Indigenous People Face Destruction of Land and Resettlement in Chile
6/24/97
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Headline: Indigenous People Face Destruction of Land and Resettlement in
Chile Source: South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC)
Date: 6/24/97
URGENT ACTION
Indigenous People Face Destruction of Land and Resettlement in Chile
June 24, 1997
The Pehuenche of Chile and environmentalists are struggling against a dam
project on the BioBio river that will force 700 Pehuenche off their
ancestral land and flood 9,000 acres of farmland and rare temperate
rainforest in Southern Chile. On June 6, the $600 million Ralco dam
project was approved by the Chilean government's environmental office.
ENDESA, the private public utility company claims that this dam, and 10
more dams its size between now and 2013 are needed to satisfy the energy
demands of the Chilean economy.
This project is seen by the Pehuenche and environmentalists as a violation
of the new Environmental and Indigenous laws. According to the Indigenous
Law, Pehuenches cannot be forced to relocate from their land. On June 10,
a group of Pehuenches occupied the Chile's Indigenous Affairs Bureau and
Environmental Protection Board to protest the licensing of the Ralco Dam
saying "The Chilean government has once again shown its colonizing
mentality by not respecting our people or the law." ENDESA, the powerful
utility company that has expanded to Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and
Peru, says that it can challenge the law in court.
This dam project will have severe social and environmental consequences.
Displacement of indigenous people from their ancestral land has been shown
to break up communities and undermine cultural conservation efforts. The
seven Pehuenche communities affected by the dam project have formed a
coalition against the dam and have been fighting since 1989 to prevent its
implementation. They suggest the development of alternatives to the dam
project to satisfy the local demands for power that will not violate
indigenous lands .
Dario Jana, an environmentalist who is organizing the international
support for the Pehuenche communities, is calling for letters to be
presented to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations during the
Fifteenth Assembly of the Indigenous Working Group of the United Nations:
1. Expressing support for the Pehuenche
2. Urging the UN to influence the Chilean government to respect the
Indigenous and Environmental laws that it has ratified by halting the dam
project that will violate indigenous communities and their ancestral land.
Please fax to him letters addressed to the UN at 049-30-2941298 before
July 20th. See the sample letter below.
The Human Rights Commission of the United Nations
CH-1211 Geneva
27-Switzerland.
Dear Members of the Commission:
We at SAIIC, the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center, are writing
to express our solidarity with the 7 Pehuenche communities in Southern
Chile who will be displaced from their ancestral lands by the Ralco dam
project on the BioBio River implemented by ENDESA Utility. We feel that
this dam project violates those rights guaranteed by the Indigenous and
Environmental Laws ratified by the Chilean government and should therefore
be prevented from implementation.
The flooding of 9,000 acres of farmland and rare temperate rainforest will
not only displace 700 Pehuenche, but will be an ecological disaster.
Indigenous people and environmentalists internationally are very concerned
about the devastating effects of this project. We urge you to use your
influence to persuade the Chilean government to reconsider their approval
of this project and to investigate alternative forms of generating energy
that will not violate indigenous communities or the environment. Please
help stop this dangerous policy of ecological destruction for economic
profit.
Sincerely,
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South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC)
P.O. Box 28703
Oakland CA, 94604
Phone: (510)834-4263 Fax: (510)834-4264
Email: saiic@igc.apc.org
Office: 1714 Franklin Street, 3rd Floor, Oakland
Home Page: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/nativeweb/abyayala/orgs/saiic/
For more information about SAIIC, send an empty email message to:
saiic-info@igc.apc.org