Support for the Chubut AGUAzo, against the mega-mining offensive in the province of Chubut, Argentina
The CLACSO Working Groups «Political Ecology(ies) from the South/Abya-Yala», «Critical Latin American Geographical Thought», «Critical Studies of Rural Development» and «Borders, Regionalization and Globalization», We support the struggle of the people of Chubut against the mega-mining offensive of the governments of the Province of Chubut and the Argentine national government, and we call for the broadest debate from our places about the future of the planet and how to stop the mega-mining and extractivist offensive that is spreading in many countries of the continent.
After almost twenty years of the validity of Law 5001/03, which prohibits open-pit metallic mining and the use of cyanide in mining production processes in the Province of Chubut, the provincial government, presided over by Mariano Arcioni and with the support of the Argentine national government headed by Alberto Fernández, proposed to address the draft Law 128/20 on Mining Zoning on Friday, February 5.
This is a project long awaited by large transnational corporations to enable large-scale mining on the plateau, and it lacks social license. It is a project rejected by the entire population of Chubut: human rights organizations, Indigenous communities, socio-environmental assemblies united in the Union of Assemblies of Communities of Chubut, scientific and academic sectors (CONICET, the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco, the National Technological University and the University of Chubut, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology), professional associations, social movements, farmers and Indigenous organizations, community media, the Catholic and Methodist churches, tourism agencies, wildlife rangers, environmental guide associations, staff from the Ministry of Tourism and Protected Areas, labor and political organizations, and the multisectoral feminist and dissident groups. This rejection was accompanied on Thursday the 4th and Friday the 5th by a provincial general strike called by labor unions.
It was also supported by a damning report on the zoning project prepared by the technical committee of the National Patagonian Center of CONICET, presented on February 4th[1].
We also call for support for the second Popular Initiative project, which, backed by the signatures of nearly forty thousand residents of the province (almost 10% of the population), aims to broaden the scope of Law 5001 by prohibiting other chemicals, uranium mining, and all steps prior to mining operations, from the prospecting and exploration stages. This project was submitted to two committees in the provincial legislature in December, and they have six months to issue a ruling. A precautionary measure filed in court to prevent the project from being considered, and the suspension of the Chamber of Deputies session on February 5th due to a lack of agreement in the Natural Resources and Environment Committee, which also decided to suspend the session, do not quell the conflict. They merely postpone its resolution and strengthen the resistance and the demand that this project and similar initiatives be definitively shelved. Just as happened in December 2019 in Mendoza, when its population defended Law 7722, the water guardian law, in the event that the zoning project is discussed and approved, we will be supporting new legal actions and mobilizations to prevent its enactment.
5 of February 2021
CLACSO Working Groups
Political ecology(ies) from the South/Abya-Yala
Latin American critical geographical thought
Critical studies of rural development
Borders, regionalization and globalization
[1] https://cenpat.conicet.gov.ar/zonificacion-minera-en-chubut-una-mirada-interdisciplinaria/
This statement expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
