PEHUENCHE WILL NOT BACK DOWN ON RALCO

Proyecto de Documentación Ñuke Mapu

Subject: CHIP News for May 20, 1998

SOURCE: EL MERCURIO

SOURCE: LA TERCERA

PEHUENCHE WILL NOT BACK DOWN ON RALCO.

A group of seven Pehuenche on Monday sent a notarized letter to the

National Indigenous Development Agency (Conadi) saying they

will not abandon their land for the construction of the Ralco

hydroelectric project, and that their decision is final and

irreversible.

Ralco, owned by Endesa, would be the biggest dam in Chile,

with an output of 520 MW. Its construction on the upper Bio Bio

River in southern Chile would require the relocation of some 98

families, but needs Conadi's approval to do so. Pending approval,

the dam is set to begin operations in 2002.

Sources at Endesa say neither Conadi nor members of the 98

families have communicated their intention to stay on the land.

However, Conadi Director Domingo Namuncura said the entity has

already sent two letters to Endesa with the signatures of the

families who are refusing to leave.

Conadi to date has received 83 land transfer requests from

these families, and is currently interviewing the families case by

case, assuring that all paperwork is in line with Indigenous Law

19,253. Namuncura said Conadi considers all the land transfer

paperwork null and void because Endesa deceived families to get

them to sign. Endesa says the land transfer signing process was

transparent and informed.

Deputy Alejandro Navarro, a member of the Chamber of

Deputies' "green faction" who is working in the defense of these

Pehuenche families, said Endesa will try to argue that the Electric

Law, by protecting projects like Ralco, which will benefit the

country, takes precedence over the Indigenous Law.