With 13 votes (on the right and one of the Concertación ), 5 against and 6 abstentions The Senate of Chile approved on May 11 UPOV Convention 91 prevent farmers from saving seed and extend the lifetime of the rights and interests of transnational corporations that sell seeds transgenic hybrid in the country.
Senator Eugenio Tuma ( Araucanía, PPD ) joined the gravediggers of peasant agriculture, which contributed niche brand UDI and RN while Ximena Rincón (Maule ) and Jorge Pizarro ( Coquimbo), both the PDC with José Antonio Gómez ( Antofagasta, PR ), Alejandro Navarro ( BioBio, MAS), and Jaime Quintana (Araucanía, PPD) decisively rejected the initiative. Ximena Rincón
substantiatehis vote by saying that Chilean farmers who will pay the cost of joining this agreement. He argued that before voting, he should have discussed the Act Plant Breeders Rights repealing Law No. 19,342 why Chile was created in the registration of plant species. By this law, the country signed the previous version of this agreement, whose terms were less harmful to agriculture.
The protection referred to in the agreement is the payment of a kind of patent, the "PBR", for the purchase of seed farming by multinationals registered seed after being genetically engineered.
The vote took place amid an atmosphere of widespread rejection of street project approval Hidroaysén that highlighted the predatory nature of Chilean business model and "development", now endorsed by this new legislative decision. The Senate and the government of Chile clearly marked its position with the transnational partnership and delivery of heritage. OUTRAGE
RURAL AND INDIGENOUS
The National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women ( ANAMURI ) and Terram invited to express their views before the Senate had shown before the Committee on Agriculture their rejection of this initiative. The year 2010 in the Chamber of Deputies , ANAMURI, Ranquil , organic producers, the bishop of Aysén , Rapal the Alliance for a Better Quality of Life , Grain , Olca and various regional and local authorities had already exposed their rejection of this agreement and the bill of breeders.
For its part, the day of that vote, the Legislative Network Indigenous and Public Policy demanded in a letter to Senate President Guido Girardi be heard, was omitted because the consultation of indigenous peoples as stipulated in the Convention 169 . The group believes that "this is usurpation remained. And took away our land, water, now we want to take away the crops and medicinal herbs ... The State steals, and then apply anti-terrorism laws or militarization when communities protest. "
Among other organizations, the network includes the Corporation Aymara Marka Aru Jach-, community Pepiukelen huilliche , and representatives of the people Rapanui, the National Council Aymara, the Mapuche Territorial Alliance , to Lakutun ( Metropolitan Region), a Mapuche trawün -huilliche of Pargua communities and Tirúa south.
Indians also recalled "the UPOV 91 has been resisted by indigenous peoples throughout the world, for they have also warned that a new form of legal theft of plants that have intervened, crossover and modified through traditional techniques and protected in case of danger, drought or monoculture. The potato chilota still alive thanks to us, not because of the transnationals. "
VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHT
The selection, breeding and seed exchange - Trafkintu in Mapudungun - is a human right of farmers and indigenous peoples worldwide, recognized even Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources of FAO and claimed by Via Campesina and the Cloc , the Coordinator of Latin American Rural Organizations . Thus, rural women and indigenous and peasant communities are the true managers of diversity and genetic wealth cororaciones usurp the seed, now with the consent of the Senate of Chile.
The Alliance for a Better Quality of life has been reported that this agreement privatize the marketing, import and export of seed. Alicia Muñoz argues , ANAMURI leader: "The farmer must purchase their seed every year if it wants to see their crops confiscated, their crops and plantations. The agreement does not guarantee that the varieties are better or are available in Chile. Can occur even if for commercial reasons to prevent the entry of a particular variety in Chile. To file a plan only calls that are not registered before and that the variety is uniform and stable. The more homogeneous are the plants have less capacity to withstand events such as drought or climate change, unlike what happens when there is biodiversity. "
FRIENDS OF MONSANTO
The initiative resisted by all social-based peasant organizations, will be sent to the President for his signature Piñera, according to the press release of the Senate. The votes were for senators Carlos Cantero (Antofagasta, Independent); to IDUs Juan Antonio Coloma and Hernán Larraín (both Maule), Pablo Longueira and Jovino Novoa (both MR) and Jaime Orpis ( Tarapacá ) and RN Francisco Chahuán (Valparaiso ), José García, Alberto Espina (both from Araucanía), Carlos Kuschel ( Region Lakes ), Carlos Larraín ( Valdivia), Baldo Prokurica (Atacama ) plus PPD Eugenio Tuma ( Araucanía, PPD). The comfortable abstention was in charge of the PS Camilo Escalona (Los Lagos) and Juan Pablo Letelier ( O'Higgins), along with the DC Hossain Sabag ( BioBio ), Patrick Walker ( Aysén) and Andres Zaldivar (Maule), and Antonio Horvath (RN Aysén).
Supporters of the projectalluded to the Free Trade United States, Japan and European Union arguing that Chile was forced to sign the said Convention. Senator Alejandro Navarro, criticized those treaties and said key countries in agriculture in South America as Brazil and Argentina , have adhered only to UPOV '78 and not '91. Also pointed out that the implications of this agreement should have been disseminated to the community.
For his part, Senator Jaime Quintana, argued against ratification of this project and explained that "affect the producers national crop. " He also criticized the absence of the Minister of Agriculture in the discussion on the floor. In his opinion, "that this agreement has value, Chile should have the law of plant breeders that have not voted, if we adopt this draft agreement will be a dead letter."
Eugenio Tuma Senator put a note of humor to tell his colleagues that he knows farmers out of poverty by building greenhouses and pay for quality seed. But did not give any statistics to support their story.
UPOV AND BUSINESS LOBBY
The International Union for the Protection Plant Variety, UPOV is an organization promoted by the transnational marketing of seeds and supported by governments, of which Chile is a party. In the early years and today also produced transgenic hybrids. These are the companies Monsanto, which controls more than 90% of the transgenic seed market- Syngenta, Bayer and Dupont / Pioneer . Sales of seeds and pesticides were reported huge profits at the expense of the destruction of peasant agriculture, agribusiness and replaced by monocultures of GM seeds. The price of food, according to FAO, is currently highest levels in history.
The International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) has been amended three times: 1972, 1978 and 1991. In Chile's successful business lobby for Chile, a signatory to UPOV 78, acceded to UPOV 91 was led by Monsanto through ChileBio supported ANPROS (the trade association for producers of GM seeds for export) and Diario Financiero , virtual spokesperson export business transgenic seed. The Government and the Chilean Senate finally surrendered to the additional pressure of President Obama , close to Monsanto, who was on his agenda of visit to Chile, the issue of respecting intellectual property.
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