The textile dump of the Atacama Desert returned to the center of the regional public and political scene. In the last few hours, the topic became a trend on social networks in Argentina, under the label of “hidden cemetery”, based on a series of posts by journalists and public opinion leaders that took up a complaint that has been unresolved for years: the massive accumulation of used clothing—and in many cases new—in the north of Chile and the failure to comply with a court ruling which obliges the Chilean State to repair the environmental damage caused.
“They denounced Boric for the pollution generated in the Atacama Desert in Chile, where they throw away tons of used clothing brought from outside countries. They managed to get them sanctioned, but they did not comply with the ruling,” he wrote Luis Majulwhile asking his followers if Chile should “pay the consequences.” In the same line, Alejandro Fantino warned: “Pay attention to this: Guillermo Whpei went to Chile to lead an investigation against the disaster that Chile made by contaminating the Atacama Desert with used clothing brought by countries from the rest of the world.” Claudio Savoia, for his part, added: “And this???? The Argentine Guillermo Whpei and the Foundation for Democracy International denounced the Chilean government for the massive contamination of the Atacama Desert: there was a process and a sanction, but they did not obey it… and nothing happened.
Behind the media outbreak there is a specific piece of information. The Government of Chile did not comply with the resolution of the First Environmental Court of Antofagasta which, in an unprecedented ruling issued last September, held the State responsible for the environmental damage caused by the largest clandestine textile dump in Latin Americalocated in the Atacama Desert. This is stated by the Argentine businessman Guillermo Whpei, who through the Foundation for International Democracy was one of the main promoters of making the problem visible and today demands effective compliance with the sentence.
The ruling recognized that Chile incurred a fault by omission by not preventing or supervising the illegal disposal of waste. textiles on public lands in the commune of Alto Hospicio. The resolution forced the State to present a ten-year environmental repair plan, with diagnosis, safe removal of waste, soil restoration, landscape recovery, traceability of the entry of clothing through the port of Iquique and publication of the real costs of the rescue.
The Atacama Desert, the driest on the planet, became the final destination for discards from the global textile industry. The United States, Europe and Asia send millions of garments there that are not sold or are thrown away after a single season. It is estimated that between 120,000 and 180,000 tons of clothing enter the port of Iquique per year. Some are resold, but the majority ends up forming mountains of textile waste, often burned, with a direct impact on the ecosystem.
Despite the ruling, the Chilean State Defense Council filed an appeal with the Supreme Court to annul the sentence, alleging formal defects and legal errors. Meanwhile, according to Whpei, there was no concrete progress. “The resolution of the Chilean Justice is clear. However, it is still no progress was made in the repair plannot a single measure was taken in this regard and the mountains of clothes continue to accumulate in the Atacama Desert,” he stated.
The businessman also stressed that the problem exceeds a specific government: “The Chilean authorities of now and the governments that come, regardless of their political color, should abide by the judicial resolution and have among their priorities the monitoring of the reparation plan.” And he concluded: “For decades the State of Chile looked the other waybenefiting economically from the entry of tons of clothing from all over the world into its ports and then discarding them in the desert. Atacama is a unique place in the world, and this situation makes us reconsider that there is no beauty if there is no commitment.” The viralization of the issue once again puts pressure on an environmental conflict that already has a ruling, but is still awaiting action.
by RN
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