MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Botnia dispute “possibly linked” to burglaries in Uruguayan embassy in Argentina

Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Pedro Vaz

Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Pedro Vaz confirmed Friday that the embassy in Buenos Aires suffered several attacks, burglaries and threats during the last five year period and did not discard it could possibly be linked to the dispute with Argentina over the construction of a pulp mill on a shared border river.

Minister Vaz statement follows an interview with Uruguayan ambassador in Argentina, Francisco Bustillo published in a Montevideo weekly where the diplomat reveals the ordeals allegedly motivated because of the dispute over the Botnia pulp mill built next to the Uruguay river and which has been questioned by the Argentine government and protest pickets that have blocked international bridges for the last three years.

“Confidential files were destroyed, diplomatic mail violated, treats and acts of violence occurred” during the last few years confessed Ambassador Bustillo.

“I’m not aware that all these events and incidents were caused because of the bi-national conflict, but we must analyze and investigate and act accordingly, if decisions have to be taken”, said Minister Vaz.

Bustillo said that all incidents were reported to the Ministry in Montevideo and to Argentine authorities.

However he admitted that the robberies and threats against the embassy were believed to be motivated by the pulp mill dispute.

Bustillo did not give more details about the incident, but suggested that certain people in the embassy who were familiar with the circumstances might be involved in the case.

In 2006, Argentina brought Uruguay to the International Tribunal of Justice (ITJ), saying that the pulp mill would pollute the river and arguing that Uruguay had not consulted Argentina on the undertaking, as instructed by a bilateral administration treaty from the seventies governing the use of the River Uruguay waters.

The ITJ is expected to rule on the case between April and May this year.

The plant has been operational since 2007 and exports an estimated one million tons of pulp annually. The investment in the plant above 1.5 billion US dollars is a historic single record.