ARGENTINA: THOUSANDS MARCH FOR ENVIRONMENT

from Weekly News Update on the Americas:

On Dec. 13, some 5,000 people from across Argentina (or as many as 10,000, according to some press reports) took part in a colorful march in scorching weather to the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires to defend the environment and natural resources. Marchers carried banners and puppets (including a giant toilet, flushing polluted waters into the environment), performed street theater and danced to regional traditional carnaval music.

Upon arriving at the plaza, the demonstrators installed a 12-meter high replica of the chimney of a paper mill being built by the Finnish company Botnia in the Uruguayan town of Fray Bentos, just across the river from Argentina’s Entre Rios province. At the end of the march, delegations from a number of provinces handed in a document to the federal government, demanding measures to stop environmental damage and the looting and exploitation of minerals and other resources.

The delegations were headed by the assemblies of Gualeguaychu and Colon, in Entre Rios, where residents have been fighting the construction of the Botnia paper mill and another one planned by the Spanish company Ence. More than 2,000 people came to the march from Entre Rios. Also present were delegates from the Assembly of Neighbors Self-Convened Against Mining from the town of Esquel in Chubut province, as well as from numerous other groups organizing against mining and other ecologically damaging industries in their communities. (Adital, Brazil, Dec. 13 from Agencia de Noticias Rede Accion-ANRed; El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Dec. 13 from EFE; La Prensa, Argentina, Dec. 13; Noticias Yahoo!, Dec. 13 from Periodismo.com; Argenpress , Dec. 14)

Back in Gualeguaychu, residents have maintained a blockade of the bridge leading to Fray Bentos for the past three weeks. (ENH, Dec. 13 from EFE) On Dec. 12, the head of the Ence company, Juan Luis Arregui, announced that the company will move its planned paper mill to Punta Pereyra, 60 kilometers away at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. Residents of Entre Rios province are continuing to protest the construction of Botnia’s plant, which is 70% complete. (Noticias Yahoo!, Dec. 13 from Periodismo.co; Agencia NOVA, Argentina, Dec. 12)

From Weekly News Update on the Americas, Dec. 17

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Weekly News Update on the Americas
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