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dam-l LS: Biobio al Dia
***
Date: October, 1999
Subject: Bio Bio Al Dia
Edited by: Cristian Opaso/GABB: gabb@reuna.cl
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*PREVENTIVE MEASURE REVERSED
*THREATENED COMMUNITIES TO MARCH TO CONCEPCION
*ENDESA ESPANA DOESN'T TAKE THE HINT
*RALCO DAM WATER RIGHTS CHALLENGED
------------------------------------------------------------
PREVENTIVE MEASURE REVERSED
Santiago -- After a 23-day halt of construction of the Ralco dam, a petition
presented by Endesa and agreed to by the courts rendered ineffective the
preventive measure handed down in early September by Judge Mario
Carroza, which had resulted in an almost total paralysis of construction.
It is important to note that this is the second time that work on the dam,
which is opposed by the Pehuenches, the courts and various sectors of
Chilean society, has been stopped. The previous delay took place between
August and December of 1998, after peaceful occupation by opponents
of the roads and the construction site. Construction continued once the
government gave its approval after negotiating compensation for some
of the families who will be indirectly affected and who were not considered
in the original relocation plan.
This latest ruling handed down by the Seventh Chamber
of the Court of Appeals renders ineffective the preventive
ruling delivered on September 8 and opens the door to the restarting
of construction, although this is happening slowly. According to
Endesa, this is because 80 percent of the heavy equipment was taken
away from the site and almost all of the workers had been fired
during the stoppage. Contributing to the uncertainty about when
construction will begin again in full force, and perhaps the main
reason, is that this latest ruling does not stop the civil
lawsuit that seeks to invalidate Conama's permit for
the project. That case was strengthened by the preventive ruling
one month ago, which has been appealed and ratified by the same
Judge Carroza. The second phase of this appeal will be resolved in
the next two weeks. There, theoretically, the legality of the "preventive
order" that permitted the delay of construction could be decreed.
The judicial decision of October 1 was adopted one day after a massive
demonstration by 800 people, among them former Endesa workers and
Pehuenches, brought in buses paid for by Endesa to the regional
capital, Concepcion. There they were received by the regional administrator,
who openly supports the Ralco dam. Endesa's petition was handled very
rapidly, having been filed at 6:24 p.m. on September
30 and finalized at 2:40 p.m. on the following day.
In addition, according to lawyer Roberto Celedon, one of the three
lawyers defendingthe Pehuenches in this trial, the petition did not meet
the legal requirements. It is important to remember
that the principal lawyer for Endesa is Pablo Rodrmguez, a well-known
supporter of Pinochet and former leader of the right-wing paramilitary
group Patria y Libertad (Fatherland and Liberty). In contrast to
the court's rapid action in agreeing to Endesa's petition,
it took more than two years for the courts to resolve something
that is common sensical: that is to say, to stop the construction
of the dam until a court ruling is made on the legality of the project.
Pehuenche leaders told the press that they are in contact with other
Mapuche organizations and they will do whatever necessary to stop the dam's construction.
THREATENED COMMUNITIES PLAN MARCH TO CONCEPCION
Concepcion, Lota, Coronel, Tirua -- Several threatened communities, from
the Upper Bio Bio to the Lafquenche
region, will march together to downtown Concepcion on October 12,
formerly Dma de la Raza and now, after 500 years, Indigenous People's
Day. The march was planned after Pehuenche leaders Nicolasa Quintreman,
Antolin Curriao and Agustmn Correa, accompanied by congressman Alejandro
Navarro, toured the coastal areas of the 8th region and held meetinsg
with leaders of threatened communities and municipal authorities.
Over the weekend of October 2 and 3, a Mapuche ceremony was held in the
Tirua zone, where coastal communities reiterated their commitment to solidarity
with those people threatened by the Ralco dam project.
The march on October 12 will begin in several places and will culminate
with a foot march that will arrive in downtown Concepcion. The itinerary is the following:
Saturday, October 9 - from Caqete to Curanilahue.
Sunday, October 10 - Curanilahue to Laraquete.
Monday, October 11 - Laraquete to Coronel.
Tuesday, October 12 - Coronel to Concepcisn.
The Pehuenche will begin their march after a ceremony to take place at
10 am on Saturday, October 9 in the main plaza of the city of Los Angeles.
ENDESA SPAIN DOESN'T TAKE THE HINT
Madrid/Santiago -- The Spanish owners of Endesa and its parent
company, Enersis (the largest multinational electric company in Latin America)
have yet to inform the Pehuenches of their decision on the Ralco project.
As you may remember (see previous editions), in July of this year a top
Spanish official of Endesa Chile said that a decision would be made in
September. In the middle of September, when construction was halted
by the courts, Endesa Chile executives announced plans to move forward
with the project. But there has been no official declaration from the company,
although it is likely to want to continue the project despite the many legal and
political challenges that it represents. Nor have the Spanish acknowledged
the message sent to them by the Pehuenche regarding the Pehuenches' intent
to bring a legal action against company executives, alleging genocide. Last
September 10 the Pehuenche and various Mapuche groups from Temuco
sent a fax to the president of Endesa Espana, explaining the situation in the
Upper Bio Bmo and the genocide that the Ralco dam would result in.
The following is the text of the fax:
Upper Bio Bmo
September 10, 1999
D. Rodolfo Martmn Villa
President
Endesa Espana
Dear Directors,
We are writing to you to tell you about what is happening in our
land with Endesa Chile. As you know, you have come to have a
decisive vote in determining the future of the Ralco project, given
that your board of directors now controls Endesa Chile. Now that
you must respond personally for the actions of Endesa Chile,
according to Article 31 of the Spanish Penal code, we hope you
will not make yourselves individually responsible for the acts of
genocide that Endesa Chile is planning against our communities.
As we said in the meeting held in Santiago, Chile on July 27,
Endesa Chile has invaded our territory using deceit and pressure,
building the Pangue dam without our authorization and now trying
to build the Ralco dam, despite our long-time rejection of this
project, destroying forests and hills without the permission of the
Mapuche/Pehuenche who will be directly affected by the hydroelectric
project and who are the owners of this land, backed by the new Chilean
Indigenous Law of 1993. At that meeting, we gave you abundant material
explaining the problems with the project, the pressure to obtain the
environmental permits, the illegality of the beginning of construction,
the manipulations and deceits to force the land exchanges (relocation),
and the long-standing, documented rejection of the traditional
Mapuche/Pehuenche leaders of the area.
We are tired of telling Endesa Chile that we will not leave our lands and
that we will not exchange our lands even for gold. We hope that you
understand that the land, for us, is not something that can be bought or
sold, but is an integral part of who we are, the basis of our culture, the
fundamental element our identity as a people. If you engage in activities
that attack the land, you are simultaneously attacking our mothers, fathers,
children, sisters and brothers, and against our group as a whole.
We have been very pleased that you agreed to speak with us, and also
that you are reappraising the project and have not yet made a final decision.
We would like to reiterate that the only legal and sensible decision that you
can take is to halt the construction, forget about the Ralco dam and negotiate
the best way for you to leave our territory while at the same time compensating
us for the damage that has already been done.
To continue with the Ralco dam is to declare war on us again. That is why we
would like to inform you that if you try to start up construction, you will meet with
the total resistance of the Mapuche people and many of our friends around the world.
We will do everything necessary to defend our land and our grandparents and
great grandparents and great-great grandparents, as well as the children to come.
One of the things that we will do, with the help of our lawyers, is to initiate legal
actions in the Spanish courts. As your lawyers can explain to you, Spanish penal
law prohibits carrying out acts that contribute to the destruction of other peoples.
For example, Spanish penal law, in Article 607, prohibits you from killing us as
well as forcibly displacing us or subjecting us to conditions of existence that put
our lives in danger or hurt our health. We have always lived here and we have
the right to continue living here in accordance with our traditions.
We hope that you will be rational and realize that the Ralco project is a criminal
act according to Spanish law and human rights. It will not be enough after your
vote in the directors meeting to say that your purpose is to generate energy for
development, because you well know that the necessary consequences of the
project imply the death of our brothers, the forced displacement of others, the
imposition of life conditions that put our existence in danger -- in sum, the
genocide of our people.
At the same time, we hope that you will not stain the name of the company you
represent, whose reputation would be adversely affected. Your duty to your
shareholders to look after that reputation. Don't stain the name of Endesa
Espana with indigenous blood!
We want you to know that our existence as a people, as a native ethnic group
of these lands, as well as our life and our health, are irrevocably linked to the
Bio Bmo River, to our lands, to the natural resources found here, to the spirits
our ancestors who live in ceremonial places and nourish our wisdom and identity.
If you attack our lands or try to displace us, you will be committing acts of
genocide against us. Do not make yourselves responsible for this crime against
humanity with your vote or absence. If you don't respect our right to exist as a
people, we will charge each of you individually with trying to destroy us, in the
Spanish courts.
Our struggle as Mapuche/Pehuenche against the Ralco project is the struggle
of all the Mapuche people for centuries, since the arrival in 1541 of the first
Spaniards to our territory. Because of that, several Mapuche organizations
have joined in this fight. We hope that upon seeing the criminal nature of the
Ralco project you will decide to stop it.
We hope you will allow us to live in peace.
Sincerely,
Nicolasa Quintreman Calpan
Ilda Riquelme Huenteao
Agustmn Correa Naupa.
Organizacisn Mapu Domoche Nehuin de Alto Bio Bmo.
Corporacisn Mapuche Xeg-Xeg,
Corporacisn de Mujeres Mapuche Aukinko Zomo,
Sociedad Mapuche Lonko Kilapan,
Corporacisn Mapuche Nehuin,
Corporacisn Union Araucana,
Casa de la Mujer Mapuche,
Asociacisn Mapuche Kona Peuman,
Asociacisn Qankucheu de Lumako.
In addition, between September 15 and 19 Antolin Curriao,
one of the indigenous leaders opposing the project, traveled
with his lawyers and an environmental leader to Madrid and the Balearic
Islands where they promised to initiate legal actions against the board of
directors of Endesa Espaqa. Rodolfo Martmn Villa, president of the Endesa
Espaqa, refused to meet with the delegation. They were however received
by members of Spanish nonprofits, members of parliament and regional
government authorities. Among these individuals and groups were Goyo
Itoiz of the Spanish Pro-Human Rights Association, Maria Flores of Friends
of the Indigenous Peoples and Patricia Ballesteros, a Spanish citizen who was
expelled from Chile (the deportation order was later revoked by the Supreme
Court) after participating as an observer in a non-violent occupation of the Ralco construction site in February.
The delegation also met with members of Parliament (of the United Left, the
Spanish Socialist Workers Party, and the Basque Nationalist Party) and with
Francesc Antich, president of the Autonomous Community of the Balearic Islands.
In late October a delegation of three poeple from the Islands will travel to the
Upper Bio Bmo region and other areas of conflict.
One of subjects analyzed in detail was the possible legal action alleging genocide
against the directors of Endesa Espana, based on the arguments described in the
fax, which was also sent in notarized form to the offices of Endesa Espana in Madrid.
The legal firm of Enrique Santiago y Romero is analyzing the details of the case.
In addition, on Friday, October 1 the Pehuenches formally requested a meeting
with Francisco Garcia Sanchez, Spanish executive and general manager of Endesa
Chile, as well as Alfredo Llorente, president of the parent company, Enersis, in
Santiago to obtain the official report of the company regarding the continuation
of the project. This request has yet to be answered.
We reiterate to everyone that it is not too late to tell these executives to stop the
building of this genocidal project. Here are the address:
Rodolfo Martmn Villa
Presidente, Endesa Espaqa
Pasaje de Vergara 187
28002 Madrid, Spain
Phone: 34 91 566 8800
Fax: 34 91 564 5518
Alfredo Llorente
Presidente, Enersis
Santiago, Chile
Phone: 56 2 353 4400
Fax: 56 2 633 2866
E-mail: bmp@e.enersis.cl
Francisco Garcma
Gerente General
Endesa Chile
Santiago, Chile
Phone: 56 2 630 9000
Fax: 56 2 630 9924
E-mail: usandova@endesa.cl
RALCO WATER RIGHTS CHALLENGED
Santiago -- Another irregularity with the Ralco project has received
wide coverage in the press: In addition to the lack of authorization
from the Pehuenches and a definitive concession, it has come to light
that the dam's backers also lack the required water rights. The fact is
that Endesa made a mistake when it requested the rights and the ones
it currently has do not permit the building of the dam as it was designed.
One kilometer of difference in the devolution of waters to the river and a
17-meter difference "de cota" would make the project unfeasible, at least
in order to generate the amount of energy that has been promised.
The Pehuenche leader Nicolasa Quintreman has requested those
water rights, a matter which Endesa immediately appealed. According to
the law, the rights should be assigned to the best applicant, a condition
that is likely to work against Nicolasa Quintreman. The matter is likely
to be resolved as an administrative matter. The incredible error was
detected by the economist Hernan Echauren, one of the directors of
the Grupo de Accion por el Bio Bio (GABB), who hired a lawyer to
investigate the situation and request the water rights that Endesa didn't have.
Bio Bio al Dia. Electronic bulletin of the Grupo de Accion por el Bio Bio (GABB).
Edited by Cristian Opaso.
Address: Pinto Lagarrigue 12,
Recoleta, Santiago de Chile.
Phone: 56 2 737 1420
Fax: 56 2 777 6414.
E-mail: gabb@reuna.cl
Translated into English by Kora McNaughton for
International Rivers Network,
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, Ca 94703, United States.
Phone: 510-848-1155.
Fax: 510-848-1108.
Previous editions available at http://www.irn.org.
(c) All rights reserved. Source must be cited for total or partial reproduction.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Monti Aguirre
Latin American Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA. 94703 USA
Phone: 510 . 848.11.55 and 707 . 591 .91.49
Fax: 510 . 848.10.08
e-mail: monti @irn.org
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