A clean-up crew called in by AES Gener, owner of the coal-fired power plants operating in Quintero and Puchuncaví, regularly cleans the coal from the beach (Image: Saul Mansilla)
SANTIAGO, Apr 27 2021 (IPS) - Standing on Punta Ventanilla, Carlos Vegas, 65, looks across at the industrial park which has been there most of his life. He looks at the impact of the 15 industries spread around the bay that connects the towns of Quintero and Puchuncaví, in central Chile.
Although he comes from a family of fishers, 20 years ago, the Chilean health authority prohibited him and his union from selling and cultivating mussels because they had high levels of cadmium, arsenic and copper. If people got sick, it would be his fault, he was told.
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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - When Chile voted in October to scrap its constitution written during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, residents of the South American nation’s “sacrifice zones” were among the strongest supporters of change.
People enjoy the beach in front of a thermoelectric plant at Las Ventanas area, Valparaiso, Chile, February 16, 2020. Picture taken February 16, 2020. REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza
In those five heavily industrialized areas, established from the 1950s to help drive Chile’s economic development and home to some 200,000 people, support for a new charter exceeded 90% in some cases compared to 78% nationwide.
Residents, activist groups and academics who have studied pollution in these areas believe a new constitution could help reduce emissions, shutter coal-fired power stations and improve healthcare for those left sickened.