March 9 2015

…The Memorandum of Understanding is a reflection of this approach. Contrary to the accusation in the article that this process was “illegal”, the Memorandum was signed by all participating communities and respects Chilean law. Moreover, the Diaguitas communities have their own lawyers to represent their interests.  The Memorandum of Understanding was created to provide Diaguitas communities with access to information and experts so that they could assess the positive and negative impacts of the project….[It] allows Indigenous Communities and Barrick Pascua-Lama to work together towards a common diagnosis and an evaluation of the subjects of interest. These include glaciers, water and archaeological heritage, as well as the potential opportunities for development and the benefits communities can receive from the project. The Memorandum of Understanding is open to any Diaguitas community that wishes to participate. Some communities have decided not to participate and we respect their decision. However, our invitation to participate remains open…