“This is the only way to meet with the President Michelle Bachelet.  She, in her mother role, as grandmother and woman, will listen to us.” said Amalia Mamani and Sonia Ramos, when asked to respond to the question why travel on foot to the capital.  They hoped to real La Moneda so that the Republic’s President could receive them and listen to their pleas and present their opposition to exploration in Tatio in the name of a total of 30,000 signatures collected in protest.  Right now they are about to leave for Vallenar, and they hope their journey will not be as exhausting as other stretches like the one betwen Clama and Copiapo, where they arrived yesterday.  They said that in this journey they came to truly understand the importance of water in the desert.  They left without telling anyone in Calama.  It was a decision taken solely by themselves, because neither their families nor government organizations would have let them go.  They are respectively 55 and 58 years old, and consider themselves to be in good health t this day.

TATIO IS DIENG

WITH YOUR HELP WE CAN HALT THE ECO-CIDE OF THE “GRANDFATHER WHO CRIES”

Tomorrow, Friday Oct 23 2009, at 11:00 AM in the Plaza de la Constitución, the sisters Amelia Mamani (president of the Quechua community Sumac Llajta, 58 years) and Sonia Ramos (president of the Asociation od Ancestral Medicine in the Lickan Antay and Quechua cultures, 55 years), finished their march from Calama to Santiago.  The march was dedicated to deliver a letter signed by more than 30,000 citizens rejecting the development of geothermal exploitation in the geyser field of Tatio, located in the Region of Antofagasta.

WITH YOUR HELP WE CAN SAVE TATIO

BY THE CORPORACIÓN AYMARA JACHA MARKA ARU (REGIÓN METROPOLITANA).

VALPARAISO, Oct 22 2009

Mrs

MICHELLE BACHELET JERIA

Republic President

Palacio de La Moneda

Presente.-

For consideration:

For current circumstances I have considered it an opportune moment and necesary to consult you and demonstrate my interest and concern that the indigenous leaders Amelia Mamani (president of the Quechua Community  Sumac Llajta, 58 years) and Sonia Ramos (President of the Association of Ancestral Medicin in the  Lickan Antay and Quechua groups, 55 years),march from Calama to Santiago to seek out your audience and deliver personally this letter, signed by more than 30,000 citizens demonstrating their interest in rejecting industrial developement of the geothermal project in the area of the Tatio Geyser Field found in the Region of Antofagasta.

I have gotten to know personally and have conversed with these cited leaders a couple of days before their departure on Oct 14 in a visit united themselves and other members of the indigenous communities from the area of Tatio.  And, despite their age and the climatic challenges which they will have to endure during their march, I support them and am firmly convinced that they will reach their final destination.  They will walk to Santiago with the goal of communicating with you the concern of thousands of chileans, indigenous and non-indigenous, for the wel-being of a partimonial hertiage as cuturally and touristically important asn the Tatio Geysers.  The Geysers have been intensely affected by the side-effects of geothermal exploitation even in this stage of initial activities.

Since yesterday these valient and strong women have covered a distance greater than 1500km and have found themselves within 300 km of the capital.  They hope to cover the final distance in the following days.

It is clear to me thatit is difficult to receive your audience due to your intense agenda.  Nevertheless I would like to respectfully request that you consider dedicating a couple of minutes to listen to these simple women who represent the ancestral wisdom of their communities in the altiplano of the Antofagasta Region.   They would only like to sincerely express teir concerns for what is happening in their lands, the lands of their ancestors, and the land which forms an integral part of teir cosmovision an lifestyle.

I am confident that as the first woman who has occupied the seat as the President of the Republic and knowing what these women represent for the women of Chile, especially those who through your examples have been capable of obtaining increasingly more powerful roles in their own communities and cultures, that you can find the time to attend to this request.  We make this request, not in our own names, but modestly claiming to reiterate the thousands of voices from the altitudes of the Northern Chilean Andes hoping to be heard through these worthy representatives.

Without further ado, Sincerely ,

Alejandro Navarro Brain

Senator