Three prominent leaders who are actively opposing fracking and advocating for human rights in Argentina are heading to Switzerland. Their mission is to hold Swiss Banks and the political establishment accountable for their actions.
BreakFree Suisse urgently addresses the environmental and human rights crisis fueled by Swiss banks’ investments in fracking at Argentina’s Vaca Muerta. Conservative president Javier Milei is actively promoting fracking and engaging in land grabbing for industrial farming in Argentina. The deposit of Vaca-Muerta is one of the largest fossil gas deposit of the world with a production of 250,000 barrels a day. To enable the production of one billion oil barrels a day by 2028, the Argentine State & YPF intend to build a 600 km long pipeline. (1) These actions pose significant threats to local communities and the rights of indigenous people.
The Swiss National Bank and UBS have made substantial investments, totaling up to USD 9 Billion, in fossil fuel companies such as TotalEnergies, Chevron, and Shell, that are heavily involved in fracking. This financial backing is at odds with the clear stance of 14 Swiss cantons making up to 69 percent of the Swiss population opposing fracking, thus raising concerns about the SNB’s alignment with Swiss values. (2)
The Vaca Muerta fracking project has had profound repercussions on the indigenous Mapuche communities of the Neuquén province. The relentless expansion of fracking operations has encroached upon their ancestral lands without their consent with effects such as enforced resettlement, induced environmental degradation, severe health concerns, water contamination, cultural disruption and violation of their basic human right to live. (3) From April 19th to 26th, three Argentinian activists will address these problems at SNB and UBS AGMs, in meetings with politicians, members of the UN and other public events:
• Orlando Javier Carriqueo, Werken (messenger) and member of the Mapuche Parliament of Rio Negro
• Mariana Katz, Human rights lawyer and Member of Servicio Paz y Justicia
• Maria Carolina Llorens, Agricultural Union Leader and Ecofeminist, Via Campesina Argentina
The voices of these activists at the AGMs of SNB and UBS will expose the real human cost of these investments.
(1) https://www.eldiarioar.com/sociedad/medio-ambiente/vaca-muerta-sur-oleoducto-apuestan-ypfpolitica_1_10588396.html
(2) https://unsere-snb.ch/2023/11/20/swiss-national-bank-investments-in-fracking/
(3) https://www.banktrack.org/project/vaca_muerta
