demonstration against oil exploitation in Mar del Plata

“Oil is death”, “a sea without tankers”, “No to pollution”. Thousands of demonstrators, environmentalists and left activists, marched Tuesday, January 4 in front of the beaches of the seaside town of Mar del Plata, against an oil exploration project off the Atlantic coast of Argentina. Along with the march in Mar del Plata, rallies were held in other Argentine coastal towns.

The government of center-left president Alberto Fernández has just authorized by decree seismic exploration studies by the Norwegian oil company Equinor, the Argentine public company YPF and the Anglo-Dutch Shell, in the offshore areas of the Argentine Sea, south of Buenos Aires, some 300 km from beaches that attract millions of tourists during the austral summer.

These explorations “kill marine animals”, said Julieta, one of the organizers of the demonstration, to AFP. “The risk of accidents and pollution is 100%, according to a study by Tandil University”, she assured. Surfer and lifeguard Juan Manuel Ballestero, a local figure, told AFP that“a sudestada (strong south-easterly wind on the Atlantic coast) can carry the oil spilled onto the beaches”. “There are disastrous data on oil spills in Brazil and Mexico. I categorically reject this exploitation”, pointed out Ballestero.

This project also poses a climatic problem. In May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) called for the immediate abandonment of any new project for the exploitation of fossil fuels – coal, oil, gas – to limit global warming. It is in fact their use that releases CO2 into the atmosphere and warms temperatures.