(July 12, 1996) Argentina: On June 17, several thousand people demonstrated in the southern Argentine province of Chubut, against government plans to build a nuclear waste dump in Gastre, a remote town in Patagonia (1,900 km south of Buenos Aires). To reach Gastre, the motorcade of about 100 cars and buses travelled from Trelew, capital of Chubut, along 400 km of dirt roads.
(455.4501) WISE-Amsterdam - The motorized demonstration, dubbed "Caravan for Life," followed the congressional approval June 5 of rules governing the setting up of nuclear waste sites in Argentina. Those rules did not give provinces control over the decision whether or not to allow such sites, and congressmen representing the Patagonia region pressed for modifications to the law. Jorge Matzkin, of the ruling Justicialista Party, said modifications were agreed several days before, and the protesters in Chubut demanded that the new provisions be approved.
Chubut's Anti-nuclear Movement, backed by WISE-Rosario, Greenpeace and other ecological organisations, said the Peronist initiative violated the provincial constitution, threatened the environment and would hamper local economic development. Chubut declared itself a nuclear-free-zone; it's constitution, amended in 1994, bans the entry of radioactive waste into the provincial territory.
Environment Secretary Maria Julia Alsogaray sympathises with the protesters, saying a unilateral government decision to build the dump might be unconstitutional. Deputies of the opposition Radical Party said they would call for a provincial referendum on the issue.
Scientists who have studied the area have said that geographical conditions there are not ideally suited for the burial of highly radioactive waste. Ecologists argue that such deposits would represent a danger to local water supplies and to the population. The Gastre project dates from 1986 being the last project of the Argentine dictatorship. Plans to build the dump were refloated this year in Congress by the ruling Peronist party, which is pushing for the privatisation of Argentina's three nuclear reactors. (see related article in WISE NC 443.4390, 24 Nov. 1995)
Sources: UPI & Reuter, 17 June 1996
Contact: WISE Rosario; wiseros@cyberia.net.ar