Lectures: 180
As a previous matter, we thought it was very good that the Constitutional Court (TC) has not listened to the big businessmen, affiliated with the Confederation of Production and Commerce (CPC) and the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril (SOFOFA) who, through a Keep in Mind, did not want the indispensable law on economic and environmental crimes approved in the National Congress to prosper. They were used to, when their improper business practices reached the courts, that the sanctions given were only taking comfortable ethics classes at private universities in the eastern sector of Santiago.
On this occasion, we would like to congratulate former prosecutor Carlos Gajardo, who recently filed a forceful complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office for the commission of the crime of trafficking in hazardous waste, whose place of perpetration -according to the text of the complaint- would be no less than at the same address where the so-called National Association of the Recycling Industry (ANIR) is domiciled. The lawyer Gajardo in his complaint does not specify offenders, but clearly the darts and suspicions are directed against two companies related to said Association, namely Ecovalor and Andacollo de Inversiones Limitadas, owned by businessman Gonzalo Izquierdo Menéndez.
As this improper Regulation is pending approval, on 07/09/2023, we had to publish in The counter an opinion column on the same subject, see link
|
Boric’s government, self-described as environmentalist, for its part, has endorsed the proposal of that ANIR. In fact, the “Regulation that regulates the cross-border movement of waste”, which could be approved, only seeks to allow the export of hazardous waste from Chile, including that from end-of-life batteries, thus generating a new and appetizing business niche for our agile investors. www.elmostrador.cl |
in which we briefly review the behind the scenes of the television series starring 3 former ministers of the Concertación and ANIR itself regarding the imminent approval of the regulation of the current Government that authorizes the cross-border movement of hazardous waste.
There we said that the aforementioned business union association, with the guiding hand of its advisersPablo Badenier, after years of intense lobby, finally achieved its mission in terms of a government embracing its free trade proposal in terms of waste marketing. Likewise, we highlight that if President Boric’s proposal is approved, our country will open its borders wide to the export and import of hazardous waste, including those from unused lead batteries.
However, what at first appears to be a simple case of lobby (another one) and discussion between gentlemen, has added new background, thus making the plot more complex. What happened? As reflected in the second paragraph, former prosecutor Carlos Gajardo filed the aforementioned complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office, but there are some things that are unknown and for this reason we summarily state that, during 2018, Ecovalor would have sold disused batteries, without authorization to do so, for a total of approximately 300 million pesos. Tremendous little business!
The whereabouts of the batteries are unknown, but, according to the complaint, everything indicates that they ended up at Fundición Alcones, a clandestine lead foundry for disused batteries, owned by Andacollo de Inversiones Limitada, related to ANIR. As if the above were not enough, it should be remembered that the Alcones Smelter is currently facing a sanctioning process before the Superintendence of the Environment (SMA), for production, reuse, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste from disused lead batteries, without having a favorable Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA) that enables it to do so, severely threatening the health of its workers and the surrounding population.
It would be good if the ANIR and its cash advisersinstead of writing so many letters to the director of The Mercury Defending the approval of the “Regulation that regulates the cross-border movement of waste”, they will dedicate a few lines to this very serious issue. Even more so, when one of its related companies could be dragged into a criminal conflict. And especially, because this new precedent reminds us of something obvious: that the institutions in Chile today are not capable of monitoring the current whereabouts of disused batteries. Will he be able, then, once Boric’s cheerful regulation is approved, to control its commercialization to (and from) abroad? Common sense says outright no.
What surprises the most at this point in the party is not the Pandora’s box that the approval of this regulation begins to uncover, but how fragile the environmental convictions of certain young politicians have turned out to be, who, showing off them, are in the government committing countless mistakes.
In liquid times, as the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman would say, everything changes rapidly, there is no room for the solid. Our policy confirms this. And to think that not long ago some of the protagonists of this story climbed trees in Punta Arenas, hugged them and railed against “30 years.” Today, on the other hand, they embrace other things such as the lucrative deregulation agenda so that certain business associations, such as ANIR and others, as this columnist is raising in some media that cultivate freedom of expression.
Then it becomes clear that those of then are no longer the same, but since miracles do exist, it is possible that the current administration resumes the path of environmentalism, without listening to the lobbyists shift.
By Patrick Hermann
