BUENOS AIRES and SALTA, 8 JULY 2004 - - Three thousand people marched on the capital of the province of Salta today, in opposition to the governor of Salta, Juan Carlos Romero, and his intention to finalise the sale of 16 thousand hectares of land in the provincial natural reserve Pizarro. The land is set to be deforested and converted into agricultural land for soya cultivation, after its inhabitants have been ejected.

Marchers included local people affected by the sale of the land, as well as Greenpeace and other environmental organisations, trade unions, the University of Salta, and many indpendent citizens, who were also demanding that the local judiciary help stop the sale, the deforestation and the displacement of indigenous people

The mobilisation of some 3 thousand people began at around midday with a rally in the 9 July Square in the capital of Salta, from where the regional environment secretary was due to address the crowd. But his access was blocked by a heavy police cordon, deployed by the provincial authorities. The demonstratos later returned to the square where they ended the march and sang the National Anthem.

Also present were APSADES, Judiciales, The Unemployed Movement, Adiunsa, The Human Rights Defence Network, The Wildlife Foundation, the Illay NGO, the Friends of the Trees, Forests and National Parks Association, ATE Docente, University of Salta, and a broad spectrum of poltical parties, including the Communists, Communist Revolutionaries, Humanists, Workers, Christian Democrats and United for Salta.

The participants in the march held placards with slogans such as “Romero: Predator” “Stop deforestation” and “Don´t sell off the state´s natural reserves”

“This demonstration shows that the people of Romero´s own province are saying he´s made a grave mistake,” said Emiliano Ezcurra, coordinator of Greenpeace´s biodiversity campaign.

The enviromentalist also questioned the argument about the “degradation” of the land, used by the provincial Government to defend the sale of the two lots: “If just because the forest has a low level of degradation, Romero proposes to chop it down and turn it into soya, then we´re finished, because all the remaining native forest in Argentina is degraded to some level or another,” said Ezcurra.

“Romero has lots of power and lots of cash, but that doesn´t make him right, and more important than whether Romero wins is not to be afraid: to get back the reserve we musn´t be afraid to use these expressions of mass public participation, where people who may have different ideological leanings, or belong to different organisations, can unite under one common environmental demand,” explained Ezcurra.

The demonstrators also celebrated the announcement from a group of scientists from the University of Salta who reject the sale of the lots of land and have made a public declaration which states that “it is time that those responsible for our public heritage take their responsibilities seriously, and make public the scientifc and technical arguments, if that´s what they are, which underly this kind of decision.”

Ezcurra also asked: “Why is it that that a province that shares the same situation with regard to the uncontrolled advance of the soya frontier can establish a moratorium in on deforestation, as Santiago del Estero has done, and Salta cannot?”

Juan Carlos Romero´s government last month auctioned off lots 32 and 33 of the General Pizarro reserve, which were sold to the companies Curel and MFU.S.A, for approximately 3.1 million pesos (about 1 million US dollars).

However, Greenpeace and the Argentina Wildlife Foundation, as well as the Environment and Natural Resources Foundations, have asked the Judiciary to take a protective measure to stop the sale of the lots and prevent the displacement of the inhabitants of the reserve and the deforestation of the land.

The reserve, the principal source of sustinence for the Criolla and Wichi communities, is the only of its type: it includes tree species from the Yungas ecosystem like the Cebil, the Lapacho and the Cedro, and others from the Semi-arid Chaco ecosystem, such as the coloured and white Quebracho, the Algarrobo and the Mistol. The zone´s fauna is rich and varied, and includes diverse bird species along with mammals such as the talking parrot, tucans and corzuelas, peccaries, monkeys and various types of armadillo.