JUJUY – The indigenous peoples that inhabit the territory of the province of Jujuy are immersed in a plan of struggle. The objective: to obtain the annulment of a constitutional reform that they consider infringement of their rights. The protest actions have been taking place since the Constituent Convention began to meet on May 22. They escalated later on the night of June 15, when the provincial ruling party and part of the Justicialista Front approved the reform.
On June 14 and 15, the indigenous communities began a walk to the provincial capital, San Salvador. They called it the third Malón de la Paz, because it is based on the same claims as the historic Malón de la Paz of 1946 . At that time, they walked more than 2,400 kilometers to reach Buenos Aires to demand the titling of the territories.
To this Third Malón they added current slogans: the rejection of the exploration and exploitation of lithium in the Salinas Grandes basin and the rejection of the “unconstitutional” reform.
IN DENFESE OF WATER
“They are eliminating many rights from the previous Constitution,” said Verónica Chávez, president of the Tres Pozos Community, of the Kolla People. She is a spokesperson for the communities of Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc. They oppose the exploitation of lithium because they understand that it could leave them without water for consumption, which is scarce in this part of the Puna.
These communities began to walk from the salt flats on June 14. In Purmamarca they met with others who came from the Cochinoca department, and from La Quiaca , in the Yavi department, in the extreme north of Jujuy. Together they marched towards San Salvador.
On the other side of the map, from the Yungas area of the Ledesma department, members of the Cherenta Community, of the Ava Guaraní People, marched. “We are against the unconstitutional reform that Gerardo Morales and Minister Natalia Sarapura made against indigenous peoples behind closed doors. There was no prior, free and informed consultation, as it should be. That is why the brothers are marching against it and in favor of the teachers of Jujuy”, the mburuvicha Gabriela Situé told Presentes . She added that in Jujuy 60% of the population is indigenous. That is why the claims are crossed, they are also part of the teaching that demands salary improvements.
The Abra Pampa column was fired by Nicanor López, one of the elders who participated in that first Malón de la Paz, in 1946. He wished them “a happy walk”. “With crossed hands we do nothing. We have to have a good heart, of good thinking to be able to work”. “Because we are from here in the Puna they want to dismantle us . They want to see us with nothing . So we have to fight , this fight began in the first one (Malón de la Paz) and the fight will continue,” he assured.
In Maimará, a town in the department of Tilcara, in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, another elderly woman, already close to turning 85, waited for the travelers coming from Cochinoca and La Quiaca. A retired teacher, indigenous herself, Erminda Mamaní also warns of the regression implied by the new Constitution of Jujuy: “it has points that under no circumstances can we accept as citizens,” she assured.
“They take away our rights”
The original peoples that inhabit the territory today called Jujuy oppose the constitutional reform in the first place because, even though the changes affect the rights of this population, there was no prior, free and informed consultation, as required by Argentine regulations.
Among the reformed points, the project of the provincial government modified article 36 of the Constitution, “right to private property”. The text that was incorporated into the new Constitution is addressed to the original peoples, who in their vast majority do not have property titles, although they have the ancestral occupation of their territory. In many cases, they are under pressure from individuals who have never occupied the land, but have property titles.
The reform provides for the incorporation of “mechanisms and fast and expeditious routes that protect private property and restore any alteration in the possession, use and enjoyment of the assets in favor of its owner.” Likewise, non-consensual occupation will be considered a “serious violation of the right to property”, and “the conditions for eviction and for the affected property right holder(s) to be able to exercise the rights that assist them in a immediately, even when the authors of the non-consensual occupation attribute the representation or rights of the people”
Ancestral lands in private hands
“Now with this Constitution we have no right to anything, the resources are all in the government,” said Verónica Chávez. “It harms us as indigenous peoples, because they take away our rights,” added Gabriela Situé. She recalled, precisely, that “many communities do not have papers for our territories, they would take away the ancestral land of our grandparents who left us, and it is where our ancestral remedies are also, because we are guardians of that, of the environment.”
The Cherenta community, located in the rural area of Libertador General San Martín, does not own their territory. “We don’t have papers because most of the land belongs to the Ledesma company,” Gabriela recalled. Precisely, the Mill was established in the territory of the Guaraní Nation.
Erminda Mamaní, who belongs to the Cochinoca People and as a teacher taught in the rural area of Abra Pampa, Humahuaca and Tumbaya, also emphasized that the new Constitution “would give the authorities the right to do whatever they want with the lands that do not have titles”, which happens with most of the community territory. For this reason, she said that she accompanies this fight “for a reason of justice.”
“If the people of Puno don’t have land, where are they going to live? And if the lithium miners come and leave us without water, where are they going to expel them? That’s what they’re thinking about. Right now people are realizing, they are becoming aware of what can happen with this government reform, ” he reflected.
Source: AGENCIA PRESENTES
