Radio Havana Cuba | Argentina: Mass protests reject poisoning caused by burning wetlands

Buenos Aires, August 13 (RHC) Social, political and environmental organizations in Argentina took action this week due to the poisoning caused by the burning of wetlands in the Paraná River Delta islands.

Environmental expert Facundo Viola, who confirmed the presence of patients with respiratory symptoms caused by the aforementioned poisoning, said the thick clouds of smoke “caused irritation of the eyes, breathing, and may generate some chronic health complications.”

According to local media, the protests in the Argentine province of Santa Fe have denied the authorities’ inaction in the face of this crime. Social organizations report that there is sufficient evidence, but most legal issues are paralyzed.

In this sense, Argentine activists denounced the same Environment Minister, Juan Cabande, who posted pictures of people deliberately setting fires on his social networks.

Meanwhile, groups in the country are demanding the Wetlands Act. According to the Greenpeace Argentina platform, wetlands have dominated the public agenda in recent years and debate about their protection has increased, but today they remain completely powerless under national law and political power.

For her part, National Wetlands Network member Patricia Pintos stressed that “politics’ knowledge-blindness continues to prevail in understanding the state of the social and environmental crisis, as well as its penetration of pressure from companies – from agribusiness, mining giants and the real estate sector – to ensure the status quo of extraction dynamics. .”

“For society, on the other hand, wetlands as sources of life have been linguistically re-evaluated and claimed, reaching an increasing level of intensity in public debate. The law is growing from below and the organizations that promote it have been able to create very strong networks at the national and regional levels. Given the time that has passed, they are still worldviews with paths that do not intersect.”

“Large-scale fires are a source of gases and particles released into the environment that result from the combustion process of organic matter itself. Among these suspended particles are soot (unburned carbon), ash (metals that you don’t burn) and other products of incomplete combustion,” he highlights Spotlight on Social and Environmental Health Institute. (Source / Telesur)