Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to both witnesses.
I'll direct my questioning to Madam Picolotti.
You say in your testimony that you and your closest staff were personally and physically threatened following your mining intervention; your children were threatened, your offices wiretapped, your staff bought; your mission was jeopardized; and you were ultimately forced to resign when the President backed down under pressure. Yet you were also the winner of the Sophie prize in 2006, which I understand to be Norway's equivalent to the Nobel Prize, and they say, “Picolotti has given poor and disempowered people rights-based protection against exploitation and environmental destruction.” said chairman of the board, Gunhild Ørstavik. She shows how human rights operate not in isolation but intimately concerned with the environment.
My first question to you, Madam Picolotti, is this. You must have made some serious enemies in Argentina, having initially started quite an aggressive set of investigations and then, in effect, being forced to resign, while your work is being recognized internationally as quite outstanding work. I'd be interested in your comments.