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dam-l LS: Tension Rises Over Halted Ralco Project



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CHIP NEWS

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Date: 9.13.99

Subject: Tension Rises Over Halted Ralco Project

Sources: el Mercurio, La Tercera

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--  TENSION RISES OVER HALTED RALCO PROJECT.  


Tension rose among Pehuenche indigenous people after construction on the Ralco

hydroelectric dam on the upper Bio Bio valley in Region VIII was

halted by a court order, causing some 1,500 workers hired by

building company Besalco to lose their jobs.

The ruling was made by the sixth Santiago civil court last week

following a lawsuit brought against the owners of the project, the

Spanish-controlled Endesa generating company, by the Pehuenche

Quintreman sisters in June 1997.

The sisters are among seven indigenous families opposing the

US$500 million project, which would flood the ancestral homeland of

70 Pehuenche families.  Endesa has been negotiating a US$20 million

relocation plan with the other families which the company says will

help the Pehuenche overcome their impoverished state.

Eleven percent of construction work on the 570 MW dam

project, which was due to be operational by 2002, has already been

completed.  In subsequent appeals, the courts will have to decide

whether the indigenous law or the electricity law takes precedence

in the dispute.


On Saturday 300 indigenous people who were laid-off by

Besalco following the lawsuit, gathered in the Ralco area to denounce

the Quintreman sisters, blaming them for the job losses.

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Chip News



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Monti Aguirre

Latin American Campaigns 

International Rivers Network					

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