Our little business possesses an alcohol license which has to be renewed every six months.This is the documentation that the municipality now demands for each renewal:
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Constitución de Sociedad completa.
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Extracto Constitución de Sociedad.
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Certificado vigencia de sociedad
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Declaraciones juradas todos los socios.
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Certficados antecedentes todos los socios.
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Fotocopias carnet todos los socios (ambos lados)
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Formulario de solicitud patente.
All of this papeleo seems to stem from a misguided attempt several years ago to create a Barrio Rojo in order to revitalize the moribund town center. Liquor licenses were granted, shady bars appeared, and violence, drug trafficking, and prostitution became commonplace. Similar situations arose in other cities; the Barrio Inglés in Coquimbo has also attained notoriety.
This “initiative” didn’t have the desired effect; quite the opposite, creating areas best avoided after dark. Interestingly, Councillors approved some of these applications despite objections from Carabineros.
Apparently, the Contraloría became involved, and the mountain of documentation now demanded seems to be their belated attempt to correct this past abuse, forcing the law-abiding to invest time, effort, and money in order to prevent the criminal exploitation that arose from bad, and possibly corrupt, municipal decisions.
It’s hard to say whether there is more bureaucracy than dishonesty in Chile, but they both make life harder than it should be.
