Julio López
está desaparecido
hace 6402 días
versión para imprimir - envía este articulo por e-mail

Mapuche community reveals effects of hydroelectric project in Argentina
Por Real World Radio - Monday, Nov. 15, 2004 at 8:22 PM

The government of Chubut Province in Argentina has announced that during the first six months of 2005, there will be a call for bids to build the facilities for the hydroelectric project called “La Elena – Integral Use of Carrenleufú River”. This project is partially financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and it entails the flooding of 11,000 hectares.

video: RealVideo metafile

In a recent press release, Mapuche community Pillán Mahuiza from Chubut province warned about the impacts of the project. They called attention to the so called Systems 1 and 2 for the hydroelectric use of Carrenleufú River--also called Corcovado River--after six dams and a dock were built.

Mapuche community claimed that “if the dams are built we will be 60 meters (90 feet) under water. Besides, they will also flood over 11,000 hectares of land which belong mostly to native forests”.

Moreover, the press release discusses the 10th annual UN Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will take place next December 6th to 17th in Buenos Aires city. It states that the Mapuche community members who are part of the Defense Front for the Carrenleufú River will carry out protests and information activities on the economic interests behind this project.

“During that meeting, many governmental sectors and big corporations will seek to promote big hydroelectric projects as ‘clean development’, despite their terrible impacts on forests and displaced communities”, says the release.

The links between the building of this mega project and the Spanish group Santander were also denounced by the community as yet another factor effecting their country’s sovereignty. They also highlighted the responsibility of big energy consortiums in the so called “energy crisis” that Argentina is currently facing.

The release concludes by saying that “there are already enough dams producing enough energy to face the crisis. The problem behind the energy crisis can not be solved by killing more rivers. Instead it needs to be solved by granting Argentina sovereign control of its energy. This means ending, once and for all, the monopoly of corporations which open and close the tap according to their joint speculative interests”.

Mapuche community Pillán Mahuiza has taken part in important mobilizations, like the one carried out with other protest organizations and popular assemblies in Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo in March, 2003. On that occasion, the demonstrations were aimed at saying NO to the Patagonian auction. The community was also part of the struggles of the Esquel people in order to prevent the installation of the transnational mining company Meridian Gold.

agrega un comentario