Politics, technology at odds in rescue of Chilean miners (Feature)

By Veronica Sardon Oct 8, 2010, 22:47 GMT

Buenos Aires/Santiago - To line or not to line? That is the question at the heart of a raging debate in Chile over whether political mileage is being given priority over the welfare of 33 miners who have been trapped underground for weeks.

As the miners' ordeal appears to be coming to a close and the drilling of a rescue tunnel virtually completed, experts are arguing about how fast the rescue could be finalized: Is it or isn't it necessary to line the rescue shaft with steel pipes to ensure a safe passage out for all the miners who are trapped 700 metres underground?

'I guess they are going to make the breakthrough at 3 pm, when the president's wife arrives,' Lilianet Ramirez, the wife of veteran miner Mario Gomez, on Friday told the online edition of Chilean daily El Mercurio.

Ramirez is, of course, happy: She wants to see her husband as soon as possible, after more than two months of suffering and uncertainty. But her words were evidence of the belief among Chileans that the government is using the miners' travails to its own advantage.

When the miners were located, after 17 days of complete isolation from the outside world, the sagging popularity rating of Chilean President Sebastian Pinera rose by 10 percentage points. His Mining Minister, Laurence Golborne, went from being an unknown bureaucrat to a politician with a popularity rating of 90 per cent.

'Today the whole of Chile is crying with joy and emotion,' Pinera said in late August, as he showed the world the message sent by the miners, saying they were all alive and well.

But many slammed the government for taking hours to announce that the miners had been found - time enough to allow Pinera to get to the mine and deliver the news himself.

'I feel prouder than ever of being a Chilean,' Pinera said at the time.

A wave of nationalism grew - from the miners and around the historic rescue operation - in time for the bicentennial of Chile's independence on September 18. It is not easy to get the miners out, and many saw the progress in the rescue operations as evidence of the great work of the Chilean nation.

The government has worked hard and invested millions of dollars in the rescue efforts. It has worked equally hard to have the operation broadcast relentlessly on television screens across the world.

The evacuation, which is to begin Tuesday, is to be broadcast live and the miners have been trained to deal with the media interviews that will follow.

Pinera appeared to hint that the rescue would be rushed in order to be done before he left on a European tour on October 17. He later made it clear that he would change the dates of the trip if necessary.

'For me it is very important to share that moment,' he said.

Amid criticism over the political use of the miners' plight, the government later clarified that 'none of the dates and decisions taken for the rescue are tied to the government agenda.'

Some experts have cautioned that the rescue shaft needs to be reinforced with steel, an act that could delay the evacuation by several days.

The firm that sells the T-130 drill in Chile warned of the risks of not reinforcing the tunnel. 'If you want the utmost safety, you need to coat it,' said Pedro Buttazzoni, president of Geotec.

Indeed, the men are trapped below ground because the mine collapsed on them. And early rescue efforts also experienced a further collapse.

Still, engineers toyed with the idea of not lining the tunnel at all, and by Friday they had settled for reinforcing just one-third of it. Casing the whole shaft would have taken eight days.

Experts will have assessed the hard rock they are drilling through, and everyone trusts that they will want to risk neither the lives of the 33 miners nor the prestige they have earned over two months of good work, just to save a couple of days.

The families of the miners are not complaining.

'If it is to happen earlier, I am happy with that,' said Jessica Yanez, wife of miner Esteban Rojas.

'The rock looked very good, and there is no risk that the capsule's wheels get stuck when they bring them out,' she said.

When the miners do get out - the first of them on Tuesday, according to the official schedule - Pinera will be on site to celebrate.

For that, he will doubtless reap support, as the ultimate head of an impressive rescue effort. And there will also be criticism for the conspicuous attempt to draw a political advantage from the plight of 33 unfortunate individuals and their families.

So far, the balance has worked in Pinera's favour. If all 33 miners indeed come out safe as planned, what Chilean authorities hail as the world's largest mining rescue of its kind is bound to strengthen his position as Chile's leader.

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