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Henry Moncrieff
Cambalache has two meanings: the first is the name of the garbage dump in Ciudad Guayana, the most important industrial center of southern Venezuela. It is also the name of an indigenous community that recycles waste. The first meaning is usually overshadowed by the second. The people of the Ciudad Guayana imagine an uninhabited place where waste is deposited. The reality is that a hundred Warao indigenous families make a living from the waste that comes from the city. They have developed an underground economy where they seek ways to survive.
"We are not vultures," is the slogan with which the workers seek to claim their humanity in Cambalache. This phrase sums up to the indignation of the Warao people, and represents a first sign of awareness of social exclusion and lack of human rights. It is a claim of new self-image, a demand of better working conditions, health care and education.
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