MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay/Argentina pulp mill dispute becomes silent entente

The postcard that makes Argentine picketers furious

Uruguay and Argentina seem to be silently working a way out from the controversy over the construction of a pulp mill on shared fluvial waters, which has been escalating for several years “overflowing” to the international and regional tribunals as well as the facilitating efforts of the Spanish Crown.

Precisely this week Argentina and Uruguay decided to present additional evidence to the International Court of Justice in The Hague which will make proceedings much longer, probably as late as 2009. Argentina originally took the case to the ICJ arguing Uruguay was not abiding by the convention between the two countries regarding control over the waters of the Uruguay River, which acts as a natural border. According to the latest news from The Hague both delegations had a closed doors meeting with ICJ president Rosalyn Higgins, when the "additional evidence" joint decision was agreed given the "complexity of the case". Actually the calendar and Spanish diplomacy persuasion, plus the sheer reality of the Finnish Botnia Orion pulp mill, ready to begin operations are helping to bring sense back to the neighboring countries that have been checked by on going pickets from Argentine residents on the other side of the river, Gualeguaychu, blocking bridges to Uruguay, allegedly fearful of the environmental consequences of the billion plus US dollars investment. At the end of October presidential elections in Argentina should enthrone the Kirchner couple political project with First Lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner voted in, with no run off, and receiving the sash from her husband, December 10. Although the Botnia-Orion pulp mill next to the city of Fray Bentos is ready to begin operations a recent accident with a toxic gas escape during trial operations has given the Uruguayan government the leverage to uphold the opening until all safety and security measures have been satisfactorily completed. This includes hearings in the Uruguayan parliament to explain the extent of Botnia's responsibility in the incident. But in practical terms means Uruguay could delay the operation license until after October 28, with no face loosing from any side. The President Kirchner administration originally, and for political reasons, encouraged the Gualeguaychu pickets that blocked the bridges, --in support of its ICJ demand--, but later lost control over them and has since seen its diplomatic latitude shrink drastically. Pickets who are demanding a relocation of the pulp mill ignored Buenos Aires and continue to impede normal traffic and trade, effectively damaging the Uruguayan economy, while the Kirchner administration is reluctant to use force against protestors. Uruguay on the other hand all along refused any kind of negotiations with blocked bridges and only accepted "facilitating efforts" to find a solution following on an initiative from Spanish King Juan Carlos. The inflexible scenario of a few weeks ago which looked as head-on to a showdown from one of the sides, with the ICJ proceedings delay and Uruguay having control of the operational licensing of the plant gives time to both sides to agree the Spanish Crown proposals, basically that Botnia has come to stay but with a promise of no more pulp mills along the River Uruguay, joint strict monitoring of the Botnia plant and all the needed investments to ensure no environmental damage to the region. Meantime in Buenos Aires environmental activists held a peaceful demonstration on Wednesday in front of the Embassy of Finland and possibly as a sign of frustration twelve women chained themselves across the main bridge linking Argentina with Uruguay. They are protesting the Kirchner administration "lack of action" and "no reply policy" to the demands of Gualeguaychu pickets, plus the "absence of a Plan B" to the opening of the Botnia mill and promised to make the chaining permanent with rotating volunteers. However the most effective impact on the current Argentine-Uruguay silent "entente" to solve the dispute came this week, surprisingly, from a Uruguayan opposition Senator who claims that the intake from the River Uruguay for the drinking-water processing plant of the city of Fray Bentos is locatedâ€Ã‚¦ next to where the Botnia Orion pulp mill will evacuate its (treated) industrial effluents. A torpedo to the water line, or an attempt to further delay the opening of the plant?