2023-07-08 12:00:00
The current Minister of the Environment, Albina Ruiz, was 16 years old when she saw a garbage heap for the first time in her life. It was actually a hill and, next to it, another full of flies and dogs eating from there. She had just arrived in the capital with the illusion of those who imagine Lima as the best of cities and she did not stop asking her brother desperately: “What is this? Why are you here? Who brought it?” Just walk, he would answer, already accustomed to the dirt of the poorest areas, but she mightn’t get over her impression and, in fact, she was forever impacted. She explains: “I have never seen waste before, because my mother taught us that banana and cassava peels were for horses. The food that she left over was for the pigs and the puppies. Nothing was thrown away. She followed a lifelong circular economy and even washed the bags with ashes to remove the marks and then patched them, one with the other, to make tablecloths. There was no waste for us.”
FROM SAN MARTIN TO LIMA
It was not easy for any of the six brothers to start from scratch in the capital. Perhaps, due to her huge smile and positive attitude, it would seem that for Albina, who has received awards from the most recognized organizations on the planet and is now a minister, things are simpler, but no. She was a very young mother, with all that that implies, and she has had to face great difficulties such as cancer that she managed to overcome recently. The truth is that she says laughing that she is crazy, that when she dreams she dares, and thus she has achieved unthinkable things. She entered UNI to study Industrial Engineering and in the ninth cycle she had to take a course to measure the productivity of companies. She remembers that her colleagues chose to work on supermarkets or banks, but she, who had already asked the municipality of El Agustino why they did not go through her street to collect waste, convinced four friends to get on a garbage truck and understand how the system worked, or rather why it didn’t work. They saw all the problems up close. Since they hosed down the gasoline to sell it, until the route chosen by the operators depended on what they were given in a bakery or factory. They tested in the field, they even made steps for smaller collection vehicles and not only did they get 20, but Albina was hired by the municipality. “I always say that I got on a garbage truck and never got off once more,” she says with satisfaction.
APPLAUDED AROUND THE WORLD
The efforts to collect waste from his organization Ciudad Saludable, and following what he naturally learned in his native Ríobamba, have borne fruit, especially worldwide. There have been dozens of recognitions all over the planet. A milestone in these awards occurred in 2011. Albina Ruiz was recognized with the Albert Medal, a medal that until then the Royal Society of Arts had only awarded to Nobel laureates, such as Marie Curie.
WITH DINA YES
It is not the first time that she has been proposed to be Minister of the Environment, however, this time she accepted for two reasons. The first, because President Dina Boluarte, answered, like no one before, the three questions she asked: One, that she was looking for someone proven and with technical capacity – the same as with the rest of the cabinet. Two, that she would have the possibility to freely assemble her team. And three, that they would give importance to the environmental issue in its management. She tells it like this: “The president had a very nice response on that matter. She told me that she didn’t know much regarding the subject, but that she wanted to learn and that’s why she was calling me”. On the other hand, Ruiz says: “She encouraged me that she is the first female president. I have had to lead with this issue from a very young age, so I felt identified. The decision to be a minister was not easy. And it’s still not easy, ”she concludes.
LIMA JULY 03, 2023 ALVINA RUIZ MINISTER OF THE ENVIRONMENT PHOTOS: EDUARDO CAVERO
sparks
What has cost the most in the decision to be a minister?
I never imagined being here with everyone together. For me the issue of conflict has been very strong. I was one of the first to ask the president to come out and ask for forgiveness, just like I did, even though we were not the ones who shot, nor the ones who caused (the crisis).
For many his apologies have not been forceful.
He has not only apologized, he has apologized. He was at the Palace, at a press conference. In addition, I have been an exceptional witness that the president from day one asked not to use lethal weapons, that everyone has the right to protest. If she hadn’t listened to her, she wouldn’t be so sure to stay by her side.
Are you afraid of what might happen with the so-called third ‘taking of Lima’?
I am actually praying every day that there will be no more violence, please! That they allow us to work, that all Peruvians want that.
Have you been able to work during these seven months?
Clear. Campaigns such as Chuya-Chuya Peru have been launched, for the cleanup of cities, seas and rivers, in addition to the Great Green Crusade with which we will plant 10 million trees because deforestation is enormous. But we don’t stop. To each region we take the example of what we know best and without hesitation we go in to rake tons of garbage, as we have always done.
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