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>SOURCE:  EL MERCURIO
>SOURCE:  LA TERCERA

>        --  MIDEPLAN ANNOUNCES BARTER NORMS.  Future land
>bartering between large investment projects and indigenous
>peoples will be guided by new norms announced by Planning
>Ministry (Mideplan) head German Quintana Tuesday.
>        The creation of this system was triggered by the controversy
>surrounding the Ralco dam and will serve as a model for resolving
>future conflicts.  Quintana said the system aims to protect native
>communities following the basic criteria of the Indigenous Law.
>        This system will be complemented by a complete
>institutional review of the National Indigenous Development Board
>(Conadi) by its director, who has yet to be named.  Ex Conadi
>Director Domingo Namuncura was fired because his would have
>been the deciding vote in an almost certain rejection of Ralco
>project.
>        Quintana said, however, that Namuncura was fired because
>"he was too vague to make a decision that would affect the lives of
>84 families."
>        According to Indigenous Law, the entire indigenous
>community must be in accordance with a land barter before it can
>be approved.  Nine Pehuenche families refuse to sign, meaning
>that Ralco cannot be constructed.  Endesa has signed land barter
>contracts with 84 families.
>        In related new, the Pehuenche and ecologists who oppose
>the Ralco dam project sent an ultimatum to Ende, the company
>that owns Ralco, a over the weekend saying they would confiscate
>all machinery at the construction site if Endesa does not remove it
>before Friday.
>        Quintana said this ultimatum is an invitation to violence.  Bio
>Provincial Governor Juan Carlos Coronata said the government will
>not permit violent actions, and that Endesa's machinery will stay
>where it is.
>        Antolin Curriao, one of the opposing Pehuenche, said the
>government has no political desire to resolve the conflict, since the
>commitments made to indigenous groups at last Wednesday's
>meetings have not been fulfilled, and the only conversations with
>Endesa involve finding better lands to offer as barter.

Chile Information Project

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Aleta Brown
Campaign Associate
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Phone: 1.510.848.1155
Fax: 1.510.848.1008
email: aleta@irn.org
http://www.irn.org