@Frank F Kling The question of whom to place the blame on in general, and whether or not Promel is guilty in particular, was addressed in the film, first of all. And second of all, even if it wasn't, nice try shifting the focus from BOLIDEN'S PART OF THE BLAME to something else. A lot of things can be bad at the same time. Expecting a Latin American company in the 80s to lose money on ensuring that environmental guidelines are followed, isn't a product of naivety... but of complicity. Lastly, the representatives of Boliden changed their narrative continuously throughout the trial. They tried blaming the health effects on everything but the waste. When that didn't work they tried blaming everything on Promel. They claimed Rolf had not a house in sight, and when it was shown that he did, they replied with the notion that those houses could've been something other than residences. And so on, and so forth. While simultaneously trying to set up the trial in their own favour by invoking Swedish statutes of limitations. ....If your perspective tells you anything but them being rich psychopaths using every trick in the book to avoid accountability for their destruction of human life, then your perspective is flawed.
I just want to acknowledge that how underrated Vice Documentaries are, these series are really well curated and informative at all levels. *Props to the creators*
this one yes is great, only because there is no race nonsense in it. just like the old vice. they need to learn to keep identity politics out of there videos.
I am from Arica. The pollution situation has been known for years. The government, through the years, has tried to help but it has not been even the minimum that is really needed. When I went to school, blood tests were done on the entire population of Arica to see if there was lead. Most of the population who were tested came out with some level of lead in their blood. Edit: I think it would be very important to put subtitles in Spanish for the parts of the film that are in Swedish or in English.
Thank you for sharing. This documentary broke my heart. I hope it opens the eyes of people who can help to bring some relief to all the beautiful people of your community. 💜 from California, USA
I'm from Sweden and I'm fucking pissed and ashamed of this. The former boss couldn't even admit that they were morally wrong even if they are "right" from a legal standpoint and then the lawyers even have the nerve to say that the former boss has integrity. It's of course of little comfort to you but I want you to know that this matter has been publicly known for quite a while now in Sweden (I think the first documentary was made in 2009?), this documentary is produced by the Swedish state television and Swedish people (obviously can't speak for everybody, but everyone I have talked about this with at least) are ashamed of this. I have the feeling that I should do something but I don't know what I can do, I'm trying to make sure that people I know are aware that this was done by a Swedish company at least.
Me being from sweden and not knowing about this kinda hurts me. To know countries like sweden and others are using chile as a dump is just crazy. What all countries should do is keep their waste in their country no questions asked.
As a chilean I can't believe how countries that call themselves enviromentally friendly, that fight for humans rights... and then, when it comes to the rights of poor people in a distant land, they simply don't care
@@Frannreyes Easy! They drop all the toxic garbage outside and themselves stay clean, neat and nature friendly, so all the world could marvel at its clean wilderness: forests, mountains, water. Chile.... It's just some backyard of the third world, who cares.
Im from Sweden, under an hour from this place, Skellefteå, and Boliden. I had no idea about this and it brakes my heart. I really thought we were better than this. I hope this creates preasure and that the right people get what they deserve and justice for the Chilean people, and that We have to remove this. And maybe more importantly, take a close look at how things are done today.
Boliden did nothing wrong. They hired a certified chilean company to handle the waste. This is completely normal. In the end, this chilean company just took the money and ran. The fault is 100% theirs - as was shown in the court of law. Only an activist would say otherwise, and activists tend to make their minds up according to feelings rather than facts.
@@multitimmytiger2 nothing wrong, do you think executives didn’t know? That’s very naive from your part. Your waste, your problem… that’s how it should be…
@@P-Sides of course they didn't know that this chilean company's owners would go under ground. Why would they ever have suspected that? I mean, this was a real company that had experience in this type of work. It wasn't some small start-up or something like that. There are companies around the world that specializes in processing this kind of waste, and what happened here was a completely normal business transaction as far as Boliden is concerned. If you think Chile shouldn't do this kind of business then that's a question for the chilean government, I guess. Boliden has no blame in this - again - as was shown in a court of law.
As a Chilean, I had never even heard of this until this video, I think it's responsibility of the Chilean gov for accepting these chemicals (although in the time they were accepted we were in a dictatorship) and, of course of Boliden by not handling the waste of their own manufacturer. Also, I think for the 80's, Chile was (and still is) a very sub-developed country compared to Sweden, meaning they should have known that the gov couldn't handle these chemicals and dangerous substances well enough to not be a problem for the Ariqueños.
As a Swedish person, this was (and is) also a big scandal in Sweden. The fact that our government (together with Chilean authorities) took the side of Boliden and tried to cover it up is disgusting. I can only offer my sympathies, but I would like to sincerely apologise, as a citizen of Sweden, for what my government allowed a Swedish company to do in your country. It's disgraceful! Mis más sinceras disculpas al pueblo de Chile.
@@TheBaBaTV Inmediate money is also the reason the Chilean gov keep accepting contracts like these without thinking in the long term state of the country and the Chileans, this is just one of many things the gov has accepted just for money 🤷🏻
@@herLauchin You can't say "the Chilean government", it was Pinochet's dictatorship, the Chilean businessmen involved and Boliden's businessmen involved at that time, those are at fault and the Swedish government at the time of this ruling. There wasn't any real "Chilean government" at that time, don't you remember? But I agree that nothing has changed regarding the Chilean businessmen when it comes to foreign money, if they can find a loophole, they would take the money and they couldn't care less about our environment or the citizens. At least we have a couple of laws that forbids these kind of crimes now...
Reminiscent of the 1984 Bhopal disaster. Thank you for making this documentary available. More attention needs to be paid to "situations like this around the world, where typically multinational corporations based in developed countries do things overseas that they would never dream about doing in their own country."
@@gtenhave it’s the simple fact that we are lucky. No one wants suffering but there is never not going to be suffering. Some are just more fortunate than others sucks but it’s true.
I've lived in Chile for more than 15 years and I can tell you there are very few valuable resources that have not been priced and sold long ago, and most of them are in the hands of foreign interests or a handful of rich families. I don't know how can you revert the sell of the whole country decades before you were born.
The only way they will when this if those that judge cave to modern standards. I don't believe The swedish company or their government is in anyway responsible. The company hired and paid in Chili are responsible and the Chilean government itself. Who builds a housing development, low income or not, next to a toxic waste dump? And what government doesn't oversee the processing of toxic waste they allowed into their country? To me this is just more people not taking responsibility for their own actions or problems. And people are always blaming someone else. It's become the way of the world.
@@kiki29073 I don't agree because the system set in place was unreasonable. The swedish company had an obligation to take care of the waste. The idea that you can just dump that obligation into whomever you want and be done with it is crazy. To take it to the extreme, what if they had hired some random guy walking outside their premises? They should have done their due diligence, and the government of Chile (not Chili 🌶️) should have set rules in place so that they were obligated to do things correctly. Both committed errors. The absence of rules doesn't mean you can do whatever you want and be considered ethical.
Absolutely horrifiyng. I hope this story is spread far and wide in sweden so that the common people learn of it. If the population can add preassure it might change something
This is business as usual for western democracies to force global south into destroying their environment. Colonialism evolved decades ago. And it’s still evolving with tech/science.
This reminds me of both Love Canal and the Erin Brockovich trial (Anderson, et al. v. Pacific Gas & Electric). This is disgusting, sad, and disheartening and in my opinion Sweden should take accountability. The company was aware of what they were doing by sending their toxic waste to Chile, who were never going to properly take care of the waste. The company wouldn’t have dared to do this in Sweden and took advantage of the situation.
From another comment " Boliden did nothing wrong. They hired a certified chilean company to handle the waste. This is completely normal. In the end, this chilean company just took the money and ran. The fault is 100% theirs - as was shown in the court of law."
This needs a gofundme or a page where people can rally behind and keep taking the fight to them, 5 million euros could have done a lot for those families than being solely wasted in courts where the only win was the outcome because from a PR perspective Boliden totally lost, anyone who watches this can see their weak justifications "that boy could have been a worker, or a man, in the playground playing" to name the countless shameless arguments they made. Shame on them.
If the waste wasn't harmful, why the hell did they ship it all the way to the desert in Chile?! The dude speaking for Boliden during the trial really fucking irks me.
The 2 companies and the govt must pay together because of their decisions. As the waste shipper you must have all the report on how the last bits of waste was processed, as the processing company they should have done their job and the govt which decided to do a housing project without even considering the fact that some 20k tons of waste was dumped there. I am still shocked to see noone was moved from there or the attempt to remove the waste or any protection to people
I'm from Sweden myself. What happened here is awful. This has been discussed extensively in Sweden, and even just the other week it was discussed in parlament again. Everyone in Sweden knows about this and hate the company for what they did.
Hur kan du hata företaget för detta? Dem gjorde sin research och det chilienska företaget hade alla dokument och tidigare erfarenheter av ett sådant arbete. Hur skulle Boliden kunna veta att det Chilienska företaget bara skulle ta pengarna och dra?
@@zoom5024 the sole fact of exporting waste is wrong and it has been prohibited in most of the world now, this is just another example of 1st world countries pissing on 3rd world as always. But i'll give you the point that the chilean company was equally as evil.
Since they think it's no problem then they shouldn't be concerned to have it shipped right back in their neighborhoods. And the experts paid 1 million to lie under oath God have mercy on their souls
Seriously. Totally agree with your first sentence. Okay lawyers, judges, experts, would you be okay with your child being tested and having that level of arsenic in their body?
As someone of Chilean parents, I’m disgusted and embarrassed by the Chilean governments deliberate ignorance to what was dumped there by allowing it to be inhabited! Absolutely disgraceful. Everything in Chile is backwards and the dictatorship really shaped the country into a corrupt politicians heaven. Shame & so sad.
I love dictactorships. I love how they claim to protect the nation. I love how they claim to make it strong. I love how they claim to create prosperity. I love how these are all lies, and they are nothing but a pack of greedy, backstabbing, narcissistic thieves. It's the same everywhere. There are no exceptions.
The US also has partial responsibility for supporting the coup in the 70s that allowed those dictators to take power when Chile was a democratic nation. F*ck the CIA
The United States needs to take moral responsibility for overthrowing the Allende government and precipitating the current political situation in Chile
As a swede I have been told that chile was supposed to treat all this sludge, remove all the dangerous materials. The chilean government got paid in advanced and the chilean government didn't care much about it.
When Foxxcon employees started jumping out of windows because of low pay and grueling working conditions, Apple said it was the subcontractor's responsibility. Yet they set the low price at which Foxxcon needs to produce, which makes it impossible to treat your workers right if you want to turn a profit (meanwhile Apple hoards massive profits). I don't know about this particular case, but you can't just shift all of the blame to the Chilean government. Mining companies tend to use bribes and nice sounding promises to gain access, but end up poisoning the people and the environment and then leave with the resources and profits. When someone tries to hold them accountable, they come up with excuses and hide behind an army of lawyers. It's a pattern. Some call it colonialism 2.0.
so you find corrupt governments that dont care about their people to do business with before trying to find proper disposal sites.. knowing what would happen. its like selling drugs to a drug dealer than pretending you didnt know they were going to sell them to people..
Sweden was modeling the way. So the Chilean Gov't (not that I have any view) was following the Swedish way. Sweden knew exactly what they were doing exporting toxic waste to a developing (beautiful) nation lead by a Dictator. A Dictator. Are Swedish hearts that cold? Yes, bad, bad dictator, but SHAME ON SWEDEN.
Ask yourself why Boliden didn't store the wastes in Sweden, if the wastes weren't a problem. Ask the Lawyers representing Boliden if they would live next to this sludge, or have their kids playing in it...Ask them under oath and the threat of perjury.
That’s like you paying a company to take your grabaste from your home, and said company dumps it in a river. Is it still your problem ? Will you pay a fine as well??
@@fourdoorsmorehoes Let me adjust his statement then. Sweden is an officially self proclaimed "humanitarian superpower", but the thing we really care about is "sverigebilden".
@@fourdoorsmorehoes idk pretty sure everyone is aware of lax carceral sentences and actual attempts at rehabilitation, and Swedes love to talk about it. But tbh you should predict the callousness of a Swede mining venture in the Americas by looking at Sami policies within Sweden.
"To determine what the emissions from the smelter sludge would be after disturbance, I walked on trays to crush the aggregates for fixed period of time." "If you compare this to children sliding down the pile, what's your conclusion?" "The compression force of a child sliding down the side of the pile would be much less than the weight of my body on the aggregates in a shallow tray." Incredible.
It’s not fair to draw a comparison of the people of Boliden now and Arica?! How about it’s not fair what happened to the people in Arica? I agree. It’s more of Chile’s governments fault than anyone else’s. They allowed that to happen then built a housing project next to it.
Hi Mike, maybe you are Swedish, maybe not. Therefore, you take personal responsibility guilt for what happened to chileans due to corporate interests in Arica. Rest assured, this is not your fault. This is not anyone's (at least not typical swedish) fault. This issue are institutions, this problem are political interests, this problem are corporations, nameless; this problem is our economic reality, willing to sacrifice a few, "for the good of millions". No one with some sense of an understanding of the economic reality will blame single swedish, but will look past the individuals: This problem are systems, political interests, our impending economic will to support "the line going up". The problem is not people, the problem are the nameless.
@@padremochismusical thank you, I’m not of Swedish decent (that I know of) but I feel that no matter our history, race, ethnicity we should care for one another. I didn’t watch this video in it’s entirety but maybe Boliden believed that the sludge would be taken care of properly but still it’s their duty to help Chile and help those poor people.
@@anthonyman8008 Its not complacency if you dont even know it happened and still happens. Im not swedish but Im a neighbour to the country and I’ve never ever heard about this, if it where common knowledge don’t you think neighbouring countries would have covered it? Its obviously been hushed down so very few actually knew
Two great Swedish men with great integrity. I applaud you both. fantastic work 👌 the world would be perfect if everyone cared about the environment before monetary value
@@tuclance so you say killin g people, genocide, fascism, authoritarinism and destruction made us "advanced"? If so, what is stopping us from doing them again? Clearly, without them, we would be "primitive" according to you. It seems like you down play the seveirty of these events and made up some excuses for them like "advancements" Which is disgusting and illogical. You cant ignore the past. Past is the thing that constitutes the present. If you can not deal with your unjust and brutal past you are bound to repeat it. I will stop here because the more i analyse what you said, the more fucked up it turns out to be. I dont even know whether or not you meant these things. But these are the things that can be derived fron what you wrote
@@pygmalion8952 its a fact, but dont think that it has anything to do with what i want or stand for (if that was something that crossed your mind) Ofc we could advance even without suffering... but it would take a lot longer. We are where we are.. nothing can change the past. Only the future can be changed. Be better now and ignore the bad past.
@@tuclance but there are still innocent people that continue to be affected by this. And the waste is still there. It is not there past, it is there present and they are fighting to create a future where this event doesn't repeat itself
Never heard of this before. I had only heard of Arica from the Battlefield Bad Company 2 map Arica Harbor, ironically a game from DICE who are Swedish. I’m glad to know more now, this is a frightening thing.
Greetings from Sweden we are an organisation for the defence of human rights here and in the Americas ...we consider the work of Lars and William ..we do not know them personally but we know that they are two conscientious people opening this film for many Swedes and Chileans living in Sweden to make known a situation of irresponsibility of the states in this case of Sweden, like Chile ...only to say from Sweden the struggle continues ...#bolidenrecogetustoxicosdechile #bolidenpickupyourtoxicsfromchile ...Thank you Vice
this made me a bit more worried about living close to one of the worlds biggest landfills. there is no way that company is doing whats necessary to keep toxic waste from getting into the environment and water supply here. i bet if i took a survey of everyone who lived around it for more than a decade, i'd find that most of them got cancer of some sort. or other problems idk. but i know the more money a company makes, the more likely it is that they are doing shady stuff at the expense of everyone else.
Lawyer: "Rolf, did you not see those residences near the site?" Rolf The Clown: "No." Lawyer: "You're saying you didn't see the apartments 100 meters away from the spot where you decided to dump the waste?" Rolf The Clown: "Well, it's your claim that they were residences. That's nothing that I can confirm." Wait a second... So he DID in fact see a bunch of houses about two stone's throws away from the waste site, and decided that the site in question was a good place to dump toxic waste on anyway, because he was UNSURE whether or not anyone lived in those houses... I dunno, but maybe he should've checked?! What a bizarre man.
You can maybe do one about how Swedish firm Ikea has been illegally clearcutting Romanian forests in their national parks, essentially destroying some of the last untouched ancient forests in Europe.
Wasnt that a private company supplying wood to ikea? I think Ikea ordered the wood but didnt have anything to do with the fact that they cut down those specific trees.
That was a really ignorant comment. Generalizing and sweepingly vague. You also miss the fact that despite the picture the company in the video paints of Sweden, that area of the world (the Nordic nations) are the *LEAST* corrupt on the planet. The reason this is drawing attention is because it's so rare for it to happen that it is still seen as news. Compared to the U.S. where news about companies screwing over consumers and workers, is just "a Monday".
This documentary needs SPANISH AND ENGLISH SUBTITLES AND TO BE SHOWN TO THE SWEDISH AND CHILEAN GOVERNMENTS. How can a country like Sweden have sanctioned this activity? The Swedish government and waste disposal company shareholders must do the right thing and help these people detoxify the land and provide complete financial compensation for all affected families - not that it will bring back their loved ones. This is a disgusting, tragic and completely irresponsible act by those people involved in dumping this toxic waste there.
First of all how is it Swedens fault when it was just a company? Second, the Swedish company did their research and found this Chilean company that did have previous work like this, and had all the papers and certifications needed. The Chiliean company choose to do wrong, how is that the Swedish company's fault?
It was definitely Promel's responsibility to safely store and process the materials/waste, it's not Boliden's fault that an entirely separate company didn't do their job and keep their end of the deal. If I was Boliden I would be suing Promel for millions in damages to be completely honest. Regardless this was an amazing film and truly eye opening to the long term environmental effects these companies have not just on this earth and the land or atmosphere but also directly of the people who live in these areas.
The company that was paid to deal with the waste went bankrupt. A investigation of the bankruptcy laws in Chile would decide who is now responsible for the clean up.
If you run a cleaning service and you hire a bum from the streets to do some of that work for you and they totally mess it up, are you not in anyway responsible for hiring someone not totally qualified and in result injuring people?
@@PALSGUILD I'm not sure on how the Chilean company came to agree on the terms of the contract (public tender or what not) but once signed both parties are bound to the contract and the terms in it. I'm not saying the contract wasn't in the favor of boliden and the 1 million euros (in 1984) didn't blind the Chilean company from signing it. But were not talking about unqualified bums off the street signing a contract. Were talking about businessmen and lawyers looking over the contract and what it entailed. And if the contract was in violation of some law this would have overturned ages ago. But that hasn't happened and so the contract although bad for Chile citizens and unethical was legal and binding and to now go back on that contract means that any and all contracts are Pointless. When the Chilean company failed to meet their part of the contract do you think the returned the 1 million euros, probably not. And now to claim that boliden should clean up that mess and pay for damages means that all companies around the world should not be held by the terms of any contract that they undertake. If this is the case what stops any company or any individual from signing a contract and never fulfilling the terms and simply taking the money without consequence. I'm not saying or making a claim that what happened wasn't a despicable act. I'm simply saying that boliden had a contract that they meet there end and now to take them to court because of that rather then go after the law makers that allowed this to happen is not right.
I haven't even watched more than 10 minutes and this immediately feels like it was the Chilean company and country who failed here. The other company paid them to do a job, if they didn't do it then??? Then the country decides to build a neighborhood there?
Not to mention that the propagandist that made this film is a refugee from Chile that Sweden took in, educated and gave him the possibility to make films like this. And now he is out there in the world pointing fingers at Sweden as a state based on the horrific actions of a Chilean company and their government. It kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Let’s be real here for a second, Chilean company clearly underbid the completion to get the contracts, and ran away with the profits. Don’t think the Swedish company even knew.
Let’s be real here. You don’t think that the company knew they’d be getting rid of it unethically for that price and they did it anyway to save money???
@@niominati Lets be real here, you think that you hired a company that bids on a mega project, and then just steals the money and leaves everyone high and dry. It happens even on home renovations.
I remember when the Philippines was about to declare war on Canada if they didn’t take their illegal trash back. When the trash flow stopped for a few days, Canada became dirty overnight, it looked like a junk yard. Literally!
@Alex K The Canadians of today aren’t like the ones who defeated the USA and burnt down the White House. All Filipinos have to do is mis-pronoun Canadians and they’ll fall over from a heart attack due to being triggered. Have you seen the military ads that Canada/west has been putting out lol?
@Alex K Canada hasn’t been in war since the 2001 Afghanistan invasion.... even then the Taliban ran laps around western militaries for 20 years straight. Philippines is still dealing with terrorist within their territory. The country ranks in 16th place on the Global Terrorism Index's 2022 list of countries most affected by terrorism. No one is helping them by the looks of it, while the US needs its allies to combat them.
@Alex K With the military ads that Canada has been putting out recently, sure does make it look like they are the majority of the military. Look at the ads for yourself on TH-cam.
Swedes (amongst many other companies): Don't forget about the heaps (~60,000 tonnes annually) of toxic unsold (H&M) fast fashion, mostly synthetics, being exported to the free port of Iquique in Northern Chile, and simply being dumped in the nothingness of the wonderful Atacama desert.. It hasn't stopped going on, and with all certainty it will continue to go on tomorrow. This behaviour from big corps is not a thing of the past.
The funny thing is…as we’ve learned….you can’t just dump your garbage somewhere else on the planet and assume it’s not going to affect you because it absolutely will
If the Chile based company Promel bought the waste from Boliden with clear contracts explaining that they will process it, aren't Promel the ones responsible for the waste tragedy and not Boliden?
Promel probably doesn't have money to pay a judgement. That's often how lawsuits are determined. Like the whole Dozinger/Ecuador mess, where his team argued that two oil firms owned by the Ecuador government were innocent of pollution but Chevron was guilty of everything.
I think they don't hassle the locals when it's the foreigners who have big money, even if it is Promel's fault. They were given a small fine and still exist today. It's corrupt and if Boliden pays, the government will probably just take the money for themselves, pretty much like every government does. Imagine this the other way around, if Chile dumped waste in Sweden and a Swedish company promised to recycle properly, but didn't. Would the Chile and their company be blamed, or would the Swedish waste disposal company be blamed? I'm guessing the latter and they wouldn't even bother Chile, because it would be pointless if it was in the contract. Of course in the perfect world, I hope both companies are held responsible and forced to clean up their mess.
@@PMNS1995 on top of that, a company won't be allowed to import toxic materials in Sweden unless they are deemed by the government to have the financial means to take care of said toxic material.
@@iknownothing-m8c Yeah also true, if the government didn't have this sort of laws then it's kinda the Chilean governments fault along with Promel. Still I do think the Rolf guy is very shady, I assume they did it because they partly knew. Boliden knew what they were doing, that Promel wouldn't keep their end of the deal, but by then it would be their problem and both Promel and Boliden knew it would be more profitable than doing it properly. Rolf was definitely frightened once he realized he would be in a lawsuit, because he was the one who was supposed to be responsible. How is he the chief of enviromental safety and knows nothing about what happens there? Then he later denies that the dump site made people sick, only people who risk getting judged for it would say that dump site didn't make people sick. For them to sue the victims for silence is fucking heartless, so they definitely deserve some punishment too. My solution, again in the perfect world: Chile government and Promel has to pay restitution and healthcare for all the citizen in Arica. Boliden and those involved like Rolf has to pay for cleaning up the waste and all the toxins that spread from it, whether it be transporting it to somewhere that can properly dispose of it or building the proper waste disposal there.
I'm surprised that one of these parents who was left childless because of this corporations crime, didn't decide to NOT wait for the CEO to "burn in hell", and go take care of the guy directly !
Yes!! If it’s not so dangerous, you should have no problem collecting it all back up and taking it back to Sweden for disposal there. Don’t stop until you have every last Molecule
These guys got guts and Rolf is brave enough to see what happened, promel should be jailed. One more thing i wouldnt be surprised the car had someone dangerous inside.
obviously bolida thinks they did things right. they paid for waste disposal and shipped as necessary. but what most of os learn as children is that legal and moral aren't the same thing. anyone should know by then that if you pay someone to get rid of a bunch of waste they will just hand it off until you find one irresponsible enough to dump it. you MUST deal with it yourself. to put all the blame on Chile is insane
People love to simplifiy things into big groups. If they can’t blame a corporation may aswell blame the entire cpuntry despite this being very unknown knowledge
I am wondering what the risks of organ smuggling must be with these lawsuits. Other situations involving arsenic poisoning might come up when it shows in the teeth, but the timeline and population exposed might place certain parts where arsenic shows up more at risk than usual?
Seems like morality is subjective.. once again. The population of Arica KNOWS the Chilean Government and Promel are at fault just as much as the Swedish company Boliden. There was a lawsuit against the State of Chile 5 years prior to the film. The problem is EVERYONE that was part of it SHOULD be held accountable. Decisions have consequences, they went to Arica to sightsee, they still brought their waste. WHY? Why couldn't the waste stay in Sweden and be disposed?? I quote from the movie: "Multinational Corporations based in developed countries do things overseas that they would NEVER dream doing in their own country". That applies to so many atrocities in this world. The Chilean people DESERVE justice, they are still suffering. Their government NEEDS to do right by their people AND Boliden HAS to take responsibility. "The poor will always suffer due to the choices of the rich". The people flat out denying the blame Boliden has and minimizing it, you sound like Americans denying racism. Algun día, se va hacer justicia por todas esas personas afectadas, nunca va a sanar esas heridas que llevan en el corazón pero va a traer un poquito de paz.
Arica wouldn't be the first or the last place where they would put a dumpsight. They should Subpoena them for there records and comb through it, visit the sights, make record of the impact it has on surrounding areas that's the only way they (prosecutors) will have a chance.
Rolf Rolf Rolf😂 suddenly realised he is the centre of all this, all that empathy, responsibility and apologies he gave when he was with Lars in Chile went out the window. Hypocrite. To the Swedish citizens i hope nothing major comes to Rolfs court, as a Environmental Judge, because he is now compromised.
1. Ty for watching. 2. Yea hehe, we can only put out 8 films. 3. A “2 hour video” in this case we would call it a movie 4. Hope you enjoy the free movies! 🍿 🎥
A lot of the responsibility should go to the company responsible for disposal of waste and also the Chilean government that allowed them to dispose of toxic waste there!
There is an essay called "The Ones Who Walk Away from The Omelas" by Ursula LeGuin that everyone who lives in a rich country should read. You see, we are all complicit in this. Sweden would not be rich without these mines. It supplies 90% of Europe's iron. It has a heavily nationalistic mindset that has led to its own citizens having excellent healthcare, very low poverty, and a very high standard of living, as such, it has implemented governmental controls to protect its own citizens from the cost of all this mining (which as of last year has been set to expand) which is toxic byproducts. Those policies led to Boliden dumping its waste in a small, poor country, not only because they wanted to dispose of it cheaply, but because the Swedish government wanted to protect its own citizens at the cost of these victims in Arica. This device I'm typing on has rare earth minerals that were likely mined by an impoverished Chinese worker. That electric car you drive probably has lithium extracted by wage slaves in the DRC in its battery and it's all carefully obfuscated by our governments and the companies responsible. It's a gollum and it cannot be stopped. But here's what you CAN do with your money instead of buying the latest gimmick (or in addition to, no judgement) . Help your neighbor when you see them struggling. Call a friend. Give money directly to the poor, organizations use a lot of it for administrative fees. Pay for someone's bus fare. Buy a college student's textbooks. Give someone a ride. Help fix something that needs fixing. Buy groceries for someone who needs it. Help a single mother get her kids to school. If you see someone upset, comfort them. Sit down and have a meal with someone who needs someone there. Fill up someone's gas tank. Invite the weird kid to sit with you.
SvT already made a documentary about this back in 2009 I think it was. I learned of it first through youtube, but it was still many years ago. It just never got the kind of exposure it deserved.
As a Swedish person that has followed this in Swedish media, I can only say that I am ashamed that a Swedish company did this and never was punished for it. Mis más sinceras disculpas al pueblo de Chile.
@USMedQuotes US Yeah, the lack of journalistic ethics and standards here is quite amazing. But we now have a good example of how effective a propaganda narrative is. Many just follow along, without thinking critically.
I can see that the company was getting rid of its waste, but I see Aricas governments and companies as the real people responsible for not caring for their own.
You cannot tell me that if a company takes toxic waste to a different country without establishing that they are able to safely handle it in its entirety there isn't any responsibility on the company doing so. If we we're to accept this premise, all we have to do is ship every toxic waste we have to a country that accepts it for a small sum of money because they desperately need it and then say they are responsible.
The part about the pile becoming a playground was.. I mean. Is it too much to tell people, or put up a fence saying. ''Don't fucking play in the industrial waste''
Very irresponsible to build housing around the pile of sludge and let the pile be used as a playground. They should take measures to contain the sludge.
Voice over your videos vice. Less people listen when…. They…. CANT listen!!! And they don’t have to read. …And then u make the text so small. Big issues do them justice. Let them BE HEARD
Sweden payed Chile government to take the toxic waste and process and dispose of it, then the Chile government only processed and disposed a fraction of it and left the rest. ?
Of course, it’s not possible to get it all or even close to all of it. Lots has been dispersed all over the country side, some of it is lodged in children’s bodies, adult bodies, even animals bodies. It’s sad, I thought Sweden was better than this!!
@26:00 Hahaha, 10 million EUR is pocket money for the CEO of a big company, and less than peanuts for the company itself ... nicely demonstrated @36:50🤢🤮 In addition to the money, Boliden (and other polluters!) should be forced to remove _all_ the waste and destroy or dispose of it properly!
@@AndreasLarsson95 I was referring to the Chili gov not fulfilling their responsibilities towards the waste management or the total disregard towards its people in allowing communities to built around the toxic unprocessed waste
Boliden had a contract with the Chilean disposal company why would they have to uphold (pay) there end of the disposal contract and then pay to dispose of the material themselves?? That's like you paid me to fix your car and you do all the work and pay for the parts LOL... you better fix your car good I dont want to get a bad reputation of doing a bad job of fixing cars.
As an outsider, i find the whole angle of this issue very frustrating. Boliden paid a third party to dispose of the waste, they done their part, the third party didnt fulfill their end of requirement and dump it at that site, how is it Boliden's liability??? And the Chile government knowing well that there is chemical at that site, proceeded to allocate living houses near it, from head to toe, the fault all lies with the Chile government and the third party contractor, why is this angle not covered in this episode? Such a skewed episode.
Because literally everyone knew Chile was a corrupt 3rd world country at the time. You'd have to be intellectually stunted to believe a military dictatorship would responsibly handle such a major health hazard. And why go halfway across the planet to get it processed? Obviously because it was cheap and they could wash their hands of it. You don't get to be a developed nation and then take advantage of less developed nations and act like it's not your fault something went wrong. If you ask a toddler to cook its own breakfast and the house burns down, that's your fault as an adult.
I’m from Sweden and I have never heard of this. It breaks my heart. I will definitely share this video.
There's a Swedish documentary about it here. The Boliden point of view starts at about 18 minutes in. th-cam.com/video/vkzwQQHcay0/w-d-xo.html
Before you share this video or any other video please dubble check everything.
P3 dokumentär har ett helt avsnitt om det om jag inte minns helt fel
Same here. Had no idea.
@Frank F Kling The question of whom to place the blame on in general, and whether or not Promel is guilty in particular, was addressed in the film, first of all. And second of all, even if it wasn't, nice try shifting the focus from BOLIDEN'S PART OF THE BLAME to something else. A lot of things can be bad at the same time.
Expecting a Latin American company in the 80s to lose money on ensuring that environmental guidelines are followed, isn't a product of naivety... but of complicity.
Lastly, the representatives of Boliden changed their narrative continuously throughout the trial. They tried blaming the health effects on everything but the waste. When that didn't work they tried blaming everything on Promel. They claimed Rolf had not a house in sight, and when it was shown that he did, they replied with the notion that those houses could've been something other than residences. And so on, and so forth. While simultaneously trying to set up the trial in their own favour by invoking Swedish statutes of limitations.
....If your perspective tells you anything but them being rich psychopaths using every trick in the book to avoid accountability for their destruction of human life, then your perspective is flawed.
I just want to acknowledge that how underrated Vice Documentaries are, these series are really well curated and informative at all levels.
*Props to the creators*
This is not a Vice doc.
@@Fazzelgaming It was curated by VICE
i concur & appreciate Vice & their team!!!!
When people really don't have anything to say they toss out the term underrated.
this one yes is great, only because there is no race nonsense in it. just like the old vice. they need to learn to keep identity politics out of there videos.
I am from Arica. The pollution situation has been known for years. The government, through the years, has tried to help but it has not been even the minimum that is really needed. When I went to school, blood tests were done on the entire population of Arica to see if there was lead. Most of the population who were tested came out with some level of lead in their blood.
Edit: I think it would be very important to put subtitles in Spanish for the parts of the film that are in Swedish or in English.
Thank you for sharing. This documentary broke my heart. I hope it opens the eyes of people who can help to bring some relief to all the beautiful people of your community. 💜 from California, USA
también soy de Arica, y es alarmante la situación en nuestra ciudad.
I'm from Sweden and I'm fucking pissed and ashamed of this. The former boss couldn't even admit that they were morally wrong even if they are "right" from a legal standpoint and then the lawyers even have the nerve to say that the former boss has integrity. It's of course of little comfort to you but I want you to know that this matter has been publicly known for quite a while now in Sweden (I think the first documentary was made in 2009?), this documentary is produced by the Swedish state television and Swedish people (obviously can't speak for everybody, but everyone I have talked about this with at least) are ashamed of this.
I have the feeling that I should do something but I don't know what I can do, I'm trying to make sure that people I know are aware that this was done by a Swedish company at least.
I agree about the subtitles and hope the best for you
Me being from sweden and not knowing about this kinda hurts me. To know countries like sweden and others are using chile as a dump is just crazy. What all countries should do is keep their waste in their country no questions asked.
They don't want you to know same with the British
@@pratikravate9252 this was openly discussed in the Swedish parliament last week. So no one is trying to hide anything
A lot of countries send their trash to Africa too much worse
As a chilean I can't believe how countries that call themselves enviromentally friendly, that fight for humans rights... and then, when it comes to the rights of poor people in a distant land, they simply don't care
@@Frannreyes Easy! They drop all the toxic garbage outside and themselves stay clean, neat and nature friendly, so all the world could marvel at its clean wilderness: forests, mountains, water. Chile.... It's just some backyard of the third world, who cares.
Im from Sweden, under an hour from this place, Skellefteå, and Boliden. I had no idea about this and it brakes my heart. I really thought we were better than this. I hope this creates preasure and that the right people get what they deserve and justice for the Chilean people, and that We have to remove this.
And maybe more importantly, take a close look at how things are done today.
Boliden did nothing wrong. They hired a certified chilean company to handle the waste. This is completely normal. In the end, this chilean company just took the money and ran. The fault is 100% theirs - as was shown in the court of law.
Only an activist would say otherwise, and activists tend to make their minds up according to feelings rather than facts.
There is a documentary about this on SVT from 2009.
@@multitimmytiger2 nothing wrong, do you think executives didn’t know? That’s very naive from your part. Your waste, your problem… that’s how it should be…
@@P-Sides of course they didn't know that this chilean company's owners would go under ground. Why would they ever have suspected that? I mean, this was a real company that had experience in this type of work. It wasn't some small start-up or something like that.
There are companies around the world that specializes in processing this kind of waste, and what happened here was a completely normal business transaction as far as Boliden is concerned.
If you think Chile shouldn't do this kind of business then that's a question for the chilean government, I guess. Boliden has no blame in this - again - as was shown in a court of law.
This has nothing to do with Sweden. This is the fault of money greedy psychopaths. They are everywhere!
As a Chilean, I had never even heard of this until this video, I think it's responsibility of the Chilean gov for accepting these chemicals (although in the time they were accepted we were in a dictatorship) and, of course of Boliden by not handling the waste of their own manufacturer. Also, I think for the 80's, Chile was (and still is) a very sub-developed country compared to Sweden, meaning they should have known that the gov couldn't handle these chemicals and dangerous substances well enough to not be a problem for the Ariqueños.
As a Swedish person, this was (and is) also a big scandal in Sweden. The fact that our government (together with Chilean authorities) took the side of Boliden and tried to cover it up is disgusting. I can only offer my sympathies, but I would like to sincerely apologise, as a citizen of Sweden, for what my government allowed a Swedish company to do in your country. It's disgraceful! Mis más sinceras disculpas al pueblo de Chile.
Heartbreaking
Money contracts for child government…. It’s free money for them basically while destroying Chile..
@@TheBaBaTV Inmediate money is also the reason the Chilean gov keep accepting contracts like these without thinking in the long term state of the country and the Chileans, this is just one of many things the gov has accepted just for money 🤷🏻
@@herLauchin You can't say "the Chilean government", it was Pinochet's dictatorship, the Chilean businessmen involved and Boliden's businessmen involved at that time, those are at fault and the Swedish government at the time of this ruling. There wasn't any real "Chilean government" at that time, don't you remember? But I agree that nothing has changed regarding the Chilean businessmen when it comes to foreign money, if they can find a loophole, they would take the money and they couldn't care less about our environment or the citizens. At least we have a couple of laws that forbids these kind of crimes now...
Reminiscent of the 1984 Bhopal disaster. Thank you for making this documentary available. More attention needs to be paid to "situations like this around the world, where typically multinational corporations based in developed countries do things overseas that they would never dream about doing in their own country."
I see the Bhopal incident has a karmic consequence for the Sikh genocide
@@SaxonFaust
There are Sikhs who died in the Bhopal disaster too
wonderful film raising awareness of things that many people overlook at times. really helps us understand how lucky many of us are
what are you talking about, you still do nothing and behave inproperly, awareness my ass
How can you feel lucky when others suffer?
@@gtenhave it’s the simple fact that we are lucky. No one wants suffering but there is never not going to be suffering. Some are just more fortunate than others sucks but it’s true.
@@fizvx3893 if we get rid of europe, most suffering would stop. they do it to other people for entertainment and pleasure.
@@fizvx3893 and that's exactly why i wouldnt feel lucky. i cannot enjoy my luck while others suffer.
Absolutely Brilliant Documentary!!! Thank you So Much for Amplifying the reach of the Voiceless!!!! Heartbroken when they Lost 💔
I've lived in Chile for more than 15 years and I can tell you there are very few valuable resources that have not been priced and sold long ago, and most of them are in the hands of foreign interests or a handful of rich families. I don't know how can you revert the sell of the whole country decades before you were born.
Salvador Allende's death was one of the greatest tragedy Chileans had endured imho.
The only way they will when this if those that judge cave to modern standards. I don't believe The swedish company or their government is in anyway responsible. The company hired and paid in Chili are responsible and the Chilean government itself. Who builds a housing development, low income or not, next to a toxic waste dump? And what government doesn't oversee the processing of toxic waste they allowed into their country? To me this is just more people not taking responsibility for their own actions or problems. And people are always blaming someone else. It's become the way of the world.
@@kiki29073 I don't agree because the system set in place was unreasonable. The swedish company had an obligation to take care of the waste. The idea that you can just dump that obligation into whomever you want and be done with it is crazy. To take it to the extreme, what if they had hired some random guy walking outside their premises? They should have done their due diligence, and the government of Chile (not Chili 🌶️) should have set rules in place so that they were obligated to do things correctly. Both committed errors. The absence of rules doesn't mean you can do whatever you want and be considered ethical.
Absolutely horrifiyng. I hope this story is spread far and wide in sweden so that the common people learn of it. If the population can add preassure it might change something
Swedes only do good stuff if they can brag about it..
This wouldn't fit..
This is business as usual for western democracies to force global south into destroying their environment. Colonialism evolved decades ago. And it’s still evolving with tech/science.
This reminds me of both Love Canal and the Erin Brockovich trial (Anderson, et al. v. Pacific Gas & Electric). This is disgusting, sad, and disheartening and in my opinion Sweden should take accountability. The company was aware of what they were doing by sending their toxic waste to Chile, who were never going to properly take care of the waste. The company wouldn’t have dared to do this in Sweden and took advantage of the situation.
Damn right but won't happen
From another comment
" Boliden did nothing wrong. They hired a certified chilean company to handle the waste. This is completely normal. In the end, this chilean company just took the money and ran. The fault is 100% theirs - as was shown in the court of law."
This needs a gofundme or a page where people can rally behind and keep taking the fight to them, 5 million euros could have done a lot for those families than being solely wasted in courts where the only win was the outcome because from a PR perspective Boliden totally lost, anyone who watches this can see their weak justifications "that boy could have been a worker, or a man, in the playground playing" to name the countless shameless arguments they made. Shame on them.
If the waste wasn't harmful, why the hell did they ship it all the way to the desert in Chile?! The dude speaking for Boliden during the trial really fucking irks me.
Exactly if it wasn’t harmful why not leave it there
I live here, near Boliden, in the city nearby. I'm sharing this to everyone I know. Fucking hell....
The 2 companies and the govt must pay together because of their decisions. As the waste shipper you must have all the report on how the last bits of waste was processed, as the processing company they should have done their job and the govt which decided to do a housing project without even considering the fact that some 20k tons of waste was dumped there. I am still shocked to see noone was moved from there or the attempt to remove the waste or any protection to people
I'm from Sweden myself. What happened here is awful. This has been discussed extensively in Sweden, and even just the other week it was discussed in parlament again. Everyone in Sweden knows about this and hate the company for what they did.
Hur kan du hata företaget för detta? Dem gjorde sin research och det chilienska företaget hade alla dokument och tidigare erfarenheter av ett sådant arbete. Hur skulle Boliden kunna veta att det Chilienska företaget bara skulle ta pengarna och dra?
@@zoom5024 the sole fact of exporting waste is wrong and it has been prohibited in most of the world now, this is just another example of 1st world countries pissing on 3rd world as always. But i'll give you the point that the chilean company was equally as evil.
Since they think it's no problem then they shouldn't be concerned to have it shipped right back in their neighborhoods.
And the experts paid 1 million to lie under oath God have mercy on their souls
Seriously. Totally agree with your first sentence. Okay lawyers, judges, experts, would you be okay with your child being tested and having that level of arsenic in their body?
As someone of Chilean parents, I’m disgusted and embarrassed by the Chilean governments deliberate ignorance to what was dumped there by allowing it to be inhabited! Absolutely disgraceful.
Everything in Chile is backwards and the dictatorship really shaped the country into a corrupt politicians heaven.
Shame & so sad.
Its also because colonization is ongoing, not something in the past.
I love dictactorships.
I love how they claim to protect the nation.
I love how they claim to make it strong.
I love how they claim to create prosperity.
I love how these are all lies, and they are nothing but a pack of greedy, backstabbing, narcissistic thieves.
It's the same everywhere. There are no exceptions.
The US also has partial responsibility for supporting the coup in the 70s that allowed those dictators to take power when Chile was a democratic nation. F*ck the CIA
The United States needs to take moral responsibility for overthrowing the Allende government and precipitating the current political situation in Chile
@@I_can_do_20_push-ups muh *democratically elected socialist leader*
Helvete, dom är oss i spåren!
Man kan ju be att dom får sota för detta, men icke sa nicke!
As a swede I have been told that chile was supposed to treat all this sludge, remove all the dangerous materials. The chilean government got paid in advanced and the chilean government didn't care much about it.
When Foxxcon employees started jumping out of windows because of low pay and grueling working conditions, Apple said it was the subcontractor's responsibility. Yet they set the low price at which Foxxcon needs to produce, which makes it impossible to treat your workers right if you want to turn a profit (meanwhile Apple hoards massive profits).
I don't know about this particular case, but you can't just shift all of the blame to the Chilean government. Mining companies tend to use bribes and nice sounding promises to gain access, but end up poisoning the people and the environment and then leave with the resources and profits. When someone tries to hold them accountable, they come up with excuses and hide behind an army of lawyers. It's a pattern. Some call it colonialism 2.0.
so you find corrupt governments that dont care about their people to do business with before trying to find proper disposal sites.. knowing what would happen. its like selling drugs to a drug dealer than pretending you didnt know they were going to sell them to people..
Sweden was modeling the way. So the Chilean Gov't (not that I have any view) was following the Swedish way.
Sweden knew exactly what they were doing exporting toxic waste to a developing (beautiful) nation lead by a Dictator. A Dictator.
Are Swedish hearts that cold?
Yes, bad, bad dictator, but SHAME ON SWEDEN.
@@v.prestorpnrcrtlcrt2096 yes shame a country for a single company.
Ask yourself why Boliden didn't store the wastes in Sweden, if the wastes weren't a problem. Ask the Lawyers representing Boliden if they would live next to this sludge, or have their kids playing in it...Ask them under oath and the threat of perjury.
Thanks for exposing these people, great documentary. 😊🌻
That’s like you paying a company to take your grabaste from your home, and said company dumps it in a river. Is it still your problem ? Will you pay a fine as well??
I'm driving a truck from Boliden owned mine in finland. I mean I used to. I'm gonna resign. Thank you for this eye opening doc.
I went to Sweden a while back. I was impressed with the cleanliness - now I know why.
thanks for this! Saludos desde Chile
Vice please put Spanish subtitles to the documentary, so more people can see this
Sweden is always potrayed as a humanitarian super power, only thing they care about is their image to the outside world. I love content like this!
tell me you know nothing about Sweden without telling me you know nothing about Sweden
@@fourdoorsmorehoes Let me adjust his statement then. Sweden is an officially self proclaimed "humanitarian superpower", but the thing we really care about is "sverigebilden".
@@fourdoorsmorehoes idk pretty sure everyone is aware of lax carceral sentences and actual attempts at rehabilitation, and Swedes love to talk about it. But tbh you should predict the callousness of a Swede mining venture in the Americas by looking at Sami policies within Sweden.
It was openly discussed in the Swedish parliament last week so this is not something that they are trying to hide
Yeah, except the people and government of Sweden had nothing to do with this and couldn't do anything about this.
"To determine what the emissions from the smelter sludge would be after disturbance, I walked on trays to crush the aggregates for fixed period of time."
"If you compare this to children sliding down the pile, what's your conclusion?"
"The compression force of a child sliding down the side of the pile would be much less than the weight of my body on the aggregates in a shallow tray."
Incredible.
Justice Still Needs To Be Done
It’s not fair to draw a comparison of the people of Boliden now and Arica?! How about it’s not fair what happened to the people in Arica? I agree. It’s more of Chile’s governments fault than anyone else’s. They allowed that to happen then built a housing project next to it.
Hi Mike, maybe you are Swedish, maybe not. Therefore, you take personal responsibility guilt for what happened to chileans due to corporate interests in Arica.
Rest assured, this is not your fault. This is not anyone's (at least not typical swedish) fault. This issue are institutions, this problem are political interests, this problem are corporations, nameless; this problem is our economic reality, willing to sacrifice a few, "for the good of millions". No one with some sense of an understanding of the economic reality will blame single swedish, but will look past the individuals: This problem are systems, political interests, our impending economic will to support "the line going up". The problem is not people, the problem are the nameless.
@@padremochismusical complacency is complicity. It takes not being a simp to know this
@@padremochismusical thank you, I’m not of Swedish decent (that I know of) but I feel that no matter our history, race, ethnicity we should care for one another. I didn’t watch this video in it’s entirety but maybe Boliden believed that the sludge would be taken care of properly but still it’s their duty to help Chile and help those poor people.
@@anthonyman8008 Its not complacency if you dont even know it happened and still happens. Im not swedish but Im a neighbour to the country and I’ve never ever heard about this, if it where common knowledge don’t you think neighbouring countries would have covered it? Its obviously been hushed down so very few actually knew
@@hitrapperandartistdababy regardless
I'm from Chile and had no idea this happened!
WHERE ARE THE SPANISH SUBTITLES??? C'MOM VICE... people in south America need to see this, Specially people in Chile and all of the victms
Two great Swedish men with great integrity. I applaud you both. fantastic work 👌 the world would be perfect if everyone cared about the environment before monetary value
Excellent documentary!
The results; nothing less than the expected from a big faceless corporation.
There it is, everyone who is in power steps on people they can
This is just disgusting. Everyone responsible for this needs to be put on trial.
Yep but realistically it should, could but won't happen
Every country have a "bad" past. Without it we would all still
Live in tents. Ignore the past and focus on the future.
@@tuclance so you say killin g people, genocide, fascism, authoritarinism and destruction made us "advanced"? If so, what is stopping us from doing them again? Clearly, without them, we would be "primitive" according to you. It seems like you down play the seveirty of these events and made up some excuses for them like "advancements"
Which is disgusting and illogical.
You cant ignore the past. Past is the thing that constitutes the present. If you can not deal with your unjust and brutal past you are bound to repeat it.
I will stop here because the more i analyse what you said, the more fucked up it turns out to be. I dont even know whether or not you meant these things. But these are the things that can be derived fron what you wrote
@@pygmalion8952 its a fact, but dont think that it has anything to do with what i want or stand for (if that was something that crossed your mind)
Ofc we could advance even without suffering... but it would take a lot longer. We are where we are.. nothing can change the past. Only the future can be changed. Be better now and ignore the bad past.
@@tuclance but there are still innocent people that continue to be affected by this. And the waste is still there. It is not there past, it is there present and they are fighting to create a future where this event doesn't repeat itself
Never heard of this before. I had only heard of Arica from the Battlefield Bad Company 2 map Arica Harbor, ironically a game from DICE who are Swedish. I’m glad to know more now, this is a frightening thing.
Greetings from Sweden we are an organisation for the defence of human rights here and in the Americas ...we consider the work of Lars and William ..we do not know them personally but we know that they are two conscientious people opening this film for many Swedes and Chileans living in Sweden to make known a situation of irresponsibility of the states in this case of Sweden, like Chile ...only to say from Sweden the struggle continues ...#bolidenrecogetustoxicosdechile #bolidenpickupyourtoxicsfromchile ...Thank you Vice
this made me a bit more worried about living close to one of the worlds biggest landfills. there is no way that company is doing whats necessary to keep toxic waste from getting into the environment and water supply here. i bet if i took a survey of everyone who lived around it for more than a decade, i'd find that most of them got cancer of some sort. or other problems idk. but i know the more money a company makes, the more likely it is that they are doing shady stuff at the expense of everyone else.
World's biggest landfill, jeje, immediately thought, Oh The Continental usa.
Lawyer: "Rolf, did you not see those residences near the site?"
Rolf The Clown: "No."
Lawyer: "You're saying you didn't see the apartments 100 meters away from the spot where you decided to dump the waste?"
Rolf The Clown: "Well, it's your claim that they were residences. That's nothing that I can confirm."
Wait a second... So he DID in fact see a bunch of houses about two stone's throws away from the waste site, and decided that the site in question was a good place to dump toxic waste on anyway, because he was UNSURE whether or not anyone lived in those houses... I dunno, but maybe he should've checked?! What a bizarre man.
You can maybe do one about how Swedish firm Ikea has been illegally clearcutting Romanian forests in their national parks, essentially destroying some of the last untouched ancient forests in Europe.
Wasnt that a private company supplying wood to ikea? I think Ikea ordered the wood but didnt have anything to do with the fact that they cut down those specific trees.
THIS IS VICE!
Bringing awareness!💯
This how most european and north armerican countries lessen their pollution. Then, they criticize these countries for being polluted.
That was a really ignorant comment. Generalizing and sweepingly vague. You also miss the fact that despite the picture the company in the video paints of Sweden, that area of the world (the Nordic nations) are the *LEAST* corrupt on the planet. The reason this is drawing attention is because it's so rare for it to happen that it is still seen as news. Compared to the U.S. where news about companies screwing over consumers and workers, is just "a Monday".
Vice is the best . Free media should exist .
This documentary needs SPANISH AND ENGLISH SUBTITLES AND TO BE SHOWN TO THE SWEDISH AND CHILEAN GOVERNMENTS.
How can a country like Sweden have sanctioned this activity? The Swedish government and waste disposal company shareholders must do the right thing and help these people detoxify the land and provide complete financial compensation for all affected families - not that it will bring back their loved ones. This is a disgusting, tragic and completely irresponsible act by those people involved in dumping this toxic waste there.
First of all how is it Swedens fault when it was just a company? Second, the Swedish company did their research and found this Chilean company that did have previous work like this, and had all the papers and certifications needed. The Chiliean company choose to do wrong, how is that the Swedish company's fault?
It was definitely Promel's responsibility to safely store and process the materials/waste, it's not Boliden's fault that an entirely separate company didn't do their job and keep their end of the deal. If I was Boliden I would be suing Promel for millions in damages to be completely honest. Regardless this was an amazing film and truly eye opening to the long term environmental effects these companies have not just on this earth and the land or atmosphere but also directly of the people who live in these areas.
The company that was paid to deal with the waste went bankrupt. A investigation of the bankruptcy laws in Chile would decide who is now responsible for the clean up.
If you run a cleaning service and you hire a bum from the streets to do some of that work for you and they totally mess it up, are you not in anyway responsible for hiring someone not totally qualified and in result injuring people?
@@PALSGUILD I'm not sure on how the Chilean company came to agree on the terms of the contract (public tender or what not) but once signed both parties are bound to the contract and the terms in it. I'm not saying the contract wasn't in the favor of boliden and the 1 million euros (in 1984) didn't blind the Chilean company from signing it. But were not talking about unqualified bums off the street signing a contract. Were talking about businessmen and lawyers looking over the contract and what it entailed. And if the contract was in violation of some law this would have overturned ages ago. But that hasn't happened and so the contract although bad for Chile citizens and unethical was legal and binding and to now go back on that contract means that any and all contracts are Pointless.
When the Chilean company failed to meet their part of the contract do you think the returned the 1 million euros, probably not. And now to claim that boliden should clean up that mess and pay for damages means that all companies around the world should not be held by the terms of any contract that they undertake.
If this is the case what stops any company or any individual from signing a contract and never fulfilling the terms and simply taking the money without consequence.
I'm not saying or making a claim that what happened wasn't a despicable act. I'm simply saying that boliden had a contract that they meet there end and now to take them to court because of that rather then go after the law makers that allowed this to happen is not right.
Did you not see Boliden representatives picking out the dump site 100 meters from residential homes? Were you watching the same documentary?
I haven't even watched more than 10 minutes and this immediately feels like it was the Chilean company and country who failed here.
The other company paid them to do a job, if they didn't do it then??? Then the country decides to build a neighborhood there?
Not to mention that the propagandist that made this film is a refugee from Chile that Sweden took in, educated and gave him the possibility to make films like this.
And now he is out there in the world pointing fingers at Sweden as a state based on the horrific actions of a Chilean company and their government.
It kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Indeed
Let’s be real here for a second, Chilean company clearly underbid the completion to get the contracts, and ran away with the profits. Don’t think the Swedish company even knew.
Let’s be real here. You don’t think that the company knew they’d be getting rid of it unethically for that price and they did it anyway to save money???
@@niominati Lets be real here, you think that you hired a company that bids on a mega project, and then just steals the money and leaves everyone high and dry. It happens even on home renovations.
I don't want to be here where I am right now.
amazing journalism
I remember when the Philippines was about to declare war on Canada if they didn’t take their illegal trash back. When the trash flow stopped for a few days, Canada became dirty overnight, it looked like a junk yard. Literally!
@Alex K Canada took the trash back with no argument/hesitation lol.
@Alex K The Canadians of today aren’t like the ones who defeated the USA and burnt down the White House. All Filipinos have to do is mis-pronoun Canadians and they’ll fall over from a heart attack due to being triggered. Have you seen the military ads that Canada/west has been putting out lol?
@Alex K Canada hasn’t been in war since the 2001 Afghanistan invasion.... even then the Taliban ran laps around western militaries for 20 years straight. Philippines is still dealing with terrorist within their territory. The country ranks in 16th place on the Global Terrorism Index's 2022 list of countries most affected by terrorism. No one is helping them by the looks of it, while the US needs its allies to combat them.
@Alex K With the military ads that Canada has been putting out recently, sure does make it look like they are the majority of the military. Look at the ads for yourself on TH-cam.
Swedes (amongst many other companies): Don't forget about the heaps (~60,000 tonnes annually) of toxic unsold (H&M) fast fashion, mostly synthetics, being exported to the free port of Iquique in Northern Chile, and simply being dumped in the nothingness of the wonderful Atacama desert.. It hasn't stopped going on, and with all certainty it will continue to go on tomorrow. This behaviour from big corps is not a thing of the past.
Lawyers get 1/3 of 10million so out for 7million 800 families get 8000 dollars for their compensation of Cancer...that's Penny's
The funny thing is…as we’ve learned….you can’t just dump your garbage somewhere else on the planet and assume it’s not going to affect you because it absolutely will
If the Chile based company Promel bought the waste from Boliden with clear contracts explaining that they will process it, aren't Promel the ones responsible for the waste tragedy and not Boliden?
Promel probably doesn't have money to pay a judgement. That's often how lawsuits are determined. Like the whole Dozinger/Ecuador mess, where his team argued that two oil firms owned by the Ecuador government were innocent of pollution but Chevron was guilty of everything.
I think they don't hassle the locals when it's the foreigners who have big money, even if it is Promel's fault. They were given a small fine and still exist today.
It's corrupt and if Boliden pays, the government will probably just take the money for themselves, pretty much like every government does.
Imagine this the other way around, if Chile dumped waste in Sweden and a Swedish company promised to recycle properly, but didn't.
Would the Chile and their company be blamed, or would the Swedish waste disposal company be blamed?
I'm guessing the latter and they wouldn't even bother Chile, because it would be pointless if it was in the contract.
Of course in the perfect world, I hope both companies are held responsible and forced to clean up their mess.
@@PMNS1995 on top of that, a company won't be allowed to import toxic materials in Sweden unless they are deemed by the government to have the financial means to take care of said toxic material.
@@iknownothing-m8c Yeah also true, if the government didn't have this sort of laws then it's kinda the Chilean governments fault along with Promel.
Still I do think the Rolf guy is very shady, I assume they did it because they partly knew. Boliden knew what they were doing, that Promel wouldn't keep their end of the deal, but by then it would be their problem and both Promel and Boliden knew it would be more profitable than doing it properly. Rolf was definitely frightened once he realized he would be in a lawsuit, because he was the one who was supposed to be responsible. How is he the chief of enviromental safety and knows nothing about what happens there?
Then he later denies that the dump site made people sick, only people who risk getting judged for it would say that dump site didn't make people sick.
For them to sue the victims for silence is fucking heartless, so they definitely deserve some punishment too.
My solution, again in the perfect world: Chile government and Promel has to pay restitution and healthcare for all the citizen in Arica. Boliden and those involved like Rolf has to pay for cleaning up the waste and all the toxins that spread from it, whether it be transporting it to somewhere that can properly dispose of it or building the proper waste disposal there.
Shhh with those facts. Then we can't blame the westerners and have to take responsibility for our own corrupt nations.
I'm surprised that one of these parents who was left childless because of this corporations crime, didn't decide to NOT wait for the CEO to "burn in hell", and go take care of the guy directly !
Disgusted and angry having finished this.
Yes!! If it’s not so dangerous, you should have no problem collecting it all back up and taking it back to Sweden for disposal there. Don’t stop until you have every last Molecule
Suroosh good to see you man
How else are we supposed to enjoy highest quality of life and being the happiest places in the world here in the Nordics?
Germany and Italy also poisoned Romania... Respect for your work!👍🖐️❤️
These guys got guts and Rolf is brave enough to see what happened, promel should be jailed. One more thing i wouldnt be surprised the car had someone dangerous inside.
Rolf brave? Did you see when things got heated he caved. Brave is taking responsiblity and telling the truth.
Life in itself is a gift. Its truly a shame what we do with this gift.
obviously bolida thinks they did things right. they paid for waste disposal and shipped as necessary. but what most of os learn as children is that legal and moral aren't the same thing. anyone should know by then that if you pay someone to get rid of a bunch of waste they will just hand it off until you find one irresponsible enough to dump it. you MUST deal with it yourself. to put all the blame on Chile is insane
Lets blame responsible ppl and not an entire country. Thanks
It's called swedish waste. Not swedish people.
@@PauloRibeiro1978 check the comments and get back to me ;)
@@PauloRibeiro1978 jeb bush is a waste
People love to simplifiy things into big groups. If they can’t blame a corporation may aswell blame the entire cpuntry despite this being very unknown knowledge
It all involves government who does not care about their citizens. And government are people from very same country.
I would have like to have heard how the waste should of properly been treated and what exactly the waste is?
1:06:26 really says it all
I am wondering what the risks of organ smuggling must be with these lawsuits. Other situations involving arsenic poisoning might come up when it shows in the teeth, but the timeline and population exposed might place certain parts where arsenic shows up more at risk than usual?
Seems like morality is subjective.. once again.
The population of Arica KNOWS the Chilean Government and Promel are at fault just as much as the Swedish company Boliden. There was a lawsuit against the State of Chile 5 years prior to the film. The problem is EVERYONE that was part of it SHOULD be held accountable. Decisions have consequences, they went to Arica to sightsee, they still brought their waste. WHY? Why couldn't the waste stay in Sweden and be disposed?? I quote from the movie: "Multinational Corporations based in developed countries do things overseas that they would NEVER dream doing in their own country". That applies to so many atrocities in this world. The Chilean people DESERVE justice, they are still suffering. Their government NEEDS to do right by their people AND Boliden HAS to take responsibility. "The poor will always suffer due to the choices of the rich". The people flat out denying the blame Boliden has and minimizing it, you sound like Americans denying racism.
Algun día, se va hacer justicia por todas esas personas afectadas, nunca va a sanar esas heridas que llevan en el corazón pero va a traer un poquito de paz.
Arica wouldn't be the first or the last place where they would put a dumpsight. They should Subpoena them for there records and comb through it, visit the sights, make record of the impact it has on surrounding areas that's the only way they (prosecutors) will have a chance.
Please, please, please make your subtitles larger so that I can get more out of your splendid documentaries.
Rolf Rolf Rolf😂 suddenly realised he is the centre of all this, all that empathy, responsibility and apologies he gave when he was with Lars in Chile went out the window. Hypocrite. To the Swedish citizens i hope nothing major comes to Rolfs court, as a Environmental Judge, because he is now compromised.
How is it called "The Short List" and it's a 2 hour video..?
1. Ty for watching.
2. Yea hehe, we can only put out 8 films.
3. A “2 hour video” in this case we would call it a movie
4. Hope you enjoy the free movies! 🍿 🎥
This happens in south East Asian countries from the U.S but we pay them so much to take it they have no choice
Hope that this is all in the past and not going on today.
it still happens and it is constantly happening into the ocean as well.
It's time to pay.
Karma will allways find you.
Con amor para los chileños 💜
Such relevant story!!! Dump from Western Europe flows to Middle and Eastern Europe also while watching this video 😥
A lot of the responsibility should go to the company responsible for disposal of waste and also the Chilean government that allowed them to dispose of toxic waste there!
There is an essay called "The Ones Who Walk Away from The Omelas" by Ursula LeGuin that everyone who lives in a rich country should read.
You see, we are all complicit in this.
Sweden would not be rich without these mines. It supplies 90% of Europe's iron. It has a heavily nationalistic mindset that has led to its own citizens having excellent healthcare, very low poverty, and a very high standard of living, as such, it has implemented governmental controls to protect its own citizens from the cost of all this mining (which as of last year has been set to expand) which is toxic byproducts. Those policies led to Boliden dumping its waste in a small, poor country, not only because they wanted to dispose of it cheaply, but because the Swedish government wanted to protect its own citizens at the cost of these victims in Arica.
This device I'm typing on has rare earth minerals that were likely mined by an impoverished Chinese worker. That electric car you drive probably has lithium extracted by wage slaves in the DRC in its battery and it's all carefully obfuscated by our governments and the companies responsible.
It's a gollum and it cannot be stopped.
But here's what you CAN do with your money instead of buying the latest gimmick (or in addition to, no judgement) . Help your neighbor when you see them struggling. Call a friend. Give money directly to the poor, organizations use a lot of it for administrative fees. Pay for someone's bus fare. Buy a college student's textbooks. Give someone a ride. Help fix something that needs fixing. Buy groceries for someone who needs it. Help a single mother get her kids to school. If you see someone upset, comfort them. Sit down and have a meal with someone who needs someone there. Fill up someone's gas tank. Invite the weird kid to sit with you.
Born and raised in sweden , never heard about this or seen it why doesn't us swedes know about this and why isn't this on the news
SvT already made a documentary about this back in 2009 I think it was. I learned of it first through youtube, but it was still many years ago. It just never got the kind of exposure it deserved.
As a Swedish person that has followed this in Swedish media, I can only say that I am ashamed that a Swedish company did this and never was punished for it. Mis más sinceras disculpas al pueblo de Chile.
Punished for what? Trusting a Chilean company to do as the contract between them said?
@USMedQuotes US Yeah, the lack of journalistic ethics and standards here is quite amazing.
But we now have a good example of how effective a propaganda narrative is. Many just follow along, without thinking critically.
10 million is easy to settle.
That lady said oh fish and kelp…wow
As a swede i had no clue about this. I am ashamed! I hope you can sue them and put them to court!
I can see that the company was getting rid of its waste, but I see Aricas governments and companies as the real people responsible for not caring for their own.
You cannot tell me that if a company takes toxic waste to a different country without establishing that they are able to safely handle it in its entirety there isn't any responsibility on the company doing so. If we we're to accept this premise, all we have to do is ship every toxic waste we have to a country that accepts it for a small sum of money because they desperately need it and then say they are responsible.
I sure as hell never expected anyone here to be quoting Johnny Thunders!
A paid translator would have went a long way for this video
Vice bringing the goods
And these lawyers of boliden go to bed at night thinking they've gone a good job. I dont get how it is humanly possible to do that.
The part about the pile becoming a playground was..
I mean. Is it too much to tell people, or put up a fence saying. ''Don't fucking play in the industrial waste''
I found very bizarre the part where Ralf went to Arica to witness the consecuences of his desition... Why did he expose himself voluntarely to that?
Very irresponsible to build housing around the pile of sludge and let the pile be used as a playground. They should take measures to contain the sludge.
Voice over your videos vice.
Less people listen when….
They….
CANT listen!!!
And they don’t have to read.
…And then u make the text so small.
Big issues do them justice.
Let them BE HEARD
Sweden payed Chile government to take the toxic waste and process and dispose of it, then the Chile government only processed and disposed a fraction of it and left the rest. ?
Of course, it’s not possible to get it all or even close to all of it. Lots has been dispersed all over the country side, some of it is lodged in children’s bodies, adult bodies, even animals bodies. It’s sad, I thought Sweden was better than this!!
@26:00 Hahaha, 10 million EUR is pocket money for the CEO of a big company, and less than peanuts for the company itself ... nicely demonstrated @36:50🤢🤮
In addition to the money, Boliden (and other polluters!) should be forced to remove _all_ the waste and destroy or dispose of it properly!
Vice news, Respect👏👏👏
I'm a swedish guy who lives in Chile and i think Boliden should take care of the waste and take it back to sweden.
You would say that though because deep inside you understand that the gov would never do anything about it.
@@matty_mccarthy the swedish government will do nothing unfortunately. They sit on their high horses like they better then anyone else.
@@AndreasLarsson95 I was referring to the Chili gov not fulfilling their responsibilities towards the waste management or the total disregard towards its people in allowing communities to built around the toxic unprocessed waste
@@matty_mccarthy they don't care either. Because they are payed off. Not even Boric cares..
Boliden had a contract with the Chilean disposal company why would they have to uphold (pay) there end of the disposal contract and then pay to dispose of the material themselves?? That's like you paid me to fix your car and you do all the work and pay for the parts LOL... you better fix your car good I dont want to get a bad reputation of doing a bad job of fixing cars.
As an outsider, i find the whole angle of this issue very frustrating. Boliden paid a third party to dispose of the waste, they done their part, the third party didnt fulfill their end of requirement and dump it at that site, how is it Boliden's liability??? And the Chile government knowing well that there is chemical at that site, proceeded to allocate living houses near it, from head to toe, the fault all lies with the Chile government and the third party contractor, why is this angle not covered in this episode? Such a skewed episode.
Because literally everyone knew Chile was a corrupt 3rd world country at the time. You'd have to be intellectually stunted to believe a military dictatorship would responsibly handle such a major health hazard. And why go halfway across the planet to get it processed? Obviously because it was cheap and they could wash their hands of it. You don't get to be a developed nation and then take advantage of less developed nations and act like it's not your fault something went wrong. If you ask a toddler to cook its own breakfast and the house burns down, that's your fault as an adult.
Bolidens director of communications blames the aresenic poisoning on seafood.