Friday, March 2, 2012

Mega Hydropower, National Parks, and Protests, oh my!


Change is coming to the Aisén region of Chile, be it through proposed mega hydropower, the future Patagonia National Park, or current protests disrupting the region.  Social unrest since mid February has led to roadblocks of the port town of Puerto Aisén, the capitol city of Coyhaique and to the regional airport in Balmaceda.  The protests have caused intermittent transportation interruptions, blackouts, and fuel shortages.  Kendall, another intern, translated this message that was sent to us from a friend of the park in Coyhaique:
As far as things go here, nothing came of the minister's visit; he asked yesterday that all the barricades come down before he'd even sit down and talk.  This morning, the protesters counterproposed that they open the barriers every two hours, but the minister rejected the idea, which spurred the leaders of the protests to declare a total blockage.  The government answered with the threat to impose the national security law.  People in Coyhaique started to protest and set up barricades early this afternoon, and there are a lot of people in the central plaza who plan to spend the night there.  For now things haven't gotten out of hand, but the government is just waiting for the first fighting or looting to send in special forces.  It's looking ugly.  This afternoon, finally, I got to talk with Patricio [another Sin Represas employee] and I told him that I was worried...his words were, "That's how revolutions are..."
The disruptions in long distance commerce that have resulted are a fine example of the fragility of our globalized world.  How far do the things you use every day travel before they reach your possession?  What is their story, how were they extracted from the earth, by whom, and under what methods?  What would you do if you work up in the morning and the supermarket shelves were empty?  These are questions we need to start answering.
Here is some more information on the protest and a great article in the New York Times about the challenges faced in the Aisén region.

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