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13 April 2011 | |

Don’t Give Up

Interview with Marcia Alvarez, from the Patagonia Heirs Association, Aysen, Chile

Download: MP3 (1.4 Mb)

This is a key moment for the future of one of the main freshwater sources in South America: the Chilean Patagonian region of Aysen, where transnational companies aim to install several hydroelectric dams despite the rejection of local communities.

The HidroAysen project is being asked questions about their environmental impact assessment, a process that was previously objected by the authorities and local organizations.

The information provided by the company and official agencies involved in the project hasn’t been enough in the four years since the announcement of the project. In fact, the Council in Defense of the Patagonia, that is made up by community and regional organizations that oppose the project, stated that a third addendum to the environmental impact assessment was submitted but that this wasn’t made public as required. The Council believes this is inconsistent with the rhetoric of transparency the company claims.

In addition to the communities that will be directly affected by the dam, the project will affect communities with the thousands of kilometers of electric cables that will go from the dams to the cities and extractive companies.

This is what Marcia Alvarez, from the Patagonia Heirs Association, said to Real World Radio. Marcia lives in Cerro Castillo, a community of 400 inhabitants, and warns that in every community of the Aysen region, no matter how small, there are organized centers of resistance.

The activist also made reference to the corruption this megaproject involves: ”today we know that there are governmental authorities who have shares in the companies that own HidroAysen.”

“The battle is not lost, we won’t give up, we won’t leave our lands to those men”, said the leader.

Photo: www.patagoniasinrepresas.cl

(CC) 2011 Real World Radio

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