In a historic move, a special ministerial committee of Chile’s government unanimously decided this month to cancel the embattled HidroAysén dam project planned for the Aysén region of Patagonia. The move by the center-left government of President Michelle Bachelet, who began her four-year term in March, fulfills one of Bachelet’s key promises during her presidential campaign last fall. In that race, she repeatedly called HidroAysén “not viable.” The Bachelet campaign in effect promised to halt the large-scale dam venture to garner support from diverse politicians and voters. “This is the greatest victory in the history of Chile’s environmental movement,” says Patricio Rodrigo, executive secretary of the Patagonia Defense Council, an international coalition of more than 70 environmental and citizen organizations formed to... [Log in to read more]