More than 100 Chilean, Canadian, and other international organizations and coalitions published an open letter today in solidarity with environmental defenders who are being harassed and persecuted for defending their territory in southern Chile from a Canadian rare earths mining company.
The company, Aclara Resources, has filed a court injunction (recurso de protección) against two environmental defenders in the city of Penco, in an effort to prevent them from circulating information about the company’s proposed rare earths project on social media and “affecting its reputation.” This type of court injunction has largely been used as a strategy to suppress the free expression of environmental defenders and others engaged in public education when critical of mining and other resource extraction projects.
The open letter, penned by the Movimiento por el agua y los Territorios (MAT) with the backing of over 100 other organizations, emphasizes that these intimidation attempts “seek to pave the way for projects to be imposed behind the backs of communities.” The letter urges that“ [local] institutions, authorities and the [Chilean] State, alongside socio-environmental organizations, do not look the other way and instead, take action.
Aclara Resources is currently in the environmental permitting stage for its open-pit Rare Earths Penco project. Already, the project has faced important environmental challenges. The project’s initial environmental assessment was rejected for failing to consider the impact on endangered native trees, and the company has already been fined for logging without a proper management plan. And while the company heavily promotes its operations as essential for the so-called energy transition and as a solution to the climate crisis, affected communities underscore the widespread use of rare earths in weapons manufacturing. They say the lasting environmental impacts far outweigh any possible benefits.
A strong community-led movement has emerged to protect the area, advocating for the Penco Park to be designated as an ecologically-sensitive protected area, vital for biodiversity and culturally important for the Mapuche people.
In 2022, local communities held Chile’s first popular referendum on mining, with over 99% of participants voting to protect the area. While non-binding, the vote highlights a lack of social licence for the project, which Aclara Resources continues to ignore.
We join other Canadian and Chilean organizations in expressing our solidarity with all environmental defenders in Penco and support their demands to government authorities in Chile and Canada, as well as their demands to the Canadian company. We reiterate our call to the Canadian Embassy in Chile to implement “Voices at Risk: Canada's Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders,” and publicly express its support for the environmental defenders of Penco and their legitimate work in defense of human rights and nature.
Photo: Gathering in solidarity with environmental defenders in April 2025. (Credit: Darko Lagunas)