Chile Forum

CHILE GOVT RILED OVER NEW YORK TIMES ANTI-DAM EDITORIAL PDF Print
With kind permission, I quote the Patagonia Times:

Written by Patagonia Times Staff
Thursday, 03 April 2008

A recent anti-HidroAysén editorial by The New York Times prompted an angry response Wednesday from Chilean Energy Minister Marcelo Tokman.

The editorial, which appeared Tuesday in the prestigious U.S. daily, argued strongly against the so-called HidroAysén Project, a US$3 billion plan to build five massive dams in far southern Chile’s Aysén Region. Entitled “Patagonia Without Dams” – the same name used by a high profile international campaign against the project – the editorial described the proposed dams as “a relic of the Pinochet government.”
“The dams,” the editorial reads, “would irretrievably damage one of the wildest and most beautiful places on earth. Building the dams would also mean building a thousand-mile power-line corridor northward toward the Chilean capital, Santiago — the longest clear-cut on the planet and a scar across some of Chile’s most alluring landscape.”

In statements to the press, Tokman slammed the New York Times piece. Calling it “slanted,” Tokman also said the editorial was “misinformed” and “imprecise.”

Really? Slanted? I don't think the question is whether or not it will irretrievably damage one of the wildest and most beautiful places on earth! I think the question is who will pay, how much, and who will really benefit. That is the real question.

Idiots!

Vicki