Piercing Nipple Hires

Uruguay, the land of eco-monsters

Intellectuals, artists and environmentalists Uruguayan side of the inhabitants of the towns of Nueva Palmira and Colonia Agraciada to say "No" to the installation of two complexes on the Uruguay River port unsustainable in terms of socio-environmental. Writers Eduardo Galeano, Mario Delgado Aparaín and Ignacio Martínez and musicians Leo Masliah and Daniel Viglione are the first to sign an appeal to the authorities of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay to require the suspension of work on a megadeposito of millions of tons of coal and iron mining transnational "Rio Tinto" and an oil terminal of society "Cartisur.

"We reject the installation of two new private ports in the banks of the River Uruguay," wrote the signatories of the appeal. "There are scientific studies to understand the transformation of our coast in a deposit of iron, coal, and fuel cells, with a permanent transit of transatlantic ships, threatens the rural production, fisheries, beekeeping, tourism and the supply of potable water for the entire population, as well to constitute an element of destruction of the social network and cultural identity. We are aware that this is not a local problem, the two projects instead reflect an irrational model of development which benefits only the foreign monopolies which have the sole aim of extracting resources from our continent at the lowest possible cost. "

The first programs to the list of intellectuals and environmentalists is the port complex group Rio Tinto anglocanadese Agraciada in Cologne, a town 260 km from the capital Montevideo.Si is one of the most devastating projects planned for the Southern Cone Latin America. Plant to be built in the department di Soriano sarà depositato il ferro proveniente dalla miniera che la stessa Río Tinto possiede nella città brasiliana di Corumbá, Mato Grosso del Sud.
Il materiale ferroso arriverà in Uruguay su speciali chiatte attraverso una rotta fluviale di oltre 2.800 chilometri, via Paraná, Paraguay ed Uruguay. Nel nuovo porto di La Agraciada sorgeranno pure le aree per lo stoccaggio dell’acciaio prodotto dal polo siderurgico che la Río Tinto possiede nei pressi della località mineraria di Corumbá e del carbone estratto in Australia e Sudafrica e destinato alle acciaierie brasiliane.
 

Le quantità di minerali che si conta di movimentare tra il Brasile e l’Uruguay sono gigantesche. Currently are extracted from the opencast mines of Corumbá, 2 million tonnes of iron ore a year, but thanks to a financial transaction of approximately 2.15 billion dollars, Rio Tinto expects to extract and transport via rivers , 10 million tons by 2010. In the next five years, the goal is to carry 23.2 million tons, value eleven times higher than today. More uncertain but the amount of coal Uruguay ascend up to Corumbá. But the Anglo-Canadian is investing a billion dollars for the expansion of steel plant in Mato Grosso and the entire production will focus on the combustion of coal. Gli interventi previsti in Uruguay avranno gravissime conseguenze sull’ecosistema locale. Saranno dragati canali, modificati l’alveo fluviale e sbancate aree collinari e spiagge. Buona parte delle infrastrutture sorgeranno nei pressi del delta del torrente Agraciada, area in cui vivono numerose specie di uccelli e di fauna terrestre protette.
 

Altrettanto devastante il progetto relativo alla realizzazione di un terminal per l’immagazzinamento di prodotti petroliferi in uno dei canyon più belli del Río Uruguay, la “Barranca de los Loros”. Più specificatamente la società Cartisur prevede l’installazione di 8 serbatoi che conterranno sino a 30.000 metri cubi di petrolio e gasolio. The oil terminal will cost $ 20 million and will be implemented in the Free Zone of Nueva Palmira, which would exclude the Cartisur from payment of taxes on imports and exports of petroleum products. The company also plans to build 3 warehouses to store 30,000 cubic meters of ethanol. This happens while the Uruguayan state oil company Ancap points to the production of biofuels from sugar cane grown in the north-western regions of the country.

The two new areas provided by Rio Tinto and Cartisur will be joined by three ports made in recent years in the Río Uruguay. Not forgetting that the center-left government led by Tabaré Vázquez has also authorized the U.S. company "Belwood Company SA (through its subsidiary local Schandy"), to create an area of \u200b\u200bfour hectares of Barranca de Los Loros, two large docks and conveyor belts for loading in large vessels of equipment produced in the Free Zone of Nueva Palmira . "All this happens in a city that still and deprived of sewerage systems and where the precarious supply of potable water is made to the side of one of the largest ports in Uruguay, where they played the discharges of ocean-going vessels," the complaint ' appeal that he sees as the first petitioner Eduardo Galeano.
 

Ma il comitato che riunisce intellettuali ed abitanti di Nueva Palmira lancia pure l’allarme su alcuni incidenti verificatisi all’interno degli stabilimenti e delle industrie della Zona Franca. “All’inizio dell’anno, la società “Industria Sulfúrica S.A – Isusa”, produttrice di fertilizzanti, con assoluta negligenza, ha depositato 8.000 tonnellate di zolfo a cielo aperto, poco distante dalle sorgenti del torrente Sauce che sbocca nel Río Uruguay. Nonostante la nostra denuncia, siamo ancora in attesa di potere accedere ai risultati delle analisi del Dipartimento Nazionale del Ministero dell’Ambiente (DINAMA), e verificare così the possible impact of sulfur on the water and soil. " Another source of concern is the tons of fertilizers transported "without the appropriate security measures, and by fragments falling into the river during the loading operations with the carrier.

"The fragile balance of the Río Uruguay is put further at risk by the increased number of ships passing through it, on account of the plant than to Isusi" Botnia "in nearby Frey Bentos, environmental groups complain premises. The realization of the complex for the production of cellulose pulp "Botnia" he generated a dispute between Argentina and Uruguay for clear breach of the Statute of the Uruguay River, river-border between the two countries of the Southern Cone of Latin America.

There is a unique bond between some of the eco-monsters designed and / or manufactured in the Free Zone of Nueva Palmira. The feasibility studies presented by various trans-national environmental proponents, have been conducted by GEA Consultores in Montevideo, a company that sees active Aramis Latchinian biologist, former director dynamically as part of the former government of Jorge Batlle and today a member of the Board of 'administration of the state company Ancap. Aramis Latchinian fa pure parte dell’equipe tecnica del Centro Studi, Analisi e Documentazione dell’Uruguay (CEADU), ong che implementa nel paese latinoamericano progetti promossi e cofinanziati dall’Unione Europea e dalla Direzione Generale per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo del Ministero degli Affari Esteri d’Italia. E coincidenza vuole che lo stesso CEADU sia ospitato nello studio della Gea Consultores.

Aericolo pubblicato in Agoravox.it il 2 dicembre 2008