Development & Aid, Environment, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

ARGENTINA-URUGUAY: ‘Truce’ in Pulp Mill War Steeped in Uncertainty

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 14 2006 (IPS) - Although the presidents of Argentina and Uruguay announced a kind of truce in the ongoing conflict over the construction of two paper pulp factories along the border, environmentalists in Argentina blocking bridges between the two countries and the two foreign companies building the plants have given no sign that they will go along with the agreement.

In the meantime, the secret conversations between the two governments continue, an anonymous source told IPS in Montevideo.

Local residents and environmentalists in Argentina opposed to the construction of the pulp mills on the Uruguayan side of the Uruguay River argue that the agreement reached by Presidents Néstor Kirchner of Argentina and Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay failed because of a lack of political support for the latter in Uruguay.

But the activists decided to continue to block traffic over bridges linking the two countries, in their campaign against the two pulp plants, which they say will cause air and water pollution.

“We are convinced that Vázquez really intended to begin negotiating, but that he was left without political support,” activist Gustavo Rebollier told IPS after his group, the Gualeguaychú Citizen’s Environmental Assembly, held a meeting Monday in which more than 4,000 local residents from that Argentine town took part, and 28 people made speeches.

The city of Gualeguaychú is located on the Gualeguaychú River, 25 km from the new factories.

The Assembly decided not to lift the blockades stopping traffic on two of the three bridges connecting the two countries over the Uruguay River – the Fray Bentos-Puerto Unzué bridge, which has been cut off for nearly 40 days, and the bridge between the cities of Paysandú and Colón, farther upstream – despite the announcement made by Kirchner and Vázquez on Saturday in Chile, where they were attending President Michelle Bachelet’s inauguration ceremony.

After a brief meeting, the content of which had been previously agreed, Vázquez and Kirchner asked for a “gesture” from the protesters and from the companies building the pulp mills: Botnia of Finland and ENCE of Spain.

These “gestures” were a decision by the demonstrators to lift the roadblocks, and the suspension of work on the factories by the companies for a maximum of 90 days, in order for a team of independent experts to carry out an environmental impact study.

The presidents see these two steps as necessary conditions for beginning to negotiate a final solution to the ongoing conflict.

But while the residents of Gualeguaychú had previously demanded a freeze in construction as the condition for lifting the roadblocks, they have now set new conditions: besides a total halt in construction, they are demanding that trucks carrying building materials be blocked from reaching the plants, and they want a broad environmental impact report by an independent international team of experts whose verdict would be binding.

“We are more confused than we were on Friday,” said Rebollier, referring to the night before the announcement made by Kirchner and Vázquez.

Vázquez’s call for the companies to suspend construction drew a flurry of criticism in Uruguay, from the opposition parties as well as trade unions, which are worried about what will happen to the roughly 1,800 workers who are building the factories.

In Bolivia on an official visit, Vázquez said Monday that during his brief meeting with Kirchner, “there was no negotiation, but rather dialogue,” stressing that in order for negotiations to take place, the roadblocks must be lifted.

The Uruguayan leader also specified that his government “is not going to stop construction work on the pulp mills” because “legally it cannot do so,” since this is a decision that falls to the companies building the plants.

In Argentina, this shift prompted a certain amount of surprise. In addition, according to a report published Tuesday by the Argentine newspaper Página 12, which has not been refuted, Kirchner protested the decision to continue the traffic blockades.

“What more do they want from the Argentine government?” commented a high-ranking official from the Kirchner administration. “We did everything possible to pave the way for dialogue. What more can we do?”

The foreign companies involved also appear to be somewhat reluctant. IPS was unsuccessful in its attempts to speak with Botnia’s spokesman in Uruguay, Carlos Faroppa, but the Finnish forestry giant stated that it has not “received any request from the government” of Uruguay and that if it does, it will study the matter. ENCE expressed a similar position.

Meanwhile, the wait continues. “The appeal issued by the presidents on Saturday was very clear, and I believe it is still standing. I hope it is listened to by the people to whom it was addressed: the companies and the environmentalists,” Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana remarked Tuesday.

The two large factories being built on the Uruguay River by Botnia and ENCE will together produce a total of 1.5 million tons of wood pulp annually, double the output of the nearly one dozen pulp mills currently in operation in Argentina. The ENCE facilities will include a private port terminal.

The town of Gualeguaychú, which relies primarily on the tourism industry, is located on the river of the same name just a few kilometres from where it runs into the Uruguay River. The pulp mills are being built a mere 25 km away, due west across the Uruguay River.

Rebollier reported that at Monday’s assembly, there were three positions put forward with regard to the roadblocks, and the most hard-line stance won out: maintaining the blockade until there are guarantees that construction on the mills will be fully brought to a halt, while an environmental impact study is carried out by independent experts.

A more moderate sector proposed suspending the roadblocks for 24 or 48 hours while waiting for a gesture from the companies that would be acceptable to Argentina.

Other protesters, meanwhile, believe that a commitment has already been obtained from the presidents, and that it is time to go home. But “they are a minority,” noted Rebollier.

The 90-day truce has awakened a cautious sense of hope. “Last year a binational commission of experts was established to study the issue for 180 days and issue a non-binding report. But on the 181st day, all we had was a 120-metre-high smokestack in the Botnia plant,” said the activist.

“Over the last 10 years, Gualeguaychú has put a lot of work into cleaning up the Uruguay River and its beaches, treating effluents and building up the tourism industry in the city, which draws around 35,000 visitors for its carnival alone. Can you imagine tourists watching the carnival parade surrounded by the stench of rotten eggs,” the characteristic smell of pulp factories? he added.