The Licancel plant of the Chilean company Celulosa Arauco y Constitución (CELCO), located in the central region of Maule, is accused of responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of fish and aquatic birds in the Mataquito River, where it discharges its waste. The disaster is under investigation by the justice authorities and attributed to CELCO following the discovery of hidden pipelines.

“This is not an environmental disaster, but a crime. CELCO acted in a malicious way,” Lucio Cuenca, of the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts, told Tierramérica.

CELCO, which in 2005 was charged with the deaths of hundreds of black-necked swans in the Cruces River — where another of its plants dumped its waste — admitted “anomalies” in the functioning of the Licancel plant, and on Jun. 11 fired three executives, but argued that its responsibility has not been proved.