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Chilean Bishop at Enel’s Annual General Meeting to Argue Against Big Dams in Patagonia April 28th, 2010
“No to new big dams in Patagonia; Water should be public again”
The Bishop of Aysén Luis Infanti De La Mora
Luis Infanti De La Mora, Bishop of Aysén region (Chile), will attend Enel’s Annual General Meeting today to say “no” to a project for the construction of five big dams on the rivers Baker and Pascua, and to get Chilean water back in public hands. The Bishop will be delegated to attend the meeting by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, by initiative of Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica. The Oblates are shareholders in Etica.
“We wanted to involve the international network of religious investors”, explains Ugo Biggeri, the Foundation’s Chairman. “The Oblates are part of Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of more than 275 religious orders, based in New York, that submit over 200 shareholders resolutions each year to the AGM’s of US most important companies and they are founding members of the International Interfaith Investment Group (3iG).”
Enel has inherited the big dams projects in Patagonia by Spanish utility Endesa, acquired by Enel in 2009. It’s a project with devastating impacts on a real natural paradise that poses serious risks on the security of dams, since Aysén is a seismic region.
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Earthquake in Chile March 3rd, 2010
Oscar Gonzales OMI in Chile writes of the destruction in the country from the recent earthquake. He reports that the Oblates have suffered no major harm, except perhaps some damage to the Provincial House. They are working hard to help those who have been affected, especially the impoverished families with whom they work.
Read the message from an Oblate in Chile…
This information is also available in Spanish.
Chile’s Supreme Court Upholds Indigenous Water Use Rights December 4th, 2009
The Supreme Court of Chile issued a unanimous decision guaranteeing a continual water flow to two indigenous communities in the country. The Court invoked ILO Convention 169. The decision could have far reaching consequences for Chile’s mining industry
The landmark ruling on indigenous water rights was in a case that pitted Region I Aymara communities against Agua Mineral Chusmiza, a company seeking the rights to bottle and sell freshwater from a source used historically by Aymara indigenous residents.
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