Legal and Diplomatic Escalation
On 26 December, the Uruguayan chancellor Reinaldo Gargano accused Argentina of violating Mercosur regulations on freedom of circulation of goods, and spoke to Argentine chancellor Jorge Taiana, requesting that measures be taken to avoid harming the tourist season. A few hours later, Argentina ratified the protest, asked to suspend the factories' construction, and threatened to make the matter a legal conflict.
The Citizens' Environmental Assembly of Gualeguaychú simultaneously blocked the three bridges that link the province of Entre Ríos with Uruguay on 30 December 2005. The following days saw intermittent blockades and protests, with volunteers handing pamphlets and explaining the passers-by the reasons for their rejection of the paper factories.
Argentine Head of Environmental Affairs, Raúl Estrada Oyuela, went on record proposing to boycott the production of the mills. On 2 January 2006 the Uruguayan government rejected this forcefully. The municipal intendant of Río Negro Department, Omar Lafluf, said that most Uruguayans supported the factories; a survey released on 5 January showed that only 16% were against them.
At this point, Greenpeace activists met with Uruguayan officials to request suspension of the works. The Uruguayan government prepared a pamphlet to be handed out to Argentine tourists, informing them of the technical aspects of environmental safety of the factories. The road blocks soon became scheduled events. Greenpeace later refused to take any further action, claiming that as long as Botnia does not pollute the river and follows the same conditions requested to build and run a mill of this sort in Europe, there is no problem with the pulp mill at all.
Chile became indirectly involved, as several Chilean trucks carrying equipment and materials for Botnia project across Argentina were detained by the blocks before they could cross the border to Uruguay near the end of their journey.
Upon a request by governor Busti, on 25 January 2006 the Argentine national government announced it would take the issue to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing Uruguay of violating the bilateral Treaty of Uruguay River dealing with the conservation of the Uruguay River. Uruguay's chancellor Gargano called this "a grave step" which bypasses and ignores the institutions of the Mercosur, and said Uruguay will protest the lack of action of the Argentine government with regards to the road blocks at the Controversy Resolution Tribunal of Asunción.
On 30 January the High Level Technical Group (Grupo Técnico de Alto Nivel, GTAN), a joint Argentine-Uruguayan commission for the study of the impact of the paper factories, ended deliberations with the two countries issuing separate statements. The Argentine Foreign Ministry accuses the Uruguayan members of GTAN of withholding information, while the Uruguayan officials deny it. The GTAN had been gathered 180 days before, as mandated by the Uruguay River Statute.
The government of Entre Ríos, in the meantime, distributed 100,000 pamphlets about the paper factories and their alleged impact among the public of the Cosquín music festival in Córdoba, which ended on 29 January.
Read more about this topic: Pulp Mill Dispute
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