Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Protests Against Rally Dakar

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BUENOS AIRES, Dec 29 2008 (IPS) - Environmental and citizen groups, academics and lawmakers in Argentina are protesting the Rally Dakar 2009, the race that will be held for the first time in South America, in January, passing through 10 of the country's provinces. The former Rally Paris-Dakar will take place Jan. 3-18 in Argentine and Chilean territory. More than a thousand cars, trucks, and motorcycles from different countries will race 9,500 kilometers through 10 provinces in Argentina and three regions of Chile, crossing nature preserves, protected areas and natural monuments.

“It isn't promoting the good of anything, and from the environmental perspective it's a disaster,” Andrés Demitriu, of the National University of Comahue, in the southern Argentine Patagonia, said in a Tierramérica interview. “We will be mere scenery,” he added.

“The Europeans would never accept a competition like this” on their continent, said Dimitriu. The rally is being organized by the French company Amaury Sport Organization and has been approved by Argentina's national authorities.