Communities in Uruguay and Argentina lie within sight of each other across the Uruguay River, which forms the border between the two nations. But plans for two huge pulp mills near the Uruguayan city of Fray Bentos elicit dramatically different viewpoints depending which side of the river you’re on. Argentine officials say Uruguay is so bedazzled by the prospect of hundreds of millions of dollars in investments that it is willing to risk contaminating the river. But their Uruguayan counterparts attribute such criticism to envy, contending Argentina is using bogus environmental concerns to attack projects they wish they had landed for themselves. The debate adds to recent bilateral tensions caused by Argentine President Néstor Kirchner’s charge that Uruguayan President Jorge Battle has withheld information about... [Log in to read more]