As Katie and I were winding down for the night on Monday, me by doing push-ups with heavy stacks of Chilean Pesos on my back and Katie by longing for me, we heard a commotion from outside. Peering out the window, we saw a big group of young people running frantically through the street. Continuing to gaze upon the unruly crowd scattering like fire ants would after their mound is demolished, we noticed our eyes starting to water and our throats and noses starting to burn. We quickly shut the window and turned on the news to see if we could find out anything.
After turning on CNN Chile, it didn’t take us long to pinpoint the exact reason of why these people were running. These people were protestors and they had gathered in the nearby Plaza Italia to protest the passing of the HydroAysen project earlier Monday by a count of 10 to 1.
The HydroAysen is a project that consists of the construction of five massive hydroelectric dams in the southern part of Chile on the Baker and Pascua Rivers. This region is considered one of the most beautiful natural areas of South America. Drafts for this project have been in the works since 1961 to exploit the hydroelectric potential of these rivers, but Chile had yet to develop adequate technology to take on a project of this magnitude. Then, at the end of 2004, with the availability of new technology, a serious push was initiated for the construction of these dams.
There has always been a large public outcry against these dams from environmental and religious groups. Studies have shown that this project will affect 6 national parks, 11 national reserves, 26 priority conservation sites, 16 wetlands, and 32 private protected areas. Six Mapuche communities would also be taken over, which would only deepen the Mapuche’s hatred towards Chileans whom they deem “thieves of their land”. Mapuche are much like the Native Americans in The States.
So, in 2007, the Chilean government appointed an environmental assessment board to analyze the impact these dams would have on the environment. After three years of gathering findings, the report was published and was met with much controversy. Much of the opposition felt like there were glaring holes in the findings and the report was not complete. One glaring omission is the lack of testing of the effects of a major earthquake on the dams. This accumulation of these incomplete findings only strengthened the public’s opposition to the project to a high of 61%.
All of these events preceded the 10 to 1 vote that approved the building of the hydroelectric dams on Monday, May 9th. Needless to say, there has been public animosity building for some time and the environment was ripe for protesting. After the approval came out during the day, protests erupted all over the country with one of the biggest protest occurring just minutes away from our apartment. Most of the violent protesting happened down in the South, but protests in Santiago weren’t all peaceful.
The annoyance I experienced from being interrupted between one-armed push-up #234 and #235 quickly vanished as we were now consumed with the developments of these protests. It was very surreal to watch the protests on the news and then look right outside our window and witness it first-hand. On the news, we were able to watch the Carabineros successfully quell the crowd through tear gas and massive water launchers. Through our windows, we were able to view the aftermath of dispersed protestors and also, for the first time, experience tear gas. Our eyes quickly watered and our noses and throats burned. The use of tear gas is illegal in the majority of countries, but in Chile…….legal.
So, fast forward a couple of days. Today is Tuesday, May 17th and we have had some developments since I had last written about the protests on Friday, May 13th. Later Friday night after I had written about the protests during the prior week, there was a massive protest that dwarfed the previous ones.
Looking out our window once again toward the main street, Alameda, which is 4 lanes each way, we saw a huge gathering of people that clogged the main street like William Taft’s arteries. This continuous stream of protesters, who started their march in Plaza Italia (right by our place), would continue their march to the president’s palace in La Moneda about 2 miles away. What started out as a peaceful protest turned into a confrontational one as we again experienced the tear gas sensation in our throats and noses.
When it was all said and done, there were over 30,000 people that participated in the march which was by and large the biggest protests against the hydroelectric dams. This coming Friday, word on the street is that there is supposed to be an even bigger protest. We will keep you posted on the weekend events…
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