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dam-l Yacyreta letter to World Bank
-------------
From: IRN Latin America office
To: Hidrovia list
Subject: World Bank lies about results of internal investigation on
Paraguayan dam
89 NGOs from 31 countries have endorsed this letter to World Bank president
Wolfensohn protesting the misrepresentation of the results of the Yacyreta
Dam Inspection Panel report by senior Bank officials.
International Rivers Network, Berkeley California USA
April 27, 1998
Mr. James Wolfensohn
President, World Bank
1818 H St., NW
Washington, DC 20433
Dear Mr. Wolfensohn:
We are writing in support of the April 8 letter by Sobrevivencia - Friends
of the Earth Paraguay documenting the unethical and illegal
misrepresentation of the conclusions of the Inspection Panel's report on
Yacyretá Dam. We find it reprehensible that Ms. Isabel Guerrero, Acting
Vice President for Latin America, who states she is writing on your behalf,
has lied to the Paraguayan public and to the dam-affected people regarding
the results of the Panel report. The fact that the report was published by
your clients, the Yacyretá Binational Entity, a full week before
Sobrevivencia and the dam-affected populations even received the letter, is
further evidence that Ms. Guerrero's letter is a deliberate attempt to
withhold the report's true conclusions.
Sobrevivencia's letter cites at least 14 instances in the Panel's report
that indicate the Bank violated its policies and procedures regarding the
loans for Yacyretá, including those policies on environment and
resettlement. You are well aware that the Panel recommends the Bank take
far-reaching and immediate actions to improve the desperate situation the
Paraguayan dam victims are facing, with full participation of the affected
populations, as required by World Bank policies. Unfortunately, Ms.
Guerrero's letter appears to be designed to squelch informed debate on the
matter by misinforming the public.
We also find it deeply disturbing that the Panel's report has never been
made available to the public, nor has it been translated into Spanish so
that the people affected by the project may be informed by its findings. We
also see no justification to concealing the content of the Action Plans
agreed to by the Bank and EBY, particularly since Bank policies require
that these be implemented with the participation of affected communities.
Ms. Guerrero's letter represents a serious strike at a transparent
Inspection Panel process. The Panel, is at the present time, one of the
very few channels available to populations who suffer the consequences of
ill-conceived loans by the World Bank. As such, your office should be
committed to revitalizing the Panel, rather than undermining it in such an
underhanded way.
We therefore demand, that your office, with urgency:
1. Send a public retraction of Ms. Guerrero's letter, in Spanish, to the
Paraguayan press with a copy to Sobrevivencia;
2. Provide Sobrevivencia and the organizations of people affected by
Yacyreta a copy of the Inspection Panel report, translated into Spanish;
3. Provide Sobrevivencia and the people affected by Yacyreta a copy of the
World Bank/EBY Action Plans.
4. Meet with organizations of affected people to plan how they will be
integrated into the process for implementing action plans to remedy the
critical situation they are facing.
Sincerely,
Glenn Switkes
Latin America Program Director,
International Rivers Network
Endorsed by: (additional endorsements will be sent as available)
Ivonne Ramos, Cecília Cherrez
Acción Ecológica
Ecuador
Juan Machuca
ACPIEM
México
Isaac Rojas, Gustavo Oreamuno
AECO-Amigos de la Tierra
Costa Rica
Graciela Melitsko, Roque Pedace
Amigos de la Tierra Argentina
María de L. Cura, Pablo Ponce De Paoli, Raúl Rocco
Asociación de Entidades Ambientalistas de la Cuenca del Paraná
Paraná, Argentina
Kay Treakle
Bank Information Center
Washington, D.C., USA
Peter Bosshard
Berne Declaration
Switzerland
Tamara Mohr
BothENDS
Amsterdam, Netherlands
José Augusto Padua
Brasil Sustentável
Brasil
Darío López
Casa de la Juventud
Paraguay
Juan José Melin
Casa de la Mujer Mapuche
Chile
Patricia Marín Q.
Cedencar
Chile
Dana Clark,
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Washington, DC, USA
Yves Curribven
CEQ
Canada
Ivonne Almazabal
Chile Sustentable
Aly Ercelawn and Mishka Zaman
Citizens Alliance in Reforms for Efficient and Equitable Development,
Karachi, Pakistan
Teresa Monges
Comisión Vecinal Barrio Virgen del Carmen
Paraguay
Gumercindo Rodrígues
Comite Chico Mendes
Brasil
Heriberto Cabral
Comité Interbarrial de Afectados por la EBY
Paraguay
Carlos Galano
Confederación de Trabajadores de la Educación de la Republica Argentina
Mindahi Crescencio
Consejo de la Nacionalidad OTOMI
Arturo Neira V.
Consejo Ecológico CIEDE
Iquique, Chile
Blas García
Coordinadora de Pueblos Nativos de la Cuenca del Pilcomayo
Paraguay
Larry Lohmann
The Corner House
Sturminster Newton, Dorset
United Kingdom
Reinaldo Sorto
CTD
El Salvador
José Lopes, María Martins, Vagner Freitas, José Saravía
CUT
Brasil
Eguerson Vazquez
CUT
Concepcíon, Chile
Nilda Bonz, Roberto Mena
CUT
Paraguay
Juan Carlos Baldwin
Ecosistemas del Sur
Paraguay
Roberto Epple,
ERN - European Rivers Network
Le Puy, France
Edith Toledo
Essar SA. Sindicato N. 1
Chile
Elena Sagredo, Paula Denein
Essar SA. Sindicato N. 2
Chile
Sergio Schlesinger
Fase
Brasil
Jorge Relesota
FETRATEI
Perú
Hector Sanchez
Fobomade
Bolivia
Walter Paz, Moíses Perez, Rosa Suarez
Foro Boliviano
Bolivia
Sandro Citamex
Foro Ecológico
Perú
Flora Fernández
FPMCC - "Brasil Sustentavel"
Brasil
Mark Vallianatos
Friends of the Earth
USA
Irene Bloemink
Friends of the Earth Netherlands
Roberta Brook Cowan, Jenni Richardson
Friends of the Earth International
Netherlands
Ikuko Matsumoto
Friends of the Earth Japan
Igor Polakovic
Green Peace
Slovakia
Grupo de Acción por el Biobío
Santiago, Chile
Yerka Usic
Hijos del Bio Bio
Chile
Rosa Roldan
Ibase
Brasil
Kathy Price
ICCHRLA
Canadá
Shobhakar Budhathoki
Inhured International
Nepal
Steven Suppan,
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
USA
Fabiola Fariña, Teresa Montecino
Instituto de Ecologia Política
Chile
Ricardo Carrere
Instituto del Tercer Mundo
Uruguay
Yu Takami
Inuwasi Network(Golden Eagles Protector Movement)
Japan
Juan Carlos Pilki, Ana Ancapi L.
Nación Mapuche
Chile
Shripad Dharmadikary
Narmada Bachao Andolan
India
Ganga Prasad Subedi
NAECAN-Nepal (National Academy for Environment, Population and
Development)
Kathmandu, Nepal
Michael Bockhorni
Neustift
Austria
Pablo de la Torre
PCN
Ecuador
Gustavo Zostan
P. de DDHH
Canadá
Walter Miglianito
PIT - CNT
Uruguay
Rosa V. Suárez
PROBIOMA
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Luis Almoncacia
Red de 32 org.
Chile
Francisca Rodríguez
Red de Mujeres Rurales
Chile
Eliana Neri
Red de Mujeres Sindicalistas
México
Irene Ortíz Pérez
Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres
México
Angélica Delgado
Red de ONGs Ambientalistas
Paraguay
Silvia Ribeiro
Redes -- Amigos de la Tierra
Uruguay
Liliana Cori
Reform the World Bank Campaign
Italy
María Elena Q. , Fresia Asendaño, Gilda Sepúlveda, Elena Valenzuela, Sara
Díaz V.
REMOS
Chile
Marcelo Castillo S., Arturo Neira, Oriana Reyes O.
Renace
Chile
Toshiko Niikura Saitoh, Aya Heather Souter
Rivers! Japan
Francisco Alvarez, Gerardo Alarcon, Alejandra Vazquez, José Sandoval
SER
Concepción, Chile
Roman Havlicek
Slatinka Association
Slovakia
Dalibor Tulis
Sloboda Zvierat
Slovakia
Peter Klein
Slovak Union of Nature and Landscape Protectors
Slovakia
Claire Lavoie
Solidarité Populaire Quebec
Canadá
Elizabeth Wong,
SUARAM
Malaysia.
Goran Eklof
Swedish Society for Nature Conservation
Sweden
Isabel Otero
Swissaid
Colombia
Elba Stancich
Taller Ecologista
Rosario, Argentina
Doris Palvio
Tinku
Denmark
Fran Ashley
TIRN
USA
Daphne Thuvesson
Trees and People Forum
Sweden
Professor George Monbiot
University of East London
United Kingdom
Patrick Bond
University of the Witwatersrand
Graduate School of Public and Development Management
Johannesburg, South Africa
Marcelo Ahumada
Dpto. Historia USACH
Chile
Luis Tapia Flores
Valparaíso Chile
Michel Seguen
Quebec, Canada
Catherine Caufield, journalist
San Francisco, USA
James Langman
San Francisco, USA
Owen Lammers
Executive Director
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Tel: (510) 848-1555 ex 303
Fax: (510) 848-1008
emial: olammers@irn.org
www.irn.org