Word: guaquero
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...dirt, they split the booty with other clan members, since holding out on one's fellows is a capital offense. Then the stones are usually sold to middlemen at the river's edge or in nearby towns and eventually wind up in the hands of smugglers. Every guaquero's dream is to find a large "drop of oil" stone -- one of great purity that could fetch thousands of dollars. Most of the treasure hunters, however, spend their days in extreme poverty, squandering what little they earn on liquor...
...guaqueros come away with enough emeralds to make life frustrating for the production companies. Says one mining executive: "If we get 30% of what the mine produces, that's good." Another mine operator tried to introduce new equipment that would have greatly increased his production capacity and limited the amount of emeralds washed into the riverbed. But he gave up the plan when he received anonymous threats, which he assumed were from guaquero clans. "You can cooperate with them, or you can fight them," he says. "I prefer to cooperate because I prefer to live...
Sometimes the thefts are implicitly sanctioned. In Colombia, a group of guaqueros, as grave robbers are called there, has applied for and received official recognition as a labor union. Another veteran Colombian guaquero is so proud of his career that he has published his memoirs. His calling is not without risk. Earlier this year Arhuaco Indians hacked to death two robbers who had pillaged a temple site in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta...
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