Helping Business

What with Ecuador protecting rainforests and Julian Assange, and Uruguay concluding a unilateral armistice in the war on drugs, signs of civilisation are rare in South America these days; but Chilean prosecutors' decision on the San José mining disaster three years ago may be a small sign of hope. The disaster, which trapped thirty-three men underground for ten weeks, became internationally famous when the human resources were indiscreet enough to get themselves rescued. This has caused much unease among the mine-owning community, who fear discrimination in the form of adverse publicity should one of the celebrities happen to be in another accident; and the owners of the San José are still being harassed by a civil lawsuit of the kind that used to paralyse the British economy during the bad old days of legal aid and free employment tribunals. It is to be hoped that the decision not to prosecute will provide the owners of the San José with some much-needed reassurance.