| Cartoonist: Khalil Bendib| In Patagonia, turquoise rivers
divided by wire fences are a common sight. The snow capped
mountain range in the southern Andes that runs along the border
of Argentina and Chile, or the Cordillera as the locals call it,
is one of the most pristine in the world. Under the mountains
lies flat earth filled with bushes and vegetation that sheep and
cattle graze on. The gold and quartz inside the mountains of
Argentina's southern province of Chubut have recently brought in
mining companies such as Meridian Gold, and now Benetton, for
its exploitable and vast plains - perfect for the mass
production of wool. To the Mapuche Indians in southern
Argentina, the Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton is the
newest conquistador in 10,000 years of land struggles in
Patagonia. Today Benetton is the largest landholder in
Argentina, owning 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) in the
resource-rich region of Patagonia. With 9% of Patagonia's most
cultivatable land, their holdings amount to 40 times