Mobilization of native peoples arrives in Buenos Aires in protest against constitutional reform

 Mobilization of native peoples arrives in Buenos Aires in protest against constitutional reform

 
Columns toured the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba and Santa Fe

Gabriel Vera Lopes
Havana (Cuba) |
August 03, 2023 at 11:36 am

Source: Brasil de Fato

Activists traveled nearly 2,000 km to reach the city of Buenos Aires - Telám

 

 

Coinciding with the festivities of Pachamama Day, an ancestral celebration of the Andean peoples of South America, a caravan of demonstrators made up of almost a thousand representatives of peoples originating from the north of Argentina arrived in the city of Buenos Aires on Tuesday, August 1st.

It is the Third Malón of Peace . Supported by various social organizations, the demonstration left on July 25 from La Quiaca, a city in the north of Jujuy that borders Bolivia, and traveled almost 2,000 kilometers to reach Buenos Aires.

The intention of the Third Malón de la Paz is to denounce actions contrary to indigenous rights that the people of Jujuy have been suffering for almost two months. Likewise, indigenous peoples are demanding the defense of their territories and natural resources.

The columns toured the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, Santa Fé and Buenos Aires, holding assemblies with native peoples and social movements to discuss the problems they are facing and decide together on the plan of struggle to be followed. In the city of Buenos Aires, they set up a camp in front of the Supreme Court of Justice, demanding that the judiciary meet their demands.

"The main demands of the Third Malón de la Paz are the cancellation of the constitutional reform made in the province of Jujuy and the request for national intervention in the province, since the reform violates all the rights of the communities," Sara Choquevilca told Brasil de Fato .

Choquevilca is a member of the indigenous community of Chalala Purmamarca and the  Autoconvocados de Purmamarca group . The space emerged in 2018 in the city of Purmamarca to defend water and common goods in the region against various extractive projects in the region. When mobilizations broke out in Jujuy in mid-June, the group took on an important role in organizing neighbors in the region. Today, she is one of those who traveled to Buenos Aires on the Malón de la Paz .

"The idea of ​​the camp is to put pressure on our national representatives to give visibility to our demands. We want people to realize the serious political situation and human rights violations that we are suffering", he adds.

The Invasion of Peace

The name Tercer Malón de la Paz (Third Malón of Peace) refers to two previous marches that the indigenous peoples of northwest Argentina held in the capital, Buenos Aires. The first was in 1946, during the presidency of Juan Domingo Perón. Sixty years later, in 2006, the second Malón de la Paz was held during the presidency of Néstor Kirchner. In both cases, the mobilization required respect for the sovereignty of indigenous peoples over their territories.

The term  Malón de la Paz is a positive appropriation by indigenous peoples of the derogatory ways in which the ruling classes addressed them. Malón  is a Spanish word from the Rio de la Plata area that derives from "Malok", which in the Mapudungun language means "invasion". The idea of ​​the "Indian invasion of civilization" is a very present notion in Argentine literature, a derogatory way in which the oligarchy referred to the return of original peoples to their lands.    

"It is worth noting that, from 1946 until now, the demand has remained the same: the effective delivery of communal territories. This means that community titles are handed over to us", reflects Sara Choquevilca.

The arrival of the Third Malón de la Paz in Buenos Aires comes as the province of Jujuy has been going through a deep crisis and huge popular mobilizations for almost two months. At the same time, several human rights organizations have denounced the provincial government's repressive actions.

The political context

Regional elections took place in Jujuy on 7 May. Governors, legislators and mayors were elected. But, in addition, in this election, candidates were chosen to reform the provincial constitution.

With a turnout of 74% (10% less than in previous elections), Governor Gerardo Morales' ruling party won 49.5% of the vote. In second place, the Justicialist Party (Peronism) obtained 22.43%. In third place were leftist forces gathered in the Frente de Izquierda y Los Trabajadores (FIT).

The results allowed Morales, who belongs to the right-wing opposition grouped together in the Juntos por el Cambio (Together for the Change) nationwide, to finish two consecutive terms with a large electoral majority.

He was elected vice presidential candidate on the ticket headed by Horacio Rodríguez Larreta to run for the national presidency. The repressive and tough profile that Morales cultivated during his years in government added to the ticket the idea of ​​a right "capable of facing social resistance".

Members of the Constituent Assembly took office on May 23 and, less than a month later, on June 16, approved the constitutional reform. There was no prior information for the population that the vote was being held, nor was the debate published in the media. The approval of the new constitution was carried out by the constituents of Morales' governing party and the opposition Justicialist Party. Constituents on the left withdrew from the vote, denouncing the pact between the two forces.  

What does the reform say?

"To understand what is happening in Jujuy, the first thing to understand is that Governor Morales has introduced a series of changes in the judiciary, which means that he controls all public power in the province", says Manuel Tufro, director of the Violence and Security from the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) for Brazil de Fato .

“In this new constitution, there is a very important article that the provincial government says is a new right, but that is a lie. It says that 'the right to peace must be guaranteed.' right to protest. We, as a human rights organization, along with other organizations, have denounced that this goes against the national constitution and the international treaties to which Argentina is a signatory, which guarantee the right to social protest", adds Manuel Tufro.

In addition, indigenous peoples claim that the reform allows the provincial state to make use of the lands that belong to them for various extractive projects, such as lithium mining. And they demand that the right to communal property that these peoples have over their lands be respected.  

The popular rebellion of Jujuy: the Jujeñazo

"The province has been going through a conflict over teachers' salaries for months now. We are the lowest paid teachers in the whole country, with a salary that is equivalent to 1/3 of the basic food basket", said Claudia Pinela, from the board of directors of the teachers' union. high school teachers, to Brasil de Fato .

"The first mobilization of teachers was on June 5. That was the starting point of the protests. At that time, the government had not given any information about the constitutional reform. However, little by little, we learned that the reform was aimed at stifle the right to protest. Throughout his government, Morales ruled with an iron fist limiting the right to demonstrate. That is why, during the teachers' strike, the slogan "Increase wages, lower reforms" began to appear. spread across different sectors that sympathized with the teachers' struggle", adds Claudia.

Finally, in the midst of this climate of social conflict, on June 16, in a closed session and without prior discussion with the population, the provincial government and the Peronist opposition reached an agreement and approved the constitutional reform. Mobilizations against the undebated change multiplied and the government responded with harsh repression, resulting in two people losing their eyes and hundreds being arrested and injured.

"The government's order was to sow fear. They ordered hospitals not to treat people who arrived wounded by bullets from the repression. They also started to arrest people in unmarked vans, without any identification. take them away", reminds Claudia.

The repressive practices in the province since then have been so great that several human rights organizations have begun to denounce the situation. The UN Human Rights Office expressed its concern and the representative in South America of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jan Jarab, made an urgent appeal for the crackdown to be stopped.

"Currently, there are more than 150 people accused of criminal offenses and more than 100 others who received misdemeanors with fines of millions of dollars. The crime of these people was to participate in the protests", adds Claudia Pinela.

The mobilizations continued. Several workers' strikes, roadblocks and mobilizations have taken place since then. In this context, the native peoples gathered in the Third Malon de la Paz and decided to move from Jujuy to Buenos Aires, the center of political power in Argentina.

Editing: Rodrigo Durão Coelho