http://www.waterconserve.info
December 23, 2002

SANTIAGO, Chile – A prominent Indian activist has reportedly cut a
$250,000 deal with a Chilean power company to sign over her land effectively giving the green light for a huge hydro-electric project that will flood ancient tribal lands in southern Chile.

The secret agreement took the other holdout Pehuenche Indians who
oppose the $530 million Ralco dam project by surprise last week, along
with envirommental groups who say that flooding from the project will
damage the delicate ecosystems of the forest and mountain region 310
miles (500 km) from Santiago.

Endesa Chile (END.SN) (EOC.N) (ELE.MC) claimed victory earlier this
week in its bid to build the dam, saying Nicolasa Quintreman, one of
the most prominent Pehuenche opponents of the project, signed over her
land to the electric energy firm, which is majority owned by Spain’s
Endesa (ELE.MC).

Local newspapers say she will also receive payment of some $286,500.
Quintreman, will receive another property of 77 hectares (190 acres)
for her 3.1 hectare (7.66 acre) site, as well as social, technical and
culture assistance to resettle, Endesa said.

Quintreman’s decision has to be ratified by the state indigenous
commission Conadi and Endesa still needs to acquire the land from the
remaining five Indian families who have not yet signed.

“Nicolasa has informed us she has signed over her lands. This was a
surprise for us because she didn’t tell anybody beforehand, probably
for fear that people would be angry with her,” said Meulen Huencho,
spokeswoman for Mapu Domiche Newen, the group that represents the
remianing five families resisting the project.

The other 88 families have negotiated with the company to move to new plots higher up in the mountains.

Since the beginning of the project in 1999, Endesa Chile has faced
fierce opposition from environmental groups and the 93 Pehuenche
families whose homes on the river banks would be destroyed by the dam.

The Pehuenches claim that it is their ancestral right to stay in their
homeland of forests and mountains, where they collect and live off the
seeds that fall from the trees.

Environmentalist groups say that the building of the dam, which will
involve flooding of 3,467 hectares (8,567 acres), will irreparably
damage delicate forest and river ecosystems. They fear erosion of the
banks of the huge Bio Bio river by the huge pressure of water from the
turbines. The river is one of the best rivers for rafting in Chile.

Endesa Chile declined to comment on whether the end of Quintreman’s
protest would speed up construction of the 570 Megawatt dam, scheduled
for completion in late 2003. Chile’s government has welcomed the dam,
saying it would bring much-needed new electrical capacity to the
country.

Juan Pablo Orrego, one of the most vocal supporters of the Pehuenche’s
cause, told Reuters he was saddened that Quintreman had ended her
protest.

“I’m saddened but I’m not surprised. I’m more surprised of how long she
resisted the psychological and physical pressure. Nobody resisted like
she did,” he said.

Quintreman, 63, told local newspapers she reached an agreement with
Endesa because she was tired of resisting, had never received any
financial aid to help her cause and was worried about the health or her
son.

“Our supporters abandoned me, we lost all our legal battles, what else
do they expect? I never received any money to live on. They only came
to visit me,” she was quoted as saying.

Pehuenches are a sub-group of the larger Mapuche Indian population believed to number around 1 million.