It is a public demonstration called every month by the Meeting of Neighbours of Esquel Against
Mining, to demand the respect for the ban on mining exploitation.

Representatives of the Environmental and Social Forum of Patagonia participated in the call as
well as Pastoral Aborigen who expressed their defense to water and life in San Martin square, the neighbors’ meeting point. They read the endorsements of Mapuche-Tehuelche communities and of the Human Rights Faculty of the National University of Patagonia.

In the recent months governor Mario Das Neves and several government officials, including
governor Martin Bussi have insisted in amending or repealing law 5001, which bans open pit
metal mining and the use of cyanide. The law was passed in 2003 after it was ratified by a popular consultation held in Esquel in March of that year.

The mayor of Esquel, Rafael Williams, joined the officials in favor of mining by proposing a debate on the issue saying -after twelve years in office- there is growing unemployment.

A declaration was read during the demonstration, calling the pro-mining governors as people
who “aim low and have big ambitions. They cannot talk about the advantages of mega-mining
because they are failing to tell many people that they will condemn the future generations”.

The declaration read by a neighbor through a megaphone exposed that after the elections, the main provincial and town hall authorities all agreed on the need to have a debate on mining.

“Why don’t they say that after 15 years of mining exploitation, the people of Catamarca have
become poorer? Why when they speak of the great economic situation in San Juan, do they fail
to mention that they are undergoing water shortages? Why don’t they mention the pollution levels
in the places where mining deposits are?” , wonders the declaration read at the demonstration, in
reference to the mining experience in other Argentinean provinces.

Photo: www.noalamina.org