translated from Spanish: “Freirina 2.0”: the struggle of the residents of San Javier to the irregular installation of a chanchera

In April 2012, the community of Freirina, Region of Atacama, is tired of the bad smells and began an enormous mobilization against plant breeding and slaughtering of pigs of Agrosuper which was located in the area. That was a tricky moment for that was, then, the first administration of Sebastián Piñera, to the extent that the Minister of health at the time, Jaime Mañalich, decreed health alert for the province of Huasco and ordered the closure of the plant.
According to a study conducted by the Commission of environmental assessment (CEA), 4 were the reasons for odors: the failure of the aerators of the treatment plant slurry and water, Homogenizers wells, the fields of composting and transfer of the animals. Finally, on 11 December 2012, Agrosuper announced that the plant, it closed indefinitely by ending to one of the health emergency.
A little more than 930 km Freirina and in the Region of Maule, lies the comuna of San Javier. Both towns share not weather or wildlife, but a similar story: strong and unpleasant odors caused by a chanchera. This time not Agrosuper, but Agricola Coexca S.A., a company that set up a plant in the area tree. The plant, which is currently running, has led to the mobilization of residents of San Javier, which already do not resist the problems of living with this chancera in his commune.
Álvaro Letelier is one of the spokesmen for the “grouping southern Maule for life”. It is not the one closest to the plant, but he said he feels the same odors. Their day to day – told – is “a permanent feeling of it is not known when it will reach a smell. At day 12 moves a bit, there is no smell, because wind runs away, but in the evening one is waiting for you. You’re all day thinking ‘what time comes’, you are with all your senses waiting. Several neighbors described it as a replica of an earthquake. In the background one feels that retort next”.
Letelier rated how stressful feeling, that “smell is such an unpleasant, is strong and acid, is stuck in the nose and not let you eat then because everytime you eat something you feel that smell, the food that remains with that smell”. And at night, the situation does not change added, because the “odor is so strong that everyone awakens us”.
San Javier nightmare began in 2008, when the agricultural Coexca S.A., installed at kilometer 25 of the route Los Conquistadores, the project called “porcine campus 10,000 mothers, San Agustín de el Arbolito”, approved by the Regional Environmental Commission.
The project consisted of a staff of breeding and fattening pigs 10 thousand females in an area of 7 hectares, in order to export meat to Asian and Nordic, countries like Denmark. In the Declaration of environmental impact (DIA) who presented the company, the project does not provide for an effective treatment of slurry – urine, feces and water washing of pigs – and only considers waste to pass through membranes that separate solids from liquids. The latter would be transported to anaerobic, obsolete pools already in the year 2008, that discharged in a reservoir of accumulation of 77 hectares. There they will remain for six months (autumn and winter), then be extracted during the summer and used in the irrigation of plantations of pine located in high areas close to the grounds of the plant.
On account of neighbours of the chancera, the company must communicate through the press local, radial or written, the construction of a project of this magnitude. And they did, although 10 kilometers farther away from where the chanchera is currently installed: did near the kilometer 33 of the road Los Conquistadores, near Cauquenes. “Even small tree exists in this sector,” criticized the social leader.
Due to this mistake, the neighbors never knew until 2015, when they recently began to build and operate, but the installation of the chanchera bringing the first flocks of pigs and installing a modern bio-digester, which was not contemplated in the 2008 CEA. The company, therefore, requested that same year a new, communicated where the construction of the bio-digester – which was already working without permission – and also modified the initial roster of pigs, becoming a single Pavilion of 44 thousand copies, all together.
Google Earth image showing what is built now. Onlay, which had to build with its authorization for 2008.
According to 19,300 law — and included in the law 20.417 – modification, construction of a project without resolution of environmental qualification that generates impacts the environment, constitutes “serious misconduct”.
This change, irregular clearly according to Letelier, it was approved by the SEA of the Maule Region. That riled the community, which began with more force to express their anger at the installation of the chanchera. Neighbors said that after this change you you should have set is term anticipated evaluation, since it lacks relevant and essential information.
In that sense, cannot be determined the environmental impacts, according to article 11 of the General environment law, because it contains the information for this purpose, thus, does not contain sectoral permits which pledged at the RCA, or information with respect to the communities.
According to neighbors, the company threatened the local authorities indicating that if not they approved of this modification to the project, “they would build the previous design, which was larger than Freirina. Before that, adopted the ‘lesser evil’ “, he said Letelier. A document confirming that authorities were aware of these modifications, so acknowledged that the company was building something that was not in the initial plans.
In June 2018 approved the modification, and the following month, the community fought back, presenting to the be a claim. The difference is that they presented it at the central level, in Santiago and not in the Maule. The result was in favour of neighbors, annulling the CEA of 2018. The chanchera, therefore, could not work more.
The company realized the manifestations of residents and tried to “buy them” – as described Letelier – offering boxes with meat or products they need, thanks to a survey conducted by an outside company that was hired by Coexca. The closest neighbours, in fact, offered to buy their land, but only the rights of property.
The chancera continued to operate. Indeed, removed sectoral permits for various works based on the RCA of 2018, which had already been cancelled, so all these permits were also cancelled. Thus, Coexca has no authorization for the change of land use, nor that of the DGA to major works (for the reservoir of 76,76 hectares or to changes of water, among other courses, and in spite of that, he has just performed works in the waterways of the sector).
Neighbors also complained before the Seremi of health of Maule, Marlenne Durán, and the Superintendence of the environment of the region. According to Letelier, was necessary to claim before the Comptroller General because “they didn’t do anything” with the allegations and that only after that the Seremi passed a health summary to the firm. “Here it is rumored that there is corruption, because it can not be that this company to do so much harm to all of us and the authorities do nothing,” said Letelier.
Currently, built plant has a Homogenizer 63 times larger and an anaerobic lagoon 7 times larger than initially approved apart from containment systems of contacted waters and runoff to the Purapel River being built.
Image sent by a neighbor who confirms that contentions have not been made to avoid possible contamination of the river.
There, in this sector, should be built a wall and a reservoir of security.

The Danish partners
The agricultural Coexca has Danish capital (45%) and maulinos, dedicated to the export of pork, with an annual turnover exceeding $50 billion.
Porcine campus “Kennel San Agustin el Arbolito” received contributions from the Fund Danish agribusiness (DAF) who was admitted as a partner of the Chilean company, like JB Equity Limited, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Even the same Ambassador of Denmark in Chile, Jens Godtfredsen, published on his official Twitter account a photo on January 22 by visiting a farm of Coexca, located near Talca, with the following message: “field yesterday visiting the farm of Coexca in San Augustine, Talca, which boasts an important Danish investment. “My new friend here likes the production standards Danish”.

The episode did not pass unnoticed. Letelier along with other representatives of the community were to complain to the Embassy of Denmark, with the only response that the capital was “retired French”.
The counter tried for weeks contacted by phone and e-mail with the Agricola Coexca S.A., but calls nor emails were not answered.

Original source in Spanish

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