The smokestack of Codelco’s smelter in the Quintero-Puchuncaví area, a so-called ‘sacrifice zone’ 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Valparaíso, Chile. (Photo courtesy of Codelco)
As a candidate for president of Chile, Gabriel Boric vowed to clean up ‘sacrifice zones,’ areas in which an agglomeration of heavily polluting industrial plants threaten the health of the surrounding population. Now, three months after taking office, Boric is attempting to deliver on that promise. On June 20 he ordered the staged closure of Ventanas, a 60-year-old smelting complex of the state-owned copper company Codelco near the coastal city of Valparaíso. The plant is located in one of five sacrifice zones in Chile—in this case, a 500-hectare (1,200-acre) industrial park that is also home to four coal-fired power plants and an oil refinery. Boric’s announcement came after more than 100 people in the nearby communities of Quintero and Puchuncaví fell ill early this month due to emissions of airborne contaminants that also forced local schools to close for two days. It was... [Log in to read more]
