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Article

14 Jun 2007

Author:
Peter Popham, Independent [UK]

Turf wars: Rich versus poor in Patagonia

…Luciano Benetton…became the biggest landowner in Argentina in 1997…[A] Mapuche couple, Atilio and Rosa Curinanco, moved into an abandoned farm in the middle of the Benettons' grazing land….But within two months…Tierras del Sud [Benetton’s Patagonian holding company]…had them evicted...There then ensued a lengthy court battle…which the Curinancos eventually lost. Benetton had legal title...Mr Benetton agreed to hand over…land to the Mapuches…But…[Nobel laureate] Adolfo Perez Esquivel …wrote. "Only 350 hectares out of 7,000 is useable."…Benetton flatly denied the land was unuseable...