A Chilean court ruled in favor of indigenous activists yesterday, bringing a Spanish-owned hydro-electric project to a halt. The decision by the court prevents Endesa Chile from flooding the ancestral lands of the Pehuenche people. The ruling is a partial victory for the Pehuenche and environmental groups who have been fighting the Endesa project – which has caused the relocation of a number of families - for the last five years. If the land at issue were flooded, the Pehuenche say, it would not only destroy the fragile forest and mountain ecosystems, but would also force them to permanently abandon their ancestral land.
