Latin America
Related: About this forumMapuche Leader Found Dead In Reservoir She Opposed
http://abcnews.go.com/International/t/story/mapuche-leader-found-dead-reservoir-opposed-21334388?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2FI can't copy and paste from my iPad, unfortunately.
Judi Lynn
(160,662 posts)Body of Mapuche Indian leader found in Chile reservoir for hydroelectric dam she long opposed
By Eva Vergara, The Associated Press December 25, 2013
SANTIAGO, Chile - A Mapuche Indian leader who became the face of Chile's environmental movement was found floating in a reservoir she spent a decade trying to prevent from being created, and authorities said Wednesday they were awaiting autopsy results although the death appeared accidental.
While there was no official cause of death yet for Nicolesa Quintreman, a 73-year-old who was nearly blind, prosecutor Carlos Diaz said that "she apparently slipped, fell into the lake and died."
"Police informed me that from first glance and based on their expertise, the cadaver showed no signs of injury attributable to third persons," Diaz told Radio Bio Bio.
Quintreman was found Tuesday, a day after she went missing. Forensic pathologists returned the body to her family Wednesday in preparation for a funeral Friday. A day of mourning was declared in the community of Alto Biobio.
More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_CHILE_MAPUCHE_DEATH?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
This is really sad.
a la izquierda
(11,802 posts)I figured you'd be able to post it for me!
Happy 2014 to you!
Judi Lynn
(160,662 posts)Mapuche woman inspired nation failing to stop dam
By EVA VERGARA, Associated Press | December 28, 2013 | Updated: December 28, 2013 11:51am
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) In the end, indigenous leader Nicolasa Quintreman was buried apart from the plot of land where she had lived nearly her entire life.
Her decade-long battle against the construction of a 155-meter-tall dam on the Bio Bio river in south-central Chile was lost years ago, frustrating her wish to be buried according to Mapuche tradition in the cemetery where her ancestors rested. Her body had been found floating Tuesday in the Lago Ralco reservoir she tried so hard to stop Chile's main hydroelectricity provider from creating.
The cemetery holding her community's remains had been inundated by the reservoir a decade earlier, displacing 92 Mapuche families whose ancestors had lived for centuries along the river in the Andean foothills. The Endesa electricity company flooded the area months ahead of the dam's inauguration in 2004 without waiting for negotiations on moving the cemetery to be resolved.
Hundreds of people attended her funeral Friday in Alto Bio Bio, a new community created for the displaced Indians, and the many eulogies to her made clear that despite the disappointments, Quintreman and her sister Berta, who is still alive, built a profound legacy.
After the two tiny women and their neighbors peacefully occupied narrow mountain roads and bridges to block the dam's 225-ton turbine and other equipment from reaching the construction site, Chile's Congress strengthened the nation's environmental protections, requiring energy companies to provide more serious impact studies and offer more benefits to indigenous communities whose lands are affected.
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/science/article/Mapuche-woman-inspired-nation-failing-to-stop-dam-5098343.php?cmpid=usw#photo-5652550