MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentines against pulp mills but trust a compromise

A majority of Argentines is against Uruguay's plans to establish two pulp mills on the shared river Uruguay, which acts as a natural border between the two countries, according to public opinion polls published Sunday in the Buenos Aires press.

However, although Argentines reject the pulp mills for environmental reasons, they would like to see Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez and Argentina's Nestor Kirchner work out an agreement and overwhelmingly disapprove the protest tactics of blockading the international bridges leading to Uruguay.

But the negotiated solution to the months' long dispute seems distant following Argentina's announcement it would be taking the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Argentina is conditioning negotiations to a suspension of current works in both pulp mills, Finnish and Spanish, involving 1.8 billion US dollars, possibly Uruguay's largest single investment operation.

Argentine provincial and federal authorities and environmentalist groups state that the pulp mills with their chlorine bleaching process are highly water and air contaminating, but Uruguay argues both mills comply with the latest and most stringent European Union regulations regarding conservation of natural resources.

According to the public opinion polls done by OPSM/Zuleta Puceiro and Hugo Haime published Sunday in La Nacion and Pagina 12, 74% of Argentines disagree with the establishment of the two pulp mills next to Fray Bentos, just across from the Argentine province of Entre Rios. Only 11% of Argentines supported the construction of both mills. The poll involved telephone interviews to 1.600 people in Argentina with a plus/minus 2 points error margin.

Nevertheless 71,6% of interviews said that President Kirchner should reach an agreement with Vázquez contemplating the stance of both countries. Only 20.3% supported the idea of instructing Argentine officials to insist with the claims to prevent the pulp mills from being built. 32.5% of interviews indicated that the conflict will damage relations with Uruguay and 34.9% said is would have a "partial impact".

Overall 51.2% trust a negotiated agreement will finally be reached while 33.6% consider it "moderately possible" and 12.9% "not at all" possible.

But in spite of the opinion polls residents from Gualeguaychú, across from Fray Bentos, kept up the route and bridge blockade for the 16th consecutive day and further north where some of the traffic had been rerouted, Colon-Paysandu, environmentalist groups and local residents also began organizing random cuts.