Buenos Aires – Argentine President Nestor Kircher said that “we have to isolate the conflict that exists with Uruguay” because relations between the neighbors go “beyond the question” of whether or not to build two large paper mills on the Uruguayan side of the river dividing the countries.
“We give (Uruguay) light and gas. We don’t do like Brazil, which the other day cut the light over an energy problem,” said Kirchner in public statements published Sunday by the daily La Nacion.
Brazil decided a week ago to cut sales of 70 megawatts of power to Uruguay because of its own domestic energy needs.
That caused the government of Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez to have to raise the cost of energy production due to the lack of hydroelectric power.
“We have a relationship that goes beyond,” Kirchner insisted, alluding to the controversy between the two countries over the $1.5 billion construction of two paper mills on the Uruguay River, a project that is the largest foreign investment in history for Uruguay, but which Argentine residents say will cause tremendous pollution in the waterway.
The Spanish paper manufacturing firm Ence and Finland’s Botnia are building the two mills in the Uruguayan city of Fray Bentos.
Kirchner made his statement on the matter after ending a visit to Vienna, where he attended the 4th European Union-Latin America and Caribbean Summit.
Kirchner’s presence at the summit came several days after Argentina filed with the International Court of Justice at The Hague a suit to resolve the litigation it has had in place against the Uruguayan paper factories for more than a year.
“I’m the president of Argentina. I had to intervene,” the head of state said in reference to the government’s position in the conflict.
“I went for a year without speaking about the matter. The blockades (of the Uruguay River bridges by Argentina protesters) were not good for arriving at an agreement, but it wasn’t us who (abandoned) negotiations,” he said.
La Nacion wrote that when it asked the Argentine leader if he had been able to speak with Vazquez during the summit, Kirchner answered that he only had “one encounter” with his Uruguayan counterpart in which they shook hands and gave each other “the usual greeting.” EFE
