The protesters that make up the 7th March for the Sovereignty of Lago Escondido decided this Friday afternoon to conclude the long journey that took them from Buenos Aires and other parts of the country to Patagonia.
The head of this adventure,
Julio Cesar Urien
, president of the Interactive Foundation to Promote the Culture of Water (Fipca), read a statement to the media in which he confirmed that the approximately 200 militants from various
Kirchner and left-wing organizations
who remained in the sector they will begin to evacuate the place where they had arrived in groups on January 31, 2023.
In addition, he thanked the militants for their participation and classified the trip as a "
patriotic feat
": "The objectives of having shown that Lake Escondido belongs to all Argentines since the construction of the 7th Federal March to Lake Escondido for Sovereignty have been met." Nacional has decided to terminate it," he said.
"We thank all the compatriots who have accompanied this feat from different parts of the country and we inform that all the participants of the mountain column are in perfect health," added Urien, who was reading his notes taken in a notebook.
Police custody on one side and the other of the fence that prevents progress along the Tacuifí road, in El Foyel.
Photo: Marcelo Martinez
Lastly, it concluded: “First, the members of the column on the Tacuifí public road, who were cunningly attacked while traveling on it, are cared for and out of danger.
Second, the column that went to the private Lewis airport in Sierra Grande also fulfilled its objective of making this serious problem visible.
Third, for all of the above, we thank all the participating organizations and the Argentine people for their struggle and for supporting this cause for national sovereignty and recovering patriotic sentiment.
The Malvinas are Argentine and the Escondido Lake too
”.
This same afternoon, the different columns were discussing heatedly about what to do in the next few days.
While some wanted to leave the area immediately, others
wanted to resist a little longer
.
A special group demanded that they be transferred by helicopter from Joe Lewis's property to El Bolsón so as not to use the means offered by the province and the British businessman himself such as vans or buses.
In any case,
the protesters' fatigue was general and marked
.
Despite the fact that they had arrived in Río Negro with a ton of food and other supplies, supplies were beginning to dwindle.
The high temperatures, nature in its harsh southern dimension and the daily exercise of coming and going through the countryside did their own job with the people.
Protesters came to Lewis's house and started a camp.
Photo: Marcelo Martinez.
The column that crossed the mountain to reach Lewis's house did so after 2 1/2 days.
Everyone arrived at the shore of Lago Escondido exhausted and with low energy.
To the point that one of the young participants had to be
transferred by ambulance to the El Bolsón hospital
because she was at the limit of her strength.
Another of the leaders of the march, Jorge Rachid, took advantage of getting into the ambulance and hidden across the road to Tacuifí, which was guarded by the gauchos.
The confrontation between the gauchos and the left-wing and Kirchnerist organizations last Thursday left tempers very heated, but with a pessimistic bias.
Although Cele Fierro, the leftist leader, assured that they would continue in place, the majority believed that enough was enough.
Gauchos on horseback stopped the Kirchnerist march towards Lago Escondido.
Photo Telam
Father Francisco Paco Olivera had started a hunger strike next to Lewis's house to demand that they be allowed to pass through the Tacuifí road.
This group agreed to leave the property escorted by the Río Negro police, according to what he reported.
The province assigned around 100 troops to take care of the protesters.
A group of doctors and two ambulances from the province and two helicopters sent by the Government were also assigned to them.
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The Kirchnerist doctor Emilio Rachid left Lago Escondido, hidden in an ambulance and left the militants on Lewis's property