Links
Argentina takes a tough stance on protesters blocking trade route to Uruguay
After turning a blind eye for years, the Argentine government has been bounced into clamping down on a four-year-old road block of a key bridge into Uruguay–a move believed to have cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost haulage and trade on the once busy route between the two South American trading partners.
Today, the Argentine government published in the official gazette a decree detailing legal action against the leaders of the roadblock, which has been in force since 2006 in protest at the construction of a $1.2bn Finnish-owned pulp mill on the Uruguayan banks of the river forming a natural border between the two countries.
Protesters on the Argentine side believe the plant is polluting, and have not been swayed by a ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague in April, that no evidence of contamination has been found.
The about-turn by Argentina looks like a victory for the blunt-talking Uruguayan president, José Mujica, who has met his Argentine counterpart, Cristina Fernández, several times since taking office in March, and has made lifting the roadblock and relaunching relations a priority.
Protesters themselves have called a meeting for Wednesday to decide whether to lift the block for two months. In exchange, they want Uruguay to monitor inside the plant–an idea Uruguay has been lukewarm on.