Voices of the Gulf
Cecilia Salcedo
“Until that moment, Law 3308, which protected us from any hydrocarbon activity in the Gulf, kept us safe.”
Cecilia Salcedo fell in love with Las Grutas years ago. She left her hometown of Fiske Menuco, on the far side of the province, to be by the sea and watch her family grow. A teacher by vocation and heart, she holds a professorship in Biology at the San Antonio Training Institute. To protect this land, she chose to join the Las Grutas Territorial Assembly and the Currúscos Leufú Assemblies, where she serves as the provincial coordinator for the defense of water and life.
Raquel Perier
“For 28 years, we grew as a fishing town and a tourist spot. We grew without imagining that an oil pipeline could be installed.”
Raquel Perier settled in San Antonio Oeste in the late ’70s, when it was a tiny village focused on artisanal fishing. Soon after, tourism arrived. Her love for the place and its marine life, big and small, led her to pursue a career as a marine biologist at the Institute of Biology, now known as CIMAS. In the ’90s, together with Edgardo, her husband, and their young children, she took part in protests against a proposed pipeline planned right through the middle of Las Grutas. Imagine what that city would have been without the passionate initiative of people like her.
Raúl Victorica
“There is danger in every attempt to alter nature. We live on the land, but we are not its owners.”
Raúl knows firsthand the false promises of big projects sold as the salvation of a town. He worked at the Sierra Grande mine, once hailed as endless promise, but abandoned in the ’90s. He is a leader of the local Mapuche-Tehuelche community and now raises his voice against projects imposed without consultation, leaving pollution behind forever. He feels the land in his blood, from the mountains to the sea. As the spiritual authority of a people who lived here long before anyone else, he shares centuries of wisdom: our need to connect with nature, to live in harmony with the landscape and its inhabitants, because that is not only our past, but our future as well.
