New pastoral letter addresses the impact of the paper mills

ALC/CLAI, MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, August 14, 2007

As a result of having been convened again by the Latin American Council of Churches Taxi Heathrow Airport (CLAI in Spanish), a gathering took place on Friday, August 3, in the parish church of Our Lady of the Pilar, in Fray Bentos, Uruguay. Leaders of different Christian churches gathered together as they had done before in Gualeguaychú, Argentina, concerned because of the climate of tension that has been generated among the people on both sides of the dividing river, as a result of the installation of a cellulose paste processing plant.

The pastoral letter sent to the faith communities of the member churches of CLAI and those of the Roman Catholic church, affirm the certainness that Uruguay and Argentina are two brother countries with a long history of shared family ties and struggles. “This certainness needs to strengthen our living together over and above existing conflicts. We believe that it is not a utopia to think that our peoples can meet, understand, mutually respect and even fight together for a common and better future.”

"Every process of the installing of multinational undertakings generates, and especially in the context of our peoples, expectations of employment and well-being. We painfully see at this moment the threat that a returning of unemployment for the people of Fray Bentos would mean, and a losing of heart of the hopes of its people. This experience is shouting at us that we all have a right to work and to be able to maintain our families with dignity. The multinational undertakings need to take into consideration their sustainability so that the expectations of well-being and growth for the peoples can be maintained,” the letter emphasizes.

The pastors and bishops signing the pastoral letter, denounce that the governments continue the policies of investment that prioritize capital over the life of their people. “The result of accepting these investments, far from bringing about the desired well-being and the promised prosperous future, is a greater concentration of capital widening the gap between rich and poor.”

Having heard the voice of the inhabitants of Fray Bentos, expressing their confidence that the authorities will control the environmental impact that the operating of the paper mills may cause, the letter affirms that “this can only be maintained as long as a continued and permanent monitoring of the companies operations is carried out.”

Those churches participating were: the Anglican Church of Uruguay, the Evangelical Church of Río de la Plata, the Congregational Evangelical Church (Argentina and Uruguay), the Argentine Evangelical Methodist Church, the Methodist Church of Uruguay, the Waldense Evangelical Church of Río de la Plata, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fray Bentos, the Christian Biblical Church, the Disciples of Christ Church, and the Argentine Federation of Evangelical Churches and Reformed Churches of Argentina.

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