SANTIAGO, Chile - Four elderly Indian women who have blocked the construction of a $570 million hydroelectric dam in southern Chile have ended their six-year protest and accepted $1.2 million in exchange for letting power group Endesa flood their ancestral land.
The four Pehuenche Indian women, Endesa Chile, and government representatives signed an agreement Tuesday after a month of intense talks in which Endesa agreed to increase the monetary compensation for the women and their families and the government offered them additional land.
The women agreed to move from their homes near the Bio Bio river, which will be flooded by the Ralco Dam, and to drop lawsuits.
"The country should be very content," said President Ricardo Lagos. "Once more Chileans have shown the ability to understand each other and reach an important consensus when there is the will to discuss and compromise."
Presidential adviser Francisco Huenchumilla told reporters after the signing, "We can officially say the Ralco problem is definitively solved."
Endesa, a unit of Spain's Endesa, and the government say the 540-megawatt dam, which is almost 90 percent complete and due to begin operations next year, is crucial to meet Chile's energy needs and help economic growth.
However, Indians and environmentalists have fought the project in court, saying it will mean flooding sacred land and destroying endangered wildlife, burial sites, and the Pehuenche way of life.
According to the agreement, the four women will receive a total of $1.2 million and 761 acres of land for their 130 acres on the Bio Bio river. Their direct families will also receive an additional 3,000 acres of land and $450,000 in compensation.
"We understand the agreement is satisfactory for the families, fundamentally for the country, and I hope also for Endesa and its shareholders," said Hector Lopez, general manager of Endesa Chile.
Roberto Celedon, a lawyer representing the Indian families, said the government had a key role in persuading the women to sign, but he said they did so reluctantly.
The Pehuenche women declined to talk to the press. But Celedon said Berta Quintreman, the leader of the four, told President Ricardo Lagos Tuesday that "her heart ached" to sign the agreement.
By Patrick Nixon Reuters September 17, 2003:
