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dam-l NAMUNCURA TELLS HIS SIDE



CHIP News: August 10, 1998

HEADLINE:  NAMUNCURA TELLS HIS SIDE
Former Director Of Indigenous Affairs Explains Why He Was
Forced To Resign
KEYWORDS:  INDIGENOUS PEOPLE; POLITICS
SOURCE:  LA TERCERA
TEXT:  (Ed note:  President Eduardo Frei fired Domingo Namuncura,
head of the National Indigenous Development Association, Conadi,
on the Wednesday eve of a critical Conadi vote concerning the
legality of land swap contracts power company Endesa had
negotiated with indigenous people living on land to be flooded by
Endesa' Ralco Dam project.   Namuncura concluded the contracts
had been unfairly negotiated and that the land offered the
Pehuenche would not sustain their culture and lifestyle.  His vote,
when added to that of the eight indigenous people on the Conadi
council, would have torpedoed the Ralco Dam project.
        In the interview that follows Namuncura gives greater detail
about the events leading up to his dismissal).
        Q:  Did Frei's request for your dismissal surprise you?
        DN:  No, not really.  It took place in a matter of just a few
hours last Wednesday.
        Q:  What happened?
        DN:  Just hours before the Conadi Council was set to vote on
the legitimacy of the land swap agreements (that Endesa had
signed with indigenous people to remove them from the proposed
Ralco Dam site), I concluded on the basis of the legal investigation
carried out by Conadi that I had no other choice than to vote
against the agreements.  I decided to communicate my decision
with the Subsecretary at Mideplan.
        Q:  And how did he respond?
        DN:  He said the government's position was to neither accept
nor reject Endesa's Ralco Dam project, but to demand more
concessions from the company.  I said this wasn't possible, that
the legal investigation was conclusive, and that the land exchange
contracts could not be accepted because they were tainted by the
way that they had been conceived and executed, and that in
accordance with the Indigenous Law they could not be accepted.
And there was no way I could decommission the legal report.
        Q:  So the government asked for you to step down?
        DN:  No.  The Subsecretary said my position was not
sustainable and suggested Wednesday that I postpone the Conadi
meeting scheduled for Thursday.  I responded that this, too, was
not possible because the Council is not just made up of
government representatives, but also indigenous people of
different ethnicities.  There was no justification for a
postponement of the meeting.
        Q:  So what did the government suggest next?
        DN:  The Subsecretary thought a moment, and then
suggested that once the Conadi meeting was convened, a motion
should be made to suspend it.  Then he thought some more, and
realized that with eight indigenous members and eight votes from
the government's side, my vote would be decisive.  So he
suspended his meeting with me, until further notice.
        Q:  What are the reasons behind the position you took?
      DN:  First, the land swap contracts were not the result of a
desire coming from the indigenous community to exchange their
land for other property.  Rather, it was imposed by a project that
did not give them any other alternative.  We confirmed this in a
series of interviews with the indigenous families, who gave us
very revealing testimony.  Several different Pehuenche said words
to the effect that "We don't have any alternative.  They are going
to flood our land and we are not fish."  When asked if he really
wanted to leave his land, one Pehuenche said,  "No, but I have to."

 --  LETTER OF RESIGNATION SENT BY NAMUNCURA TO FREI.
(Ed note:  The following is a translation of the letter of resignation
former Conadi Director Domingo Namuncura sent to President Frei,
printed in Saturday's La Tercera.)  Conadi's review of the land
swap contracts, in strict accordance with the Indigenous Law and
our own regulations found that the contracts could not be
approved because they did not comply with a series of
requirements regarding their conception and execution.
        There is also the very real fact that the Ralco Dam project
implies irreversible effects on the Pehuenche culture, its way of
life, its identity, its roots and its view of the cosmos.  A strict
examination of the procedures used to secure the land swap
contracts shows they were the result of the needs of an industrial
project, and not the result of the desires or free-will of the
Pehuenche people.
        The Indigenous Law, unanimously approved by Congress in
October, 1993, demands respect for indigenous culture and that
policies be implemented towards that end.  Indigenous lands are
to be protected so that they are used appropriately and so that
ecological balances are maintained.
        From these basic norms it follows that all Chileans must
work towards the survival of our indigenous peoples.
        There is no doubt that the Ralco Dam project will have a
tremendous impact on the indigenous people living there.  This is
why it is absolutely necessary that the land contract agreements
be completely open to society as a whole, so that consensus can
built concerning an issue having an irreversible impact on our
culture.
        This is why the procedures used by Endesa in relation to
Pehuenche families and communities merit Conadi's utmost
scrutiny, and have been shown to be lacking with respect to the
property offered as compensation and with respect to mitigation
of social and cultural factors.

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Aleta Brown
Campaign Associate
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Phone: 1.510.848.1155
Fax: 1.510.848.1008
email: aleta@irn.org
http://www.irn.org