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Los Pelambres copper mine near Los Caimanes town, north of Santiago. Copper exports account for one-third of government revenue. Photograph: Victor Ruiz Caballero/Reuters
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Chile's government told to stop allowing firms to exhaust water sources with little regard for local people
More than 100 environmental, social and indigenous organisations protested in the Chilean capital, Santiago, this week to demand that the state regain control of the management of water, which was privatised by the then dictatorship in 1981.
More than 6,000 people took part in the peaceful "great carnival march for the recovery and defence of water" on Monday, according to the organisers, one of whom was former student leader Camila Vallejo, who plans to run for parliament as a Communist party candidate.
The demonstrators delivered a letter to President Sebastián Piñera, complaining that the water shortages affecting local communities were due not only to persistent drought but to structural problems in the policies governing the exploitation of natural resources.
more > Mining and logging companies 'leaving all of Chile without water' | Global development | guardian.co.uk
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