Pulp mill dispute eases in Argentina

Protesters lift roadblock on border with Uruguay

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An unexpected gesture by Argentine opponents of a Finnish-built pulp mill on the Uruguayan side of a river that marks the border between Argentina and Uruguay has been welcomed in both countries.
      The protesters, who have kept a bridge that links the two countries closed for more than three and a half years, removed their roadblock on Saturday. Under pressure from the Argentine government and local residents, they opened the border first for 60 days on the condition that monitoring of the environmental impact of the pulp mill should be upgraded.
      Opponents of the pulp mill, which was initially built by Metsä-Botnia in 2007, took to the barricades because they feared that the massive pulp mill would hurt the environment. The factory’s capacity is a million tonnes of eucalyptus-based pulp each year.
     
During the weekend, hundreds of local residents took advantage of the re-opened border crossing, visiting relatives on the other side of the border, for instance. Argentine tourists had themselves photographed on the border bridge, according to the Argentine publication Clarín.
      Clarín described sentiments at the border at the moment that the blockade was lifted as sad. Some of the protesters were weeping, as they had considered the blockade as their last weapon in the fight against the plan. In a vote taken among the protesters, lifting the blockade won 402 votes to 315.
     
UPM did not want to comment on the recent events in the dispute. The company, which acuqired the mill from Metsä-Botnia in December last year, has not wanted to take issue with the dispute, which it says involves Argentina and Uruguay alone.
      People in Argentina appear not to have grown used to the change in ownership, as the pulp mill is still being called UPM-Botnia in the local media.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Uruguay pulp mill boosts UPM result (29.4.2010)
  Controversial Botnia pulp mill in Uruguay yields profits for UPM (28.12.2009)
  UN court rules in favour of Uruguay in pulp mill dispute (21.4.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat