The Americas | The great rain robbery

Why Peruvian villagers tore down a flood-warning system

It was made to keep them safe. They thought it was stealing the rain

2CWJNAK Shepherdess Narcisa Cornelio (R) and her daughter Nancy Condor rest in front of Hualcan glacier in Huascaran natural reserve in Ancash, November 29, 2014. Peru is home to 71 percent of the world?s tropical glaciers, which are a source of fresh water for millions, but 22% of the surface area of Peruvian glaciers has disappeared in the past 30 years alone, according to The World Bank. Peru will host the annual United Nation's Climate Change Conference (COP20) of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Lima from Dec 1 - 12. REUTERS/ Mariana Bazo (PERU - Tags: ENVIRONMENT

Jun 14th 2022|Hualcán

When a drought swept across Hualcán, a village in Peru, in 2016 many of its indigenous residents felt they knew what was to blame: antennae at Lake 513, a blue-green pool of water some 1,400 metres above them. Villagers had seen scientists make the trek to visit the antennae over the years, but few knew why. Some said the masts had been put there to block rains to benefit a copper mine. In November that year dozens of Quechua villagers and farmers dismantled them. Within hours, it started raining, claims Juan Reyes, a local. “The antennae seemed to be withholding the rain,” he says.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “The great rain robbery”