Un Parque para Las Salinas
The movement Un Parque para Las Salinas is an socio-environmental organisation funded in 2017 in Viña del Mar, Region of Valparaíso, Chile, with the aim to provide a community-based answer to the serious industrial pollution that currently affects the historical area of Las Salinas, a coastal land of more than 18 hectares contaminated for more than a century by petrochemical and agrochemical activities.
The movement is made up of affected neighbours, independent professionals and land defenders, and has led processes of citizen monitoring, presentation of environmental findings, legal actions and awareness-raising campaigns with the aim of demanding an environmental remediation that is harmless, transparent and without impact on public health. Their work has become key in order to give visibility to the health risks vulnerable population exposed to carcinogenic and neurotoxic pollutants in the area face.
In 2023, the organisation has become a target of pressure, threats and criminalisation attempts by actors linked to the real estate project promoted by the company Las Salinas S.A, subsidiary of Copec of the Angelini Group.
Chile has made significant progress in relation to respect for and protection of human rights since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship and it is one of the South-American countries which has had success in bringging those responsible for the attrocities perpetrated during the dictatorship to justice. Despite of all the developments, HRDs still face police abuses, with demonstrations and street protests being violently repressed several times.
