Lago Escondido / photo courtesy of Wikipedia
Judge Carlos Cuéllar ruled yesterday to enact a new plan for the construction of a public road to the Lago Escondido. The decision allots 120 days for the completion of the new road that will stretch from Tacuifí to the water’s surface, in accordance with the requirements decided by the provincial Supreme Court in 2009.
The new deadline was presented to representatives from Viarse, the Secretary of the Environment, the Hidden Lake firm, and legislator Magdalen Odardo, who have all been involved in legal battles concerning the construction of a road to the lake for years. Cuéllar stated that the civil and commercial court of Bariloche would issue a formal resolution dictating the plan of execution and the amount of allocated funding in the coming days.
Last Friday’s hearing lasted until midday, and representatives from the provincial organisations and the Hidden Lake firm left without commenting on the decision. However, Odardo stated that the hearing was successful, as the court had finally recognised its responsibility to order the opening of public roads to the Lago Escondido, which is situated on the edge of private property. Odardo praised the decision to conclude the long judicial process regarding access to the lake and Cuéllar’s commitment to upholding the previous court decision mandating that a road be constructed.
Hidden Lake representatives rejected the court’s decision and announced their intention to input new measures of justice against Cuéllar’s ruling to proceed with road construction.
Lago Escondido is a lake located 50kms north of El Bolsón, in the province of Río Negro. The land around it was bought by British millionaire Joe Lewis in the 1990s, and access to the lake was blocked, and only allowed for people authorised by his firm Hidden Lake. A campaign has been carried out by residents of the area in order to force Hidden Lake to provide public access roads to Lago Escondido.
You don’t mention that there is a town named Lago Escondido, which is a logging town and does some tourism. Does this town belong to the Hidden Lake company? Does Hidden Lake own all the property surrounding the lake, or just most of it? Will the new road join the town of Lago Escondido to the rest of the world, or will it just be a road that ends at the lake… and then what? People will drive down this road, across private property, park at the lake’s edge and then what? “A campaign was carried out by residents in the area…” is vague and deceptive. Where do these residents reside? In the town of Lago Escondido or Bolsón or where? If they live in Bolsón, why do they want to go to the lake? For fun, or is there an economic imperative? Isn’t the road to the town of Lago Escondido good enough? If this road goes to the lake’s edge and then stops, will these “area residents” then begin demanding their “right” to build hotels and cottages on someone else’s property? Judging by the map, it looks like your “area residents” want access to the lake for their own financial gain.
Look, the lake is an Argentine national asset. Get CFK to confiscate it! It’s owned by a British company, and we all know that the British are a collection of crypto-imperialists! Lake front property for all!
Eugene, you seem to have mistaken the town of Lago Escondido in Tierra del Fuego with the lake Lago Escondido in Río Negro. There is plenty of information available on the internet about the issue of Lago Escondido and the controversy over the access road (owners of property adjacent to a lake or any body of water must guarantee public access to it, as per article 2639 of the civil code) if you’re interested in delving deeper into the matter. This is only a news brief, alas, not an in-depth feature about the lake or the long-standing issues of land ownership in Patagonia.
Fair enough.