --> 00:31:42.123
closer to the towns.
00:31:42.123 --> 00:31:44.738
They even started to
00:31:44.738 --> 00:31:46.743
coexist with the domestic population,
00:31:46.743 --> 00:31:49.391
the llamas and the alpacas.
00:31:57.160 --> 00:31:59.613
Dead vicunas...
Two of them.
00:32:09.703 --> 00:32:11.773
We have a resource here
00:32:11.773 --> 00:32:13.413
that is not being used:
00:32:13.413 --> 00:32:15.203
the vicuna fiber.
00:32:15.203 --> 00:32:16.773
Now,
00:32:16.773 --> 00:32:20.686
if the vicuna gives resources
to the people of the highlands,
00:32:20.686 --> 00:32:24.000
these people will want to protect
00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:27.450
this resource.
00:32:27.450 --> 00:32:29.666
The issue is: how to actually do it.
00:32:30.176 --> 00:32:33.200
We didn\'t know if they would die when
we sheared them.
00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:34.576
We didn\'t know anything.
00:32:34.576 --> 00:32:36.399
So,
00:32:36.399 --> 00:32:40.526
a good measure was thinking that from this
00:32:40.526 --> 00:32:43.626
we had to make a pilot project,
00:32:44.276 --> 00:32:47.458
to make a first shearing experience
00:32:47.458 --> 00:32:51.684
that could be monitored and
supervised by investigators,
00:32:51.684 --> 00:32:54.373
who had participation from the people
00:32:54.373 --> 00:32:58.024
and that produced the first
kilogram of vicuna fiber.
00:33:01.256 --> 00:33:04.830
First of all, when we herd the vicunas
we need at least...
00:33:04.830 --> 00:33:06.647
... at least 20 people.
00:33:07.308 --> 00:33:11.088
We invited the neighbors,
our family from Arica
00:33:11.088 --> 00:33:14.943
who don\'t suffer from altitude sickness.
So we gathered them,
00:33:14.943 --> 00:33:16.683
and that created a sense of union.
00:33:17.738 --> 00:33:20.354
We were innovating, something new.
00:33:20.354 --> 00:33:23.894
We had never done
vicuna handling before.
00:33:23.894 --> 00:33:26.940
Therefore, our enthusiasm was huge.
00:33:30.182 --> 00:33:31.943
I started designing
00:33:31.943 --> 00:33:34.403
a tunnel capturing system
00:33:34.403 --> 00:33:37.302
that had protection against any impacts.
00:33:37.302 --> 00:33:42.292
I focused on the visual isolation factor.
00:33:42.292 --> 00:33:44.537
A hood, that ended up being very useful,
00:33:44.537 --> 00:33:48.564
because of the heart rate of the
individuals wearing a hood,
00:33:48.564 --> 00:33:52.264
decreased evidently, once you
were able to cover its eyes.
00:34:06.696 --> 00:34:11.803
And finally, after the release,
the animals who had been sheared
00:34:11.803 --> 00:34:14.918
managed to recover and stabilize
their temperature,
00:34:14.918 --> 00:34:18.505
and face their fiber generation process.
00:34:20.337 --> 00:34:23.746
That\'s why it was such an interesting
model internationally,
00:34:23.746 --> 00:34:27.656
because it was an example of how to
save a species from extinction,
00:34:27.656 --> 00:34:32.023
using the species sustainably
without the need to hunt it.
00:34:35.881 --> 00:34:37.574
We were able to develop
00:34:37.574 --> 00:34:40.431
nine vicuna breeders.
00:34:40.431 --> 00:34:46.987
And we had two areas where we
captured vicunas who lived in the wild.
00:34:48.652 --> 00:34:54.525
I was able to have 120 vicunas,
on a 60-hectare space,
00:34:54.525 --> 00:34:57.621
because vicuna proliferation
is very quick.
00:34:58.545 --> 00:35:01.459
The Surire community recovered its town,
00:35:01.459 --> 00:35:04.859
and so the Chaku not only became
a productive practice,
00:35:04.859 --> 00:35:08.374
but it also became a practice for renewing
00:35:08.374 --> 00:35:12.412
family bonds, renewing cultural bonds,
00:35:12.412 --> 00:35:15.712
and finally,
for recovering de Aymara culture.
00:35:20.582 --> 00:35:24.386
The United Nations, in 2005,
00:35:24.386 --> 00:35:29.683
acknowledged the Vicuna Project to be one of
the ten most relevant projects
00:35:29.683 --> 00:35:33.423
to the comprehension and the understanding
of sustainability in Latin America.
00:35:35.107 --> 00:35:37.177
Made here in Chile.
00:35:49.171 --> 00:35:54.091
For seven years I was around llamas and
alpacas, where I made the vicuna handlings.
00:35:54.091 --> 00:35:56.471
I became close to them.
00:35:56.471 --> 00:35:59.361
But I saw I was all alone,
I had to do everything:
00:35:59.361 --> 00:36:02.891
cook for the dog, for myself,
do the herding, get to Arica... everything.
00:36:02.891 --> 00:36:05.005
It\'s too much, it upsets you.
00:36:05.005 --> 00:36:06.621
It\'s a pity, I\'m sorry about it.
00:36:06.621 --> 00:36:09.020
I feel guilty in a way, I feel as if...
00:36:09.020 --> 00:36:10.227
... I\'m in debt,
00:36:10.227 --> 00:36:14.651
like I abandoned something
that was mine: the experience.
00:36:17.965 --> 00:36:19.441
It\'s very difficult
00:36:20.285 --> 00:36:21.720
to actually do
00:36:22.510 --> 00:36:23.875
these captures,
00:36:23.875 --> 00:36:25.471
make the shearing,
00:36:25.471 --> 00:36:29.509
if you don\'t have people, if you don\'t have
an organized community.
00:36:29.989 --> 00:36:31.640
And we don\'t have that,
00:36:31.640 --> 00:36:32.930
nowadays.
00:36:32.930 --> 00:36:36.353
The conditions aren\'t there. Why?
Because the people from the highlands
00:36:36.353 --> 00:36:38.591
come down to the cities
because they don\'t have
00:36:38.591 --> 00:36:41.309
the basic conditions
to survive in the highland.
00:36:46.708 --> 00:36:49.533
This fence is
00:36:49.533 --> 00:36:54.648
six kilometers and 500 meters
long, approximately.
00:36:54.648 --> 00:36:58.937
To go around the whole captivity area
it\'s about four or five kilometers,
00:36:58.937 --> 00:37:03.110
because you have to count the pastures,
how many males, how many females,
00:37:03.110 --> 00:37:05.701
how many offsprings,
and then you have to put it...
00:37:06.701 --> 00:37:08.108
... on the record.
00:37:08.108 --> 00:37:10.761
So, I walked several kilometers
00:37:10.761 --> 00:37:14.291
and afterward, I also had to
pick up my domestic animals.
00:37:14.291 --> 00:37:18.291
In total, on one day I would walk
something like 15 kilometers.
00:37:18.291 --> 00:37:22.681
In the year 2017, I remember the census,
00:37:22.681 --> 00:37:24.331
160,
00:37:25.151 --> 00:37:27.114
but they gave 98 to me.
00:37:29.417 --> 00:37:31.395
Now there is none.
00:37:31.395 --> 00:37:35.014
It says here six
and four offsprings, the last one.
00:37:36.274 --> 00:37:38.743
That was in the year 2017.
00:37:39.274 --> 00:37:40.765
Until last year,
00:37:41.459 --> 00:37:45.224
there were around 12 vicunas left, and
that number kept getting lower and lower.
00:37:45.224 --> 00:37:49.674
Here I have the closing book,
we closed it along with the CONAF
00:37:49.674 --> 00:37:51.770
and we signed it and that was that.
00:37:51.770 --> 00:37:53.617
Here it\'s over,
00:37:54.286 --> 00:37:58.846
because there were only a few of us.
We couldn\'t make ends meet.
00:38:01.028 --> 00:38:04.225
I was really enthusiastic
about raising vicunas, but...
00:38:04.225 --> 00:38:06.399
... it was sadly my loss.
00:38:20.713 --> 00:38:24.542
No one wants to live here,
above 4 thousand meters,
00:38:24.542 --> 00:38:28.012
because they get to know Arica once
and they don\'t want to come back,
00:38:28.012 --> 00:38:30.878
because it\'s completely different:
the commodities,
00:38:30.878 --> 00:38:32.538
nature\'s inclemency,
00:38:32.538 --> 00:38:35.142
the remoteness,
the social geographic marginalization.
00:38:35.142 --> 00:38:37.457
Young people don\'t want to return.
00:38:37.457 --> 00:38:39.047
For me, it\'s sad and unfortunate.
00:38:39.047 --> 00:38:40.282
Very sad, because
00:38:40.282 --> 00:38:42.565
the reality I lived during my childhood,
00:38:42.565 --> 00:38:47.348
when I first went to school
in Caquena, we were 35 students.
00:38:47.348 --> 00:38:49.718
Now there are two or three.
00:38:49.718 --> 00:38:51.752
The Putani village has no school,
00:38:51.752 --> 00:38:53.928
and the houses are all in ruins,
00:38:53.928 --> 00:38:59.018
and we remain at the farms.
We have nothing, no drinking water, nothing.
00:39:01.948 --> 00:39:04.209
Once the Interior Minister
asked me:
00:39:04.209 --> 00:39:07.358
\"Sixto: What will happen 5 years
from now in the highlands\".
00:39:07.358 --> 00:39:08.649
I said:
00:39:08.649 --> 00:39:11.159
\"It will be more abandoned
than it already is\".
00:39:11.159 --> 00:39:13.239
It is a reality, we have to accept it.
00:39:24.351 --> 00:39:29.768
If one goes to Bolivia and Peru, you can
clearly see there\'s a greater population.
00:39:29.768 --> 00:39:34.758
They have economic activities associated
to the domestic camelid production.
00:39:34.758 --> 00:39:37.908
Therefore they have access
to the use of natural resources
00:39:37.908 --> 00:39:40.783
in a much more direct way
than what we find here in Chile.
00:39:43.731 --> 00:39:47.357
These are multicultural republics
00:39:47.357 --> 00:39:50.061
and their constitutions
acknowledge it that way.
00:39:50.061 --> 00:39:54.125
They experience their ethnic origins
00:39:54.125 --> 00:39:57.261
in a very different way
than how we do it here in Chile.
00:39:57.261 --> 00:39:59.915
I think that indigenous recognition
00:39:59.915 --> 00:40:01.457
is fundamental,
00:40:01.457 --> 00:40:03.820
to understand how our country works.
00:40:03.820 --> 00:40:07.656
And through that indigenous recognition,
we would give an identity
00:40:07.656 --> 00:40:10.810
to that highland territory,
that was lost at one point,
00:40:11.600 --> 00:40:16.351
and along with it,
contribute to the vicuna conservation.
00:40:20.577 --> 00:40:21.981
You did the knot, right?
Yes
00:40:21.981 --> 00:40:24.362
Is it ready?
Okay, don\'t let it fall to the ground.
00:40:24.693 --> 00:40:26.893
Okay, steady.
00:40:26.893 --> 00:40:29.148
High honors to our national flag!
00:40:29.663 --> 00:40:31.083
Look to the right!
00:40:31.083 --> 00:40:33.101
Attention!
00:40:35.352 --> 00:40:39.300
We have to understand that,
when the peace agreement is signed
00:40:39.300 --> 00:40:41.800
in 1929 with Peru,
00:40:41.800 --> 00:40:43.550
through the Ancon Treaty,
00:40:43.550 --> 00:40:45.216
the countries\' borders are created,
00:40:45.216 --> 00:40:48.761
but people still have a sense of
belonging to their cultural background.
00:40:53.186 --> 00:40:57.073
That\'s our case. As a family, we belong
00:40:57.073 --> 00:41:00.137
to the indigenous community of Ancomarca.
00:41:02.372 --> 00:41:07.104
Ancomarca was the most important Peruvian-
Chilean-Bolivian indigenous community
00:41:07.734 --> 00:41:09.611
on this highland territory.
00:41:09.611 --> 00:41:12.496
Ancomarca\'s cultural center
is placed in Peru.
00:41:14.291 --> 00:41:16.208
So then: Where do you go to pray?
00:41:16.208 --> 00:41:18.136
where do you go and do your ceremonies?
00:41:18.136 --> 00:41:21.936
where do you go to meet your fellow
citizens, if you can\'t anymore?
00:41:21.936 --> 00:41:24.357
So, it also destroys the community.
00:41:25.207 --> 00:41:28.770
That\'s why there are many families
who have uncles and grandparents in Tacna,
00:41:28.770 --> 00:41:30.440
uncles and grandparents in La Paz,
00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:32.322
uncles and grandparents in Charaña
00:41:32.322 --> 00:41:34.052
and some were left here in Chile.
00:41:34.825 --> 00:41:38.445
Do you feel more Chilean than Peruvian?
Or more Bolivian than Chilean?
00:41:39.581 --> 00:41:41.581
Or are we really just a big Andean nation
00:41:41.581 --> 00:41:45.809
that to this day is still protecting it\'s
territories and can live like a community?
00:41:47.556 --> 00:41:51.316
But a community without its cultural and
religious core, cannot be.
00:41:51.316 --> 00:41:54.221
And that\'s a reality that
lives on to this day.
00:42:02.824 --> 00:42:04.469
Should we go to the Chilean one?
00:42:25.348 --> 00:42:28.771
When the legal commercialization
00:42:28.771 --> 00:42:30.180
of vicuna fiber begins,
00:42:30.640 --> 00:42:32.590
illegal hunting intensifies.
00:42:38.703 --> 00:42:41.343
That rise happens because
00:42:41.343 --> 00:42:45.813
there are now formal channels
of fiber commercialization,
00:42:45.813 --> 00:42:48.643
where people, perhaps uncaringly,
00:42:48.643 --> 00:42:50.630
go and buy
00:42:50.630 --> 00:42:52.642
lots of fiber that have been
00:42:52.642 --> 00:42:54.752
acquired illegally.
00:43:05.167 --> 00:43:08.246
This is not just a problem of the State.
00:43:08.816 --> 00:43:10.672
This problem belongs to every one of us.
00:43:10.672 --> 00:43:16.657
If I give all of the responsibility on the
trafficking of exotic species to the State
00:43:16.657 --> 00:43:20.345
because I want them to do it
and not represent me, then yes
00:43:20.345 --> 00:43:25.375
It is very likely that the State doesn\'t
have all the strength I would want
00:43:25.375 --> 00:43:29.446
to be able to control such a wide territory.
00:43:33.015 --> 00:43:34.375
To be honest,
00:43:34.375 --> 00:43:36.655
I am really worried,
00:43:36.655 --> 00:43:38.452
because we are realizing
00:43:38.452 --> 00:43:40.686
that the vicunas are
being threatened again.
00:43:40.686 --> 00:43:43.926
The species are in real danger
00:43:43.926 --> 00:43:46.126
because of illegal hunting,
00:43:46.126 --> 00:43:50.456
and because the alleged economic
benefits to the communities
00:43:50.456 --> 00:43:53.026
are not as real as we expected.
00:43:58.117 --> 00:44:00.205
What\'s being said about...
00:44:00.205 --> 00:44:02.920
...illegal hunting,
is just the tip of the iceberg.
00:44:03.114 --> 00:44:04.794
The chain needs to be cut
00:44:04.794 --> 00:44:08.803
precisely on the link where
the transaction is made:
00:44:08.803 --> 00:44:10.258
the buyer.
00:44:16.727 --> 00:44:18.284
Regarding the gravity
00:44:18.284 --> 00:44:20.857
of the sales chain
00:44:20.857 --> 00:44:22.962
of this kind of species,
00:44:22.962 --> 00:44:24.396
it\'s as serious
00:44:24.396 --> 00:44:25.763
for the one who
00:44:25.763 --> 00:44:28.674
sells it, as it is for the one
who buys it:
00:44:29.460 --> 00:44:33.147
\"You are also responsible for the
damage infringed upon this animal\".
00:44:39.990 --> 00:44:43.124
We were developing an
investigation on drug trafficking,
00:44:43.124 --> 00:44:45.438
with the Anti-narcotics Brigade
at the airport.
00:44:51.418 --> 00:44:52.992
In that context,
00:44:52.992 --> 00:44:54.985
we went by a store
00:44:54.985 --> 00:44:57.644
and found a huge beautiful blanket
00:44:57.644 --> 00:44:59.484
made from vicuna,
00:44:59.484 --> 00:45:01.084
and of course it gets your attention.
00:45:03.209 --> 00:45:07.587
When the whole procedures finishes,
with the trafficker\'s detention,
00:45:07.587 --> 00:45:09.717
I go back to the place
00:45:09.717 --> 00:45:11.236
and then
00:45:11.236 --> 00:45:13.502
I start going through the CITES regulation.
00:45:15.166 --> 00:45:18.896
It was determined that the regulation
were not implemented,
00:45:18.896 --> 00:45:20.708
that there was no CITES certification,
00:45:20.708 --> 00:45:22.853
and in consequence, you find yourself in an...
00:45:22.853 --> 00:45:23.713
...illegal market.
00:45:25.759 --> 00:45:28.726
For that blanket to exist in that place,
00:45:28.726 --> 00:45:30.287
its first logical consequence
00:45:30.287 --> 00:45:33.016
has to be: its regularity.
00:45:34.212 --> 00:45:38.676
I mean no one in northern Chile would
make one sole blanket to sell
00:45:38.676 --> 00:45:41.316
to a luxury store at the airport, no.
00:45:41.316 --> 00:45:44.212
The first logical consequence:
there is regularity here.
00:46:06.655 --> 00:46:09.284
The chief of New Zealand,
I forgot his name,
00:46:09.284 --> 00:46:12.106
but he was an elderly man at the time,
00:46:12.716 --> 00:46:14.196
calls me,
00:46:15.006 --> 00:46:16.866
and he says: \"Víctor...
00:46:16.866 --> 00:46:21.446
... we made a huge inspection...
00:46:21.446 --> 00:46:24.246
... and on one of the containers on a ship
00:46:24.246 --> 00:46:27.526
in transit from Japan to New Zealand,
00:46:27.526 --> 00:46:29.112
we put it under the X-ray.
00:46:30.075 --> 00:46:32.139
It had a hidden space like a double depth,
00:46:32.558 --> 00:46:34.929
we opened that hidden space,
00:46:34.929 --> 00:46:36.875
we took the lid off
00:46:36.875 --> 00:46:40.478
and inside, there were 14 vicuna skins
transformed into rugs\".
00:46:40.478 --> 00:46:43.578
We started to investigate that trail,
00:46:43.578 --> 00:46:45.008
the journey of that product,
00:46:45.008 --> 00:46:46.487
how did that product get there,
00:46:46.487 --> 00:46:48.170
where did that product come from,
00:46:48.170 --> 00:46:51.868
where is this kind of species being sold.
00:46:53.600 --> 00:46:55.568
We found products that came from vicunas.
00:46:55.885 --> 00:46:57.595
It was not an isolated phenomenon.
00:47:00.787 --> 00:47:05.210
They did electrophoresis in New Zealand,
to see its DNA and find out what it was.
00:47:05.210 --> 00:47:07.064
They gave us the samples,
00:47:07.644 --> 00:47:10.790
and they were our vicunas,
from our highlands.
00:47:11.270 --> 00:47:15.278
Then he said: \"You need to put an eye on
this, because you have vicuna trafficking\".
00:47:15.278 --> 00:47:17.070
They were being taken to New Zealand,
00:47:17.070 --> 00:47:18.661
and they were taking them
00:47:18.661 --> 00:47:20.191
from right here, from Chile.
00:47:21.921 --> 00:47:24.258
I said to the boys:
\"Okay, let\'s see.
00:47:24.258 --> 00:47:27.331
If they are sending rugs,
someone is tanning them\".
00:47:30.347 --> 00:47:31.927
Because it\'s one thing to
00:47:32.540 --> 00:47:33.940
kill the animal,
00:47:34.342 --> 00:47:36.821
then skinning the animal,
00:47:36.821 --> 00:47:39.762
and another process is tanning the fiber.
00:47:39.762 --> 00:47:43.988
There was an investigation hypothesis that
needs to be developed: whether this was licit.
00:47:43.988 --> 00:47:45.626
No, it wasn\'t licit.
00:47:46.785 --> 00:47:48.443
The investigation...
00:47:48.443 --> 00:47:51.303
... is complicated, on all that has to do
with the desert.
00:47:51.303 --> 00:47:54.973
At that time there wasn\'t a good enough
legislation like there is now,
00:47:54.973 --> 00:47:58.881
for example coming from CITES, which
specifically penalizes smuggling.
00:47:58.881 --> 00:48:01.381
As a consequence,
00:48:01.381 --> 00:48:05.201
the weak legislation available
to investigate this felony,
00:48:05.201 --> 00:48:08.119
was the reason why we couldn\'t
proceed with the investigation.
00:48:18.972 --> 00:48:23.238
But, low punishment felonies
00:48:24.789 --> 00:48:26.853
have one good thing for the investigator,
00:48:26.853 --> 00:48:28.738
that is the possibility for negotiation
00:48:28.738 --> 00:48:29.858
with the defendant.
00:48:31.065 --> 00:48:32.065
In consequence,
00:48:33.073 --> 00:48:35.991
if the crime has low punishment,
I can say to the defendant:
00:48:35.991 --> 00:48:37.817
\"Mister defendant.
00:48:37.817 --> 00:48:39.991
You are selling this,
00:48:40.531 --> 00:48:42.722
you can, ultimately,
00:48:42.722 --> 00:48:45.475
go through negotiation with me,
I lower your sentence,
00:48:46.246 --> 00:48:48.108
but you have to indicate to me...
00:48:48.108 --> 00:48:49.828
... who sold it to you\".
00:50:03.589 --> 00:50:06.129
Up there near the Bolivian border,
00:50:06.129 --> 00:50:07.819
I had a nickname:
00:50:08.562 --> 00:50:09.860
Billy.
00:50:14.470 --> 00:50:17.372
He was a very good shooter,
he had great aiming skills,
00:50:17.372 --> 00:50:18.897
and he had a very nice rifle.
00:50:19.502 --> 00:50:21.722
He knew the desert very well.
00:50:34.328 --> 00:50:36.128
He got away twice.
00:50:36.831 --> 00:50:39.012
One of those times when he got away,
00:50:39.012 --> 00:50:40.510
I\'m sure...
00:50:40.510 --> 00:50:42.784
... I\'m sure we went right by him.
00:50:43.234 --> 00:50:46.027
And he had such great camouflage,
00:50:46.027 --> 00:50:48.014
that I\'m sure he buried himself.
00:50:48.014 --> 00:50:51.014
He was buried and we went right by him.
00:50:57.836 --> 00:50:59.496
I would tell the police officers:
00:51:01.346 --> 00:51:02.987
\"At some point, he is coming...
00:51:04.176 --> 00:51:09.146
... at some point, he is going
to come out to hunt\".
Distributor: Pragda Films
Length: 52 minutes
Date: 2020
Genre: Expository
Language: English; Spanish; German
Grade: Middle School, High School, College, Adults
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
The is title is available for licensing on the Pragda STREAM site.
Existing customers, please log in to view this film.
New to Docuseek? Register to request a quote.
Related Films
Illicit Trade, Ep. 04 - Meteorites
In Chile, the search and sale of meteorites is unregulated. When the first…
The Spirit of the Ancestors
Three generations of the Pakarati family travel to Europe to reclaim the…