Original article: Copiapó: Exhiben documental «La Fiebre del Litio» con participación de organizaciones socioambientales

Copiapó Premieres Documentary «The Lithium Fever» Featuring Environmental Organizations

On Thursday, January 22nd at 6:30 PM, the documentary «The Lithium Fever: Shadows of the Energy Transition» will debut at the Atacama Cultural Center in Copiapó. The screening will be followed by a discussion on environmental conflicts and proposals from local organizations in the region.

«After the free screening in the cultural center’s chamber hall, Nicolás Salazar, the film’s director, will speak alongside Cindy Quevedo, president of the National Council of the Colla People, Cecilia Aguilera, spokesperson for the Atacama Environmental Defense Collective (CODEMAA), and Giuliano Lopez, also a member of CODEMAA,» the event organizers stated.

The documentary focuses on the Maricunga Salt Flat, located within the Nevado Tres Cruces National Park, which is ancestral territory of the Colla people and is currently under threat from expanding lithium mining operations and extractive plans.

Among the testimonies from communities and specialists, such as researcher Eduardo Gudynas, concerns about land loss, environmental degradation, and water scarcity are highlighted.

The narrative also reviews the legal framework that enables the lithium business in Chile, inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship, alongside the profits reaped by companies like SQM.

Furthermore, it examines the influx of international capital and the geopolitical struggle over strategic raw materials for the tech and military industries, critiquing the role of major corporations in the energy transition and questioning the sustainability narrative.

Nicolás Salazar, the film’s director, emphasized that «through this documentary, we discuss the impacts resulting from lithium extraction in Chile and its expansion. We invite the people of Copiapó to come and be part of the story, to learn about the intense extractivist fever in the so-called Lithium Triangle.»

The event will also feature Lucio Cuenca, director of the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), which is organizing the screening and discussion along with the Atacama Environmental Defense Collective (CODEMAA), in collaboration with the Copiapó municipality, and supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, War on Want, and Tierra Solidaria.

El Ciudadano