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Chile: The Strike of the Jaguar Report to Europe about the Trade Agreement Chile - European Union Chile is located at the bottom south part of America, between 18º and 56º South latitude, not including Antartic Territory. It has two millions square kilometres of territory where you con find various climates and habitats, from the driest desert in the world to the polar climate down the south. Chile's got around 14 million of inhabitants, around 60% of the population is living at only three urban centres, where the most important economic activity is developed and services concentrate. Due to its good macro-economic figures (Inflation and Economic Growth indexes) Chile has been pointed, by the international banking system referring economics facts, as a Jaguar Country. Politically speaking, Chile is a Republic, with independent state powers: Legislative (National Congress), Judicial (Courts of Justice) and Executive (Government). President of the Republic is the head of Government. Present government belongs to (for the third consecutive time) the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia . Executive and Legislative powers are periodically elected to renew their members, in a universal election, semi-democratic, regulated on a "binominal" political system, settled by Pinochet's Political Constitution of 1980 approved by means of a tricky referendum, the same year of its promulgation.. For administrative purposes, Chile is divided, from North to South, in 13 Regions. Each region is divided into Provinces and each province into Districts ("comunas"). Higher authorities of the Regions are called Region Intendent, addressed by the President of Republic, while provinces government belongs to the Province Governors, also named by the President of Republic. Every District ("comuna") is ruled by a Major, elected in universal election into the district, with the same binominal system. Economically speaking, Chile is a Capitalistic Neo-liberal society, where the state's only got a subsidiary role. Private area's got the control of all the production means and services, due to a private investment incorporation policy in all the state enterprises and public services, settled by the dictatorship and that has remained during the Concertación Governments. In all the economy areas of Chile, most of investments come from abroad. In spite of the fact that chilean state's got the task of controlling the private area's business, it doesn't count with the necessary elements to do it, or if it has them, they are weak to face corruption, blackmailing and companies lobbying. Besides, there is no attempt of the chilean state to acquire new control methods or to improve the existing ones, as you will able to notice, when you see that the state have denied the suscription to any international pact or agreement about environment protection, labour rights, political and civil rights, indigenous peoples and others. The lack of same civil rigths means a "comparative advantage" that chilean state is now offering to foreing investors. Chile is very far from being the country that shows official propaganda to international community, based on inflation and economic growth figures, that only put in disguise the actual country where there are still human rights violations, many women and child exploitation is one important cause of fabulous profits of the companies belonging to chilean and transnational economic groups. Chile is a country were we find the worst National Income distribution with a lot of poor communities where toxic and dangerous industries are settled with some cities that are considered to be the most polluted places in the world and where women, children and teenagers are constantly discriminated1. These are some features of the jaguar country that are covered by the remarkable chilean macro-economic indexes. Chile is also a country where Nature is destroyed every minute, whose main income is the selling of the raw materials developed with tax and environment regulations that make easier natural resource's depredation and environment degradation2. Foreign investment find in Chile many "comparative advantages" that are not available in their own countries, for instance, referred to labour regulations. Behind the label "flexibilization of labour" and thanks to a Labour Code that is a Dictator's heritage, chilean workers have a minimum of social rights, and unions of workers are prosecuted and they have to be formed covertly to avoid their members be fired of their jobs. After Dictatorship's period, many workers manifestations and strikes have been violently repressed by the Police (Carabineros) and even by Armed Forces. Lost of workers, arrested by policemen are accused of "aggression to policemen" and are, nowadays, being judged by Military Courts. Hundred of workers have suffered arbitrary arrest and police violence. In all the labour-force existing in Chile, less than 20% is now part of a unions of workers, as result of the repression and chasing of workers made by the businessmen with the allowance of chilean governments. In all economic areas, this "flexibilization of labour", means the settlement of "under-employment" as a way of atomization (and avoiding the organization of union workers to defend their rights) as an enterprise owners' strategy to count with a cheaper and not protected labour force in their companies. Contractors companies, provide to private and state companies, with workers having a fixed end date in their contracts, with low salaries, submitted to labour days of more than 8 hours per day, without any right to indemnification when they are fired, working in toxic, dangerous and unsafe labour environment. The presence of "temporary" workers in agriculture, forest and fishing activities is a seasonal feature. Around 400.000 people, of all ages, move between the 4th and 10th regions to work for only few months a year, in the artificial forest, fields of fruit or fishing packings of the exporting companies. Such workers are jobless the rest of year, during a season which they call "blue months". When they have a job, these workers have no contract, they are exposed to pesticides banned all over the world but Chile, used them in fruit and forest plantations, with salaries depending on how much they do on a period of days not considering any restriction in working hours, going up to 12 or 14 hours per day. In the forest industry working conditions are even worse due to the unhealthy situation of camps settled at the most isolated places of the country. Exposition to pesticides has become the main risk that temporary workers have to face, in forest and agricultural activities. Lots of workers have became poisoned by pesticides, while handling them without any information of the risk involved, with no useful protection against it; the pesticides are applied over working areas, where workers have to enter to do their jobs without waiting the adequate time to avoid intoxication. Lost of workers have died, even children workers poisoned by these pesticides. In the regions where pesticides are widely used, the number of cases of congenital malformations in newly born children are increasing everyday. They come from families whose parents work as temporary workers in the fruit and forest companies and whole the chilean governments have refused to admit the problem, companies have been improving the quality of meals they give their workers to make them more resistant to pesticides effects. We have also in the economy area of "services" this kind of temporary workers. Most companies make use of "part-time workers" due to advantages this labour systems provides in Chile, no need of contracts, giving no labour rights al all. Most of the manufacturing, especially clothing ones, hired hundreds of women who usually work at unconfortable places, with no bathrooms, no lunch places, with no resting places and locked in their working places during their working day. Many poor children quit school to work in services companies (supermarkets and shopping centers) without contracts nor salaries only expecting to receive the customers' tips . At least twice, over the last years, private guards (most of them former policemen and military men) have tortured with electricity to children working at supermarkets, accusing them for robbery. Labour Laws now in force in Chile (very repressive with workers' unions, violating International Labour Agreements that give protection to workers) has not been modified by democratic governments, because most of congressmen are also businessmen, and representatives of huge transnational companies in Chile, besides there are the "Institutional Senators" (former chief commanders of chilean Armed Forces) settled by Pinochet's Constitution, whose main purpose has been to vote against any government's attempt to improve labour laws to give more protection to chilean workers, or to pass some laws giving chilean citizens democratic, social and civil rights wich were deprived during Pinochet's Dictatorship. Furthermore, environment legislation and enterprises' control organism are completely inefficient. State budgets to finance control departments of natural resources exploitation, residues disposal are being constantly shortened to reduce their efficiency. Besides these facts it is necessary to quote that the head-managers of these control organisms are addressed according to political criteria by the President, trying to distribute political power among his partners and not according to technical qualifications of the people chosen for the jobs. Finally, "Concertación" Governments and its collaborators have to follow the same guidelines in its political program, that is "first, development...and then environment", development meaning economic growth, that is to say, transformation of Nature into exportation goods, principally. In that way, being all the directory members of the controlling departments people addressed by the President of the Republic, the task of these people in environment matters are subject to political control from the Executive Power and this control appears as public indications given to these departments so they given conclusions according to the President's particular interests. The main state organization in charge of environment protection is the National Commission for Environment (in Chile, CONAMA) created during Presidents Aylwin's administration, with the aim of centralizing the task of environmental supervision (that had been doing by a lot of state institutions all over the country) and implementing the legal and technical instruments necessary to make an optimum evaluation of environment impact of huge projects of natural resource exploitation. CONAMA is the state institution in charge on giving the "environment authorization", that is, to make the projects come true. Nevertheless, its task is absolutely under the President's control. The Executive Board of CONAMA is named by the President of the Republic; its regional departments (called COREMA, Regional Commission for Environment) have as its President the Region Intendant, addressed by the President of the Republic and it's formed by the Province Governors, also state employees. CONAMA has no independence from the President: CONAMA depends on a State Ministry and all its resolutions can be modified by a Ministry Council, all of them addressed by the Executive Power. CONAMA itself is not able to make any environment impact evaluation of the investment projects. Its labour consist only in reviewing the Environment Impact Studies (E.I.S.) that the interested companies present to CONAMA. Such EIA are made by private companies ("Environment Consulting Companies") hired by the investing company. Environment protection organizations alerted that CONAMA's employees have participated in the making of several of those studies. In such E.I.S., are never mentioned the names of the experts who developed the studies. These peculiar characteristics of CONAMA and its procedures, make the chilean environment control system very easy to be corrupted. Lack of personnel and money support in almost all the State Services in charge of controlling and supervising: companies actions over environment, acts of corruption and influence dealing, have created a situation of environment destruction and pollution, with dangerous consequences on health of chilean inhabitants. State priorities, settled during Pinochet's regime and maintained by the democratic governments after that , have been more economical than ecological have caused that: inhabitants of Santiago, the Capital City, breath everyday the most toxic air in the world ; thousands of people in North of Chile poisoned by lead, arsenic and other heavy metals; the native forest being exported to Asia in the form of chips; the districts of Talcahuano (VIII region) and Pudahuel (Metropolitan region) be considered among the most polluted places in the world. From North to South of the country are spread over toxic products contained in the food we eat; all over the country industries discharges its liquid and solid residues (without any purifying treatment) over lakes, rivers and seashores; while the controlling state organism only counts with 5 employees to cover the whole country and to control the emissions of thousands of industries3. In Chile are sold everyday badly packed and wrong rotulated medicines, befor the eyes of the respective controlling department, that is unable to check and control the production and quality of these products, having only 9 employees to do the job4. Atacama Desert is now being presented, in world wide distribution brochures and catalogues, as an "excellent place" to deposit toxic industrial residues5; water colours crayons and toys that have children as their main users and consumers have high levels of lead. Dozens of rivers and seashores received the discharges of mining residues. These are the chilean Jaguar's whacks", leaving deep injuries in Nature and People of Chile, most of them with no possible reparation and sometimes lethal. In this Report, than in its first part only refer to the two mains economical activities of the country (Mining and Forest industry) we describe the consequences of a non-sustainable economic development, whose only aim is the highest possible profits. Our purpose in doing this is to show the truth about the international myth about Chile to the EEC, to avoid that this Community become part of the environment and social crimes that we are going to describe and to prevent the EEC to fall in complicity of the genocide of our Indigenous Peoples, avoiding the possibility of helping chilean technocrats which are insensible to the damage provoked to children (neurological alterations, deformations on newly born babies, etc.) premature death of old people as consequence of toxic air in the cities, extinction of native animal and plant life and the wild exploitation of our workers. This depends on every member of the European Parliament that receive this inform, that what is happening in Chile continues on and on thanks European indifference. We only ask the right to be heard, that this Report be read and check the information we are giving, if reality is in the official marketing or in this Report, that is if you really are interested in the protection of mankind and Nature. ____________________________ 1 During the first 8 years of Concertation's government, the concentration of richness in a few hands had a dramatic rise. Particularly during Frei's administration, 60% of the population saw a heavy deterioration of their participation in National Income. The richest 40% of the population (9 and 10 decils) concentrated around 57% of the National Income between 1990 and 1998. The breach between rich and poor people increase: while in 1990 the difference was 30,14 times, in 1998 it was of 34,42 times between the richer and the poorer. (Fazio, H., 2.000: "The Transnationalization of Chilean Economy". LOM Editions, Chile, March 2.000). 2 Importance of exports in the Brute Internal Product (PIB, in spanish) in Chile raised from 16% during the period 1970-1979 up to more than 35% over the last few years. Of this figure (more than US$ 15.000 millions in 1996) the 90% corresponds to no-processed or semi-processed natural resources and only the remaining 10% stands for industrial products. (Claude, M., 1997: "Una vez más la miseria". LOM Editions, Chile, 1997).
4 Gonzalo Navarrete, Director of Institute for Public Health (Instituto de Salud Pública) told the press, on 1998, that the staff of his department was only 9 inspectors to control all the private laboratories that produces around 4.700 medicines existing in chilean medicine market; besides that they have to check the task of Quality Control Laboratories, products advertising and users'claims about them.(Daily "La Hora", Chile, May 27th 1998). 5
Chilean deputies Guido Girardi and Mario Acuña denounced, on June
1999, that european company Pacific Chemicals Engineering (PCE) was announcing
all over the world in a brochure where they recommended Atacama desert
as a place able to be used as a deposit of toxic residues, specially those
rich in heavy metals. Chilean Deputies accused CONAMA (Comisión
Nacional para el Medioambiente) of causing this situation when they asked
to be done an Environment Impact Study, in order to create a garbage dump
for toxic residues at Atacama Desert. (Daily "La Tercera", Chile,
June 13th, 1999).
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