International
Chile sinks controversial mining project over environmental concerns
January 19 | By AFP | Paulina Abramovich |
Chile’s government on Wednesday torpedoed a controversial billion-dollar mining project due to be built near a nature reserve that is home to a rare species of penguin.
Environmentalists had criticized the proposed open-pit mine and port project in the north of Chile close to the National Humboldt Penguin Reserve due to its potential ecological impact on a unique area known for its natural diversity.
The $2.5 billion project was unanimously rejected by left-wing President Gabriel Boric’s cabinet.
“We are confident that a robust, traceable, evidence-based (decision) has been adopted here,” said Maisa Rojas, the environment minister.
The project aimed at extracting millions of tons of iron ore and thousands of tons of copper in an impoverished area of northern Chile around 450 kilometers (280 miles) from Santiago, the capital.
But the area comprises a nature reserve encompassing three islands that are home to 80 percent of the world’s Humboldt penguins, which are an endangered species, as well as whales, sea lions and the world’s smallest otter species.
‘Unique ecological value’
Chilean company Andes Iron, which also wanted to build a treatment and deposits plant, a water desalination plant and a port for loading minerals, said it would appeal the decision.
“The port is in a place that has an absolutely unique ecological value,” said Rojas.
When taking office in March 2022, Boric’s government had expressed its rejection of the port’s construction.
“The Dominga project doesn’t just comply, but exceeds all standards and is aligned with principles established by the government for sustainable industrial and mining projects,” Andes Iron said in a statement.
That was disputed by Matias Asun, the director of Greenpeace Chile.
“It’s a project that not only does not meet the norms required for approval, but was also pushed by the main groups associated with corruption in our country,” said Asun.
Right-wing opposition senator Matias Walker branded the decision as political.
Activists, though, applauded the decision.
“I’m defending my home, the place where I live, which is pristine,” Maud Ferres, an activist who opposed the project and had traveled to Santiago to hear the decision, told AFP.
However, Alexis Sanchez, spokesman for a community association in La Higuera, where the mine would have been, said the project would have provided economic opportunities for the village of 3,700 people.
“This is project we want to achieve our development to stop being one of the poorest communes in the country,” Sanchez told AFP.
Had it been approved, the Dominga project would have involved the extraction of 12 million tonnes (tons) of iron ore a year along with 150,000 tonnes of copper, over a 22-year period, making it the biggest such venture in Chile.
Andes Iron promised to create 10,000 direct jobs and 25,000 indirect ones during the construction phase of the project.
Once operational, the company said the mine would have created 1,500 direct jobs and 4,000 indirect ones.
Pandora Papers scandal
Andes Iron’s Dominga mine project has had a controversial history in Chile.
It first underwent an environmental impact evaluation a decade ago before it was rejected in 2017 by the socialist government of then-president Michelle Bachelet.
But under her conservative successor Sebastian Pinera, the supreme court ordered a new evaluation.
The controversy then turned into a scandal in 2021 when leaked documents known as the Pandora Papers implicated Pinera — then serving his second nonconsecutive term as president — in a seemingly shady deal surrounding the Dominga project.
Dominga was sold through a company owned by Pinera’s children to a businessman close friend of his for $152 million.
The leaked papers said a large part of the operation was carried out in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven.
Despite the embarrassing revelations, the Senate voted against impeaching Pinera — it failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to do so — thus sparing him a potential jail sentence of up to five years.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
Central America5 days agoDaniel Ortega’s last historic sandinista ally detained in Managua
-
Central America5 days agoHonduras sees ongoing killings of land defenders and attacks on press, warns NGO
-
Central America5 days agoGuatemala transfers top gang leaders to maximum security prison after funeral home massacre
-
International5 days agoTrump to build $200M ballroom at the White House by 2028
-
Central America3 days agoCosta Rica faces historic vote on lifting presidential immunity for Rodrigo Chaves
-
International3 days agoTrump administration blasts judge’s ruling reinstating TPS for Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua
-
International2 days agoIsrael says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
-
International3 days agoStudy finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
-
International2 days agoSeven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
-
International18 hours agoU.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
-
International18 hours ago
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction