97 december-98 august: The following update on the situation in the upper Biobío River region in Chile was prepared by Campaign Associate International Rivers Network and Grupo de Acción por el Biobío in Chile . For more information: Campaign Associate International Rivers Network
| Date: Mon, 22 Dec 97
From: Headline: ENDESA TAKES AIM AT INDIGENOUS LAW To: "undisclosed-recipients:;"@igc.org; Interview With Bio Bio Action Group Leader Juan Pablo Orrego Message-Id: v02140b01b0c46efda88e@[198.94.3.92] Mime-Version: 1.0 Precedence: bulk SOURCE: PUNTO FINAL Sender: Subject: CHIP News for December 22, 1997 TEXT: (Ed. note: Anthropologist Juan Pablo Orrego is president of the Bio Bio Action Group, one of the leading organizations in opposition to Endesa's Ralco hydroelectric plant to be built on the Upper Bio Bio River. In the following interview, he discusses the political, ecological and social repercussions the project could have). Q: How do you assess the ecological damage Ralco could cause? JPO: The Upper Bio Bio valley is an ecological border region in the center of the country, a zone where the dry northern climate meets the humid southern climate, and acts as an ecological corridor connecting the Patagonian pampas to the Pacific coast. Its flora and fauna are unique in the world. Pangue already caused a serious impact and Ralco would be the end of it. Seventy kilometers of the Bio Bio valley would be destroyed, not to mention valleys of tributary rivers. More than 4,000 hectares of this exceptional ecosystem would be flooded, exterminating six to eight percent of Chile's most endangered species. That's why Vivianne Blanlot (former National Environmental Commission (Conama) director) resigned. Not to mention the social impact on the Pehuenches who do not want to leave their lands. Q: Endesa says its project would bring local development. JPO: The people of Antuco, where Endesa installed a series of hydroelectric dams, can tell you about that. ...(A) community of 10,000 in 1970, only 4,000 remain in Antuco today. It is a great source of electric energy for the nation but 70 percent of the rural population there does not have electricity, and Antuco has become one of the nation's poorest areas. On the other hand, Endesa has nothing to complain about. It earns US$83 million from the sale of electricity and pays the local government a license fee of US$240,000. The entire generator employs only 120 people, all of whom come from outside the area. Q: How do you explain the surge in these projects? JPO: The military regime opened the doors. A group of 14 gentlemen headed by Jose Yuraszeck are the same people who orchestrated the privatization of the energy sector during the Pinochet regime, dictating laws that benefit them even to this day. I am referring to the 1981 Water Act and the 1982 Electric Services Law, which made it possible tobuy Endesa in 1989 below cost. Similar to what happened in the Enersis sale to Spain, only this time they went too far. Q: Does the same policy persist today? JPO: We have no national energy policy, only a company policy. And everything favors that company. Its projects are highly profitable because they get the rivers for free. ...(B)ut what if this economic power transforms into political power? Dep. Andres Palma found out that Enersis gives money to all parties, but more to the UDI, because Yuraszeck is 100 percent UDI. But there is something for everyone. And you can possibly sense this in the way some politicians talk... But the Indigenous Law is in the way. Q: How has Endesa tried to persuade the Pehuenches to give up their land? JPO: In 1992 they created the notorious Pehuen Foundation, ostensibly to counteract the effects the dam would have on the Pehuenches. But from the very beginning they attacked from another direction. In Ralco Lepoy, they arrived with gifts of rubber boots, barbed wire, wood burning stoves and other things to soften the Pehuenches. Sometimes the gifts were more spectacular, such as oxen, a gas stove or even a house. Only people willing to support Endesa received these gifts. Another tactic was to hire sympathetic Pehuenches to repair the roads or other works in this area where jobs are scarce. Q: How is it that no one opposed these pressure tactics? JPO: There is much confusion among the Pehuenche community... . Professional rumor-mongers are about and intimidate the people. When the community organized a traditional rite in opposition to the dam, rumors circulated that they would be overrun by communists and that planes would bomb the place. Q: What are the prospects for Endesa's success? JPO: The Indigenous Law clearly prohibits the sale of native lands. But it leaves open the possibility of voluntarily exchanging the land for another site. Yet the land is divided up in small properties and Endesa needs the consent of each indigenous family to transfer their property, which explains the intensity of Endesa's harassment of the community. The National Indigenous Development Council (Conadi) was created to protect native people, ...but eight board members are government representatives who are on the company's side. Another eight are indigenous and are on the other side. CONADI director Domingo Namuncura could tip the scales, but his position is still unclear. Q: But President Frei supports the project. JPO: Yes, it was a shock when Pangue was inaugurated to hear him advocate so openly going ahead with other dams, when they were still in discussion. But the most serious problem is a new tactic Endesa has waiting in the wings. It plans to go to court to challenge the primacy of the Indigenous Law, arguing that the 1982 Electric Services Act designed by Jose Yuraszeck during the dictatorship takes precedent... . The letter Pehuenches left Frei in October indicates the degree of frustration they have reached. A phrase shouted by a Pehuenche woman before delivering the letter was eloquent: "They will only take me from my house dead." To: X-Sender: Aleta Brown Date: Thu, 22 Jan 98 09:57 SOURCE: EL MERCURIO SOURCE: EL DIARIO RALCO CONSTRUCTION WILL BEGIN IN AUGUST. Chilean electricity company Endesa announced it will begin in August or September heavy construction on its US$480 million Ralco hydroelectric plant, even though it has yet to receive permission from the National Indigenous Development Commission (Conadi). The plant's construction means the relocation of hundreds of indigenous people, as the dam will flood 3,467 hectares of their traditional lands. Many of these people have not yet agreed to move. Endesa said it will finalize agreements with contractors in February, and will begin bidding in March for two civil construction projects: a tunnel and the dam itself. The company will also establish contracts in March for generating equipment. Endesa's head of energy investments, Carlos Andreani, said this project will not be delayed any longer, and will begin operations in the year 2002. He did not wish to comment on how the project would be affected if it does not receive Conadi's approval. Conadi must make its decision by the end of the first half of this year. Ralco received approval from the National Environmental Commission (Conama) in 1997. It will have a 570 megawatt capacity, and an annual production of 3,380 gigawatt hours. Chile Information Project Aleta Brown Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 17:09:08 -0800 From: Sender: Subject: AAA Report on Pehuenche Human Rights Abuses in Chile To: X-Mime-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by igc7.igc.org id RAA22481 X-Sender: The American Anthropological Association Committee for Human Rights has just released a report entitled "Violations of Human Rights in the Pangue and Ralco Dam Projects on the Biobío River, Chile. "You can access this report on the web at www.ameranthassn.org/chrbrief.htm. I have also attached the Executive Summary here. Background on the report: Ted Downing, an anthropologist hired by IFC to evaluate the Pangue social impact and resettlement plans, contacted Barbara Rose Johnston-who was coordinating a global research and advocacy effort through the Society for Applied Anthropology-requesting advocacy assistance. He sought this assistance because the independent review that he was hired to do by WB President, Wolfensohn regarding the Pehuen Foundation was being suppressed by the IFC, he was threatened with punative lawsuits if he circulated any of his research findings, and more importantly, the Pehuenche poeple were experiencing a number of human rights abuse problems and had no legal avenue to persue. Last November, Downing appeared before the American Anthropological Association Committee for Human Rights to present his case. Also present were representatives from IFC, the World Bank, and a Chilean anthropologist (who is also half Pehuenche). The CfHR voted to persue an inquiry into the case, examining the human rights implications tied to the Biobío dam projects and also, the broader moral and legal ramifications of private development bank funding. Following is the Executive Summary of the report. As stated above, the full content of the report can be found on the web at www.ameranthassn.org/chrbrief.htm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Pehuenche, the World Bank Group and ENDESA S.A. Violations of Human Rights in the Pangue and Ralco Dam Projects on the Bío-Bío River, Chile [When the Committee for Human Rights takes up a specific case of human rights abuse, it may prepare a Briefing Document, written by one or more of its own members, or commissioned from a knowledgeable colleague. the briefing document is reviewed, perhaps edited, and adopted by the Committee as a whole and then, together with recommended actions, transmitted to the president of the American Anthropological Association. A Briefing Document is not an official document of the Association, but provides essential information supporting the action recommendations the Committee recommends to the Association president.] Executive Summary This report was prepared by the Committee for Human Rights of the AAA in response to a complaint from a member of the Association, Dr. Theodore Downing. Downing had served as consultant for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in an evaluation of the efficacy of the Pehuen Foundation, an organization created to offset the socio-economic impacts of an IFC-financed project, the Pangue Dam, the first of a interrelated pair of dams on the Bío-Bío River in southern Chile. This evaluation was prompted by complaints of abuses perpetrated against Pehuenche Indians through the Pehuen Foundation. Downing found numerous grave abuses, but the IFC, together with the private Chilean developer ENDESA, suppressed his report. This placed the anthropologist in the professionally untenable position of being unable to reveal to the Pehuenche information that directly affected their rights and social welfare and the developing threat to their cultural survival. According to Downing, the IFC failure to release Downing's 1996 report to the Pehuenche in a culturally appropriate manner, as mandated in his original contract, meant that the Pehuenche were asked to sign resettlement agreements (exchanging ancestral land rights for land high in mountains, several hours distant from their homes) without an understanding of the effects of Pangue Dam development or the potential effects of the proposed Ralco Dam development. Furthermore, they were not informed about how the Pehuen Foundation is structured, what role it is supposed to play in funneling income back into the Pehuenche community, or of their constitutionally protected right to participate in the decision to build a dam within their ancestral territory. These and other actions that have accompanied the construction of the Pangue Dam violated the human and constitutional rights of the Pehuenche. The plan to immediately begin constructing the second dam, Ralco, will, if no changes are made, result in a dramatically larger violation of Pehuenche human rights. The present Report of the Committee for Human Rights presents the evidence this Committee's review and analysis of the evidence, leading to the twelve recommendations for action listed in Part IV of this Report. We propose that the American Anthropological Association, the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group, ENDESA, S.A., and others take these twelve actions on behalf of the Pehuenche, on behalf of the anthropological consultant in this case, and on behalf of all anthropologists. These actions address the roles that the IFC, the World Bank Group, ENDESA S.A., the Chilean Government, private banks and others played in this case, the remedies required to restore Pehuenche rights on the Bío-Bío, and the changes required to prevent these actors from setting in motion future development projects that will violate the human rights of other peoples in another places. Aleta Brown Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 11:32:55 -0800 From: Sender: Subject: Press Release To: X-Mime-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by igc7.igc.org id LAA29692 X-Sender: PRESS RELEASE Thursday, 2 April 1998 Aleta Brown Campaign Associate 510 848 1155 Anthropologists Slam World Bank for Indigenous Rights Abuses in Chile The Committee for Human Rights of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) has accused the World Bank of a range of human rights abuses associated with its funding of the Pangue Dam in Chile. The charges against the World Bank include collusion in the withholding of information vital to the survival of the Pehuenche indigenous people and the breaking of the institution's own policies on indigenous people and resettlement. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) - the private-sector arm of the World Bank - provided nearly $175 million for the Pangue-Ralco hydropower project in 1992. The IFC also brokered funds from several European public and private sources. The 450 MW Pangue Dam was the first to be built across the Biobío, a river renowned for its wildness and scenic beauty. Ralco is a larger dam to be built upstream of Pangue, which will function to slow siltation and regulate flow into Pangue. The IFC has repeatedly asserted that Pangue is a stand-alone project, in spite of clear evidence that it was planned to operate in conjunction with the more devastating Ralco Dam. Four more dams are also planned for the Biobío. The Committee for Human Rights (CfHR) report is in response to a complaint from anthropologist Dr. Theodore Downing. Downing was hired by the World Bank to evaluate the effectiveness of the Pehuen Foundation, which was created to mitigate the socioeconomic impacts of Pangue Dam. Downing complained to the AAA that the IFC had unjustifiably delayed the release of his highly critical evaluation. Downing's report, submitted to the IFC in May 1996, was withheld from the public and the affected Pehuenches until December of 1997. The CfHR report concludes that the "IFC withheld Downing's report because of the political volatility of the information and findings in it," and that the "release of the Downing report would have damaged efforts to have Ralco approved." The report was withheld during Chile's public comment period for Ralco's environmental assessment; withheld when Chile's environment department (Conama) declared the environmental assessment unsatisfactory; withheld when Conama's Director resigned. The Downing report was finally released only when it seemed that Ralco could not be stopped. Chile's power utility, Endesa, plans to start full-scale construction of Ralco in August 1998. Despite IFC's insistence that it funded Pangue as a stand-alone project, the CfHR report found that "Downing's evaluation presented evidence that Endesa used IFC loan funds earmarked for Pangue to support Ralco development." Furthermore, the Pehuen Foundation is being used to resettle the 600 Pehuenches affected by the Ralco Dam. The report also criticizes IFC's claim that the problems associated with the project are part of IFC's "learning curve." The CfHR recognizes that Bank projects have a history of devastating impacts on indigenous people, and challenges their excuse of learning by mistakes: "The Bank has had to 'learn' the same lessons and draw the same conclusions again and again...the Bank must recognize and take responsibility for the damage IFC's project has inflicted on the Pehuenche, as well as the far greater damage that mass deportation from Ralco will cause." "The World Bank's role in the Pangue-Ralco project has been to collude with and protect the interests of Endesa," says Aleta Brown, Campaign Associate of International Rivers Network. The Bank has hidden information vital to the survival of the Pehuenche people." The upper Biobío is home to the Pehuenches. In the last century, the land held by the Pehuenche people has shrunk from 54 million hectares to 30,000 hectares due to military take-over and non-Indian territorial expansion. The lives and culture of the Pehuenche depend on renewable natural resources such as piñon nuts, pastures, wood for building and fuel, and medicinal plants. The Biobío River is at the core of their livelihood, their traditions, and their culture. The Committee for Human Rights urges the President of the American Anthropological Association to "call upon the Chilean government to stop the forcible resettlement of the Pehuenche of the Ralco area and the construction of the Ralco Dam that would make the resettlement necessary." -30- The report can be found in its entirety at www.ameranthassn.org/chrbrief.htm International Rivers Network is a non-profit organization which promotes the rights of communities around the world affected by river development projects. For more information: Aleta Brown, Phone: 510 848 1155 Fax: 510 848 1008 Aleta Brown Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 15:11:32 -0700 From: Sender: Subject: Message from Pehuenches/Biobío To: X-Mime-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by igcb.igc.org id PAA08485 X-Sender: Upper Biobio River, April 3, 1998 We, members of the indigenous community El Avellano, in the upper Biobio would like to let you know about our situation and the problems which have taken place. Since the construction of Pangue Dam, Mr. Enrique Richard has tried to expel us from our land, where we have always lived. Two days ago, we received a second notice of expulsion. Why is the legal system always on the side of the exploiter? (We don't know how to obtain papers for title to our land) Since 1966 they have been threatening us. If they don't come themselves, they send gunmen. Why do they want to kick us out? Because they know that if they kick us out, they can kick out the other inhabitants of El Avellano. And why kick us out from our ancestral lands? To construct tourist complexes. This man has never lived on these lands. How can the legal system be on his side? Perhaps because he has money to buy justice and we poor Pehuenches have no power? We will defend ourselves to the end, no matter what. We will fight for our lands, which more than just soil is our history, our identity, and our life. For these reasons, we have come to present to you our problem. We hope that the authorities will become aware of these problems we face every day and which do not let us live in peace. We hope that things will work out. We thank all the people who help us. Thank you for listening to us and Mari Chi Weu ( Ten times we will be victorious ) Irma Jara Curriao, Vicepresident Indigenous community of El Avellano Upper Biobio River, Chile Translated by Glenn Switkes, Latin America Campaign Director International Rivers Network Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 11:16:59 -0700 (PDT) From: Source: EL DIARIO -- WORLD BANK APOLOGIZES FOR RALCO. World Bank To: undisclosed-recipients:; President James D. Wolfensohn apologized this weekend for the bank's alleged participation in the Ralco hydroelectric project in southern Chile, which will displace as many as 96 indigenous Mapuche families from their homes on the upper Bio Bio River. Wolfensohn was visiting Chile for the Summit of the Americas. Ralco is power company Endesa's much larger follow-up to the Pangue dam, which the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the credit arm of the World Bank, helped fund. The National Environmental Commission (Conama) has approved the US$463 million, 581 MW hydroelectric power station, but the National Indigenous Development Association (Conadi), the government agency charged with defending the interests of native Chileans, must approve it before it can go forward. World Bank officials praised Chile for pioneering economic structural reforms in the region and for its dynamic social development strategy. Head economist Guillermo Perry said Chile is the region's most successful case of development in the last 12 years, due to its sustained growth rate and reduction in poverty. Nonetheless, the bank expressed some reservations about Chile's environmental progress. Wolfensohn said Ralco "was not one of the high points in the bank's experience." Endesa responded Monday that Wolfensohn's comments were regrettable, and furthermore inaccurate - the IFC funded only Pangue, not Ralco. The company said it fulfilled all the IFC's social and environmental conditions for Pangue, and that Ralco is within Chilean norms. Wolfensohn also said Sunday that the World Bank has changed its focus on Latin America to pay greater attention to the poor and disadvantaged, given that inequalities persist despite the region's economic progress. He expressed particular concern about the rich-poor gap, and called for more multilateral cooperation to confront it. He said the bank has also made more funds available for education, a leading agenda item at the summit. Last week, before the summit, Chilean Foreign Relations Minister Jose Miguel Insulza said the bank would provide some US$20 billion to Latin America for education. Chile Information Project Aleta Brown Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 10:20:52 -0700 From: Sender: Subject: ENDESA SETS DATE TO BEGIN RALCO CONSTRUCTION To: X-Sender: CHIP News, June 18, 1998 HEADLINE: ENDESA SETS DATE TO BEGIN RALCO CONSTRUCTION Despite Lingering Doubts Concerning Relocation of Pehuenche Families SOURCE: EL MERCURIO SOURCE: LA EPOCA TEXT: Endesa will begin the bidding process in July on US$50 million in construction work for its controversial Ralco Dam project, Endesa executive Ignacio Swett said Wednesday, and construction should begin in early 1999. This amounts to about 10 percent of the total US$500 million cost of the project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2001. The utility company executive said Endesa has the water rights and all necessary governmental authorization to begin construction, and that the company is confident that 100 percent of the Pehuenche families affected by the dam's 400 hectare reservoir will agree to live on alternative lands proposed by the company - the El Barco and El Huachi properties. The go-ahead announced yesterday by the Endesa executive is squarely opposed by a host of Chilean environmental groups, and may yet have difficulty in securing the consent of the indigenous families impacted by the dam construction. Earlier in the week Domingo Namuncura, director of the National Indigenous Development Council (Conadi), said that several Pehuenche families have rejected the relocation plan proposed by Endesa, and that the dam construction cannot go forward without the approval of all 98 families affected. Namuncura said the Indigenous Law 19.253 defines the Upper Bio Bio as an area of indigenous development (ADI), meaning the Pehuenche's decision to barter these sacred lands must be unanimous. In response to this concern, Swett emphasized yesterday that discussions are still underway with the families that have not yet agreed to the company's relocation plan, and that a final legal alternative, a kind of forced arbitration, could be used to resolve differences. Indigenous rights activists have criticized Endesa's offer to provide the Pehuenche with alternative lands, saying the families were tricked into agreeing to move and that the alternative properties are unsuitable for the Pehuenche because they are covered with snow a good part of the year. Endesa has denied putting any pressure on the families and has already begun investing US$20 million towards building homes, warehouses and corrals for the families. Chile Information Subject: CHIP News for June 23, 1998 Cc: Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 10:29:01 -0700 From: Sender: Subject: GREEN FACTION DENOUNCES RALCO APPROVAL To: X-Sender: SOURCE: EL MERCURIO SOURCE: LA TERCERA -- GREEN FACTION DENOUNCES RALCO APPROVAL. Deputy Alejandro Navarro, a member of the Chamber of Deputies "green faction," this weekend said the approval of Endesa's controversial dam project Ralco's Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was corrupt because it resulted from a pact between Endesa and the National Environmental Commission (Conama). Conama began its evaluation of the EIS in 1994, three years before the government had established any norms for the approval or rejection of this study. Navarro also said Endesa had hidden the approved EIS so that no other state ministry was able to see it before approval. Also, the National Energy Commission has ruled that this project is not economically viable. Ralco has currently been a big issue because Endesa executives say the bidding and construction will go forward as planned, while environmental and indigenous activists cite the Indigenous Law, saying that Endesa must receive 100 percent approval from Pehuenche families who need to be relocated due to the creation of a reservoir for the dam. National Indigenous Development Council (Conadi) says that there are at least two communities which still reject Endesa's relocation offer. Action Group for the Bio Bio (GABB) Director Juan Pablo Orrego said Endesa has continued a campaign of misinformation to "trick" the Pehuenche into bartering their land. GABB activists say they stay with these families to keep them from being persuaded to leave their sacred and productive lands. Endesa has denied putting any such pressure on Pehuenche families. Chile Information |
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