Aysén Demonstrations Reach La Junta, Carrera Austral Bridge Blocked

La Juntan's In Solidarity With 'Tu Problem Es Mi Problema' Movement

AYSÉN – As of noon today the bridge over the Rio Rosselot that connects La Junta with the rest of Northern Patagonia has been closed by La Juntan’s in soldiarity with the “Tu Problem Es Mi Problema” Aysén civil movement.

Around fifty villagers, men women and children from all backgrounds marched to the bridge and closed the north side with banners detailing the requests of the movement that began in Puerto Aysén and making a few extra requests of their own, like a bank and civil registry for La Junta.

La Junta is 250 kilomteres from Puerto Aysén and shows that the movement has support throughout the entire region. Unlike the demonstrations in Puerto Aysén , which have involved flaming barricades, heavy police presence with water cannons, rock throwing and injury, this demonstration was  more in the form that Gandhi would have advised… peaceful, and joyous.

The Carabineros have only assigned one vehicle to the event and neither the demonstrators, the police, hitch hikers or those stranded in their cars seem to be in a rush. After I had gathered enough information for this story I decided to join my neighbours in a photograph.,, and automatically flashed the universal peace sign. As an Ambassador to a UN designated Peace Messenger Initiative I guess it is only naturally that I hope all following bridge demonstrations will be as peaceful as this one.

Meanwhile it is getting increasingly difficult to travel in Aysén . Yesterday two french visitors arrived at our house after hitch hiking from Coyhaique after finding there were no buses going to La Junta. They got a ride to Manuales, sixty kilometers outside of Coyhaique and then came to a massive road block, twelve logs that made passing by vehicle impossible. Fortunately they were allowed to walk past the barricade and managed to get a ride further north.

At this moment we have a Japanese friend who was supposed to get on a bus this morning to Coyhaique, but is now on extended stay until the transportation issue is solved. At the bridge today I chatted with a tourist from Spain who was heading south along the Carretera to Villa O’Higgins, but was now thinking of heading north to Futaleufu to cross the border into Argentina so he could at least visit Punta Arenas.

On the impact the demonstrations are having on the locals, our friend Javier Villegas, a fishing guide, lost clients who had flown all the way from Spain to Coyhaique and then cancelled their fishing trip  due to the negative media regarding the demonstrations, and had flown directly back to Spain. Surely more businesses are going to be impacted by these events and the fact that fuel is only available for emergence vehicles.

The mayor of Cisnes municipality at a recent event in La Junta.

Meanwhile more actions in support of the “Tu Problema Es Mi Problema” the Civil Movement that began in Aysén are now being reported the length and breadth of the region, including the communities and villages of Manuales, Puerto Cisnes, Chile Chico and the city of Coyhaique.

Update: La Junta, February 19

Luis Arsenio Valdes Gutierrez, the Mayor of Aysén’s Cisnes Municipality, which includes La Junta, has come out in support of the Aysén Civil Movement “Tu Problema es Mi Problema” with this statement posted on his Facebook page two hours ago.

“We have never witnessed a regional citizens’ movement as big as the one we living now, where we can establish a number of issues that affect our people. Themes such as fuel subsidies, rebates on the cost of electricity, regionalized minimum salary protection of the natural resources of our region that we want to be free of dams, are issues that affect us all and therefore we should support TU PROBLEM ES MY PROBLEM”