CHILE ROCKER CUEVAS LAUNCHES AYSEN ANTI-DAM VIDEO

[Judi Lynn]

CHILE ROCKER CUEVAS LAUNCHES AYSEN ANTI-DAM VIDEO

(July 20, 2007) Chilean rock star/environmental activist Beto Cuevas continues to take a leading role in the ongoing campaign to block construction of four massive hydroelectric dams planned for the Aysén Region of Patagonia. Cuevas, currently a resident of Los Angeles, California, is the former lead singer of the hit band La Ley, one of the best-known pop groups in all of Latin America.

The musician’s most recent contribution made its debut this week on the popular Web site YouTube. In a four and one half minute video, Cuevas documents a trip he took earlier this year to southern Chile. He made the trip together with a team of Chilean environmentalists and delegates from the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

“As the lead singer of the band La Ley I’ve toured all over the world and I’ve seen many wonderful places, but nothing as beautiful or amazing as the wild lands of Patagonia, located in Chile, the country of my birth,” says Cuevas.

Cuevas, the NRDC and others are part of a growing campaign to protect Patagonia’s waterways from the so-called Aysén Project. Planned by Spanish electricity giant Endesa and a large Chilean utility called Colbún, the Aysén Project is a US$4 billion plan to build two dams on each of the region’s two largest rivers: the Baker and the Pascua. Together the dams are expected to produce an estimated 2,400 MW, equivalent to about 30 percent of the energy currently available in central Chile.

The plan also calls for building the world’s longest transmission line, a 2,000-kilometer network that would connect Patagonia to Chile’s energy-hungry central and northern regions. The proposed electricity line, which would run through several national parks, calls for clear-cutting countless acres of wilderness area.

More:
http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=14271&topic_id=15

Here's his short video showing Patagonia, and the area slated for flooding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryuloke-HdQ

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