The Great Fleece War of 2006

In an interesting new front in Argentina's tussle with foreign money, former piquetero movement leader and the government's current subsecretary of land and social habitat Luis D'Elía has declared war on foreign manufacturers of wool and fleece winterwear popular with hikers, skiers and other upper middle class land-lovers. Or so it seems. In August, D'Elía cut open the entrance to North Face and Esprit founder--and conservationist mogul--Douglas Tompkins's property in the Corrientes province, accusing Tompkins (above) of trying to control one of Argentina's strategic resources, fresh water, and saying the land should be expropriated. Tompkins suggested, dryly one would assume, that the government "should make things easier for investors." (To fully set the drama in Argentina and Chile, Tompkins is married to Kristine McDivitt, the former CEO of fleece-seller Patagonia.)

Realizing (one supposes) that this was not a winning move on the international circuit, President Kirchner quickly distanced himself from D'Elía's moves. But this didn't stop the ex-piquetero, who moved his target to Benetton, which owns some 900,000 hectareas in southern Argentina. Claiming that Benetton had illegally gained possesion of the land of several local Mapuche indian families and again that the land should be expropriated, he said that when the government decided what it would do, "it will be sufficiently convincing." Benetton's corporate rep said, "We have learned about the situation from the media and we are currently conducting a deep analysis and defining the company's reaction," while the Mapuche families being helped by D'Elía rejected his methods (though they want their land back).