Vargas participated in the International Seminar “Food, Water and Energy Are Not Commodities”, where she presented a diagnosis of infrastructure megaprojects, by describing them and exposing their main promoters and beneficiaries.

Siemens, Alstom, Areva, Endesa (Enel) are some of the corporations involved in the construction of these millionaire projects in South American countries, according to Vargas. The researcher also outlined as a key feature of these megaprojects the fact that they create more public debt for the countries involved in them. So, she explained that 46% of IIRSA projects are funded with public funds of South American states, i.e. “financial capital is defining where public investment should go”, she said.

Vargas told Real World Radio that she questioned the reach of the current proposals to regulate the financial market, because right now big transnational corporations in the commodities sector participate in that market. These corporations are not viewed as financial actors, but they play a key role there.

In response to these threats, Vargas talked about the need to “take what we care about from the financial market. Take food, infrastructure and debt. Our debt does not have to be part of financial markets”.

Together with some 120 networks and regional and international organizations and social movements, ODG promotes the campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power. The campaign aims to create legally binding rules for transnational corporations to answer for their systematic human rights abuses, besides an International Criminal Court that will try transnational corporations for social and environmental crimes.

Join the campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power here: http://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/