In a session of loss of tempers, the Chamber of Deputies approved the amendment to the Uruguayan Mining Code, under insults from political activists who oppose the extraction of minerals from Uruguayan soil. The partial amendment has now passed to the Senate for approval. Following their cries of ‘homeland sellers’, ‘traitors’ and ‘no to foreignisation’, the handful of political activists and rural producers were instantly removed by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Ivonne Passada.

Source: La República newspaper

28/12/2010. The partial amendment to the Uruguayan Mining Code was passed on the second vote. Following the vote’s failure in the first summons of the morning, due to an insufficient number of legislators, the Chamber of Deputies suspended the vote until its last session of the year. The second time, the legislators were summoned in the afternoon, and the amendment was finally passed, with 50 votes by the Broad Front and one by the Independent Party. The amendment passed to the Senate last night for its final authorisation, which would take place next year.

Thirteen legislators, from the National Party and Colorado Party, voted against the initiative, although they subsequently supported  some of the articles of the amendment.

Members of the Lower Chamber yesterday ended the 2010 sessions receiving insults and threats from members of an undefined political group. This group took part in the audience along with others describing themselves as rural producers, who feel that they will be badly affected by the installation of mining undertakings in their area in the near future.

On crying ‘homeland sellers’, ‘traitors’, ‘no to foreignisation’ and other accusations, the handful of political activists and rural producers were instantly removed by the president of the Deputies, Ivonne Passada, the person at whom most of the many insults were aimed. While they were politely invited to leave the room, flying insults were hulled by the protesters in concern to the Uruguayan government’s decision to maintain military troops in Haiti. Three hours after the activist were removed, the concerned project was voted upon unanimously without truly being debated.  

Before they were removed, the political activists in the audience had applauded the speeches of the legislators Alvaro Delgado (National Party), Walter Verri (Colorado Party) and Luis Alberto Aparicio Lacalle Pou (National Party), speeches which were markedly against the government’s plans regarding the revision of the mining Code. The representative Carlos Varela (Broad Front), major informant of the government’s revision plans, said that it is highly likely that uranium, nickel and iron exist in the Uruguayan subsoil ‘which fact justifies its mining at an industrial level.’ Included in the revision are parameters of care for these elements and particularly of uranium.

Varela averred that the amendment puts special emphasis on care for the environment and that, as a result of this, any industrial initiative would have be approved and controlled by DINAMA, Uruguay’s environment ministry. The initiative passed last night changes to the levy on production and the proportion and uses of the amount which the Uruguayan state will receive on behalf of the businesses which have shares in the sites. Another change is that a proportion of the Fund for Interior Development will go towards the promotion of geology and mining and for general rents.

During the debate the government and opposition agreed that mining in Uruguay has always been characterised as ‘secondary production’ and that historically other form of production such as agriculture have been privileged.