MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine pickets block bridges linking with Uruguay

In spite of the Argentine government warnings and last minute efforts, early Friday afternoon pickets from Entre Rios province cut the access to two international bridges linking Argentina with Uruguay to protest the construction of pulp mills on the Uruguayan side.

Having cut the bridges in Gualeguaychu and further north in Colon, the only access to Uruguay was limited to Concordia-Salto. Picketers blocking traffic announced they will remain until Sunday 18:00 hours.

Until last moment the Argentine government asked protestors to avoid banning access to the bridges since these actions would seriously harm Argentina's diplomatic strategy in the bilateral conflict with Uruguay over the construction of pulp mills along the shared and jointly managed border river Uruguay.

However protestors were up in arms again earlier in the week when an advance of the accumulative environmental assessment report contracted by the World Bank was leaked in internet clearly saying that the two pulp mills planned to be constructed on the Uruguayan side of the river represented no major pollution risk for the region.

On Thursday EcoMetrix, the Canadian-based environmental consultancy that conducted the study, said in the report that tourism, agriculture, fishing and apiculture that are the principle natural resource-based activities in the area of the pulp mills "are not likely to experience long-term negative impacts as a result of the construction or operation of the two pulp mills as the need for new plantation areas to supply the mills will be minimal and the facilities will operate under best available techniques".

Besides air and water emissions should be "well below" levels that are known to have any health effects. Effluents from the mills, to be operated by Spain's Ence and Metsa-Botnia, "compare favorably" with pulp mills around the world, the study said.

But the pickets went ahead at a crucial moment for Argentina since the International Court of The Hague has yet to rule on the demand presented by Argentina against the location of the two pulp mills on the Uruguayan side.

Early last month Mercosur Arbitration Tribunal, acting on request from Uruguay which complained the blocking of the bridges had significantly harmed last summer's tourist season, ruled that the Argentine government was not responsible for "acting with omission" in not removing protestors, but warned Buenos Aires had shown "absence of diligence" in ensuring free movement between both countries.

Argentina's Environmental Affairs Secretary Romina Picolotti Friday morning made a last desperate appeal insisting that blocking the bridges "will have judicial consequences for Argentina's international diplomatic strategy".

However Picolotti again openly criticized the World Bank which according to the environmental report opens the way for financial support for the pulp mills.

"The World Bank has been negligent and helped to aggravate the conflict and not to solve it. It's very serious that the bank should act as if there was no social and political conflict because of the pulp mills", she underlined.

In Government House in Buenos Aires, reliable sources said the President Kirchner administration was "deeply disappointed" with the pickets.

In Montevideo Uruguayan authorities adopted a prudent low key attitude and avoided making any nationalistic statements as had been the case at the peak of the confrontation last February/March.