Against the repression in Andalgalá, Catamarca, Argentina and the extractive violence against the rights of the people

The CLACSO Working Groups Political ecology(ies) from the south/Abya Yala, Indigenous peoples, autonomies and collective rights, Latin American critical geographical thought, Borders, regionalization and globalization, Disputed Territorialities and R-existences y Critical studies of rural development They denounce the extractive violence against the rights of peoples.

Once again, the territories of our peoples are violated by the extractive voracity of foreign companies, in complicit alliance with governments that, instead of exercising their role of popular representation, assume the interests of corporations as their own.

This time, the events are taking place in the city of Andalgalá (Catamarca Province, Argentina), where the population has been rejecting the construction of a large-scale mining project (Agua Rica) for over 15 years. The project is being developed by the Canadian company Yamana Gold, now partnered with the Swiss transnational Glencore. The first instance of repression occurred in 2005 when the company and the government staged a protest, ostensibly to inform the community about the project. Then, on February 15, 2010, a road blockade organized by residents to prevent the passage of mining equipment was violently dispersed and repressed, leaving over a hundred people injured and dozens hospitalized. Since then, every Saturday, the people of Andalgalá march peacefully through the city center to express their opposition to the project. On April 10th, the 584th march had a special element: the city was occupied by 300 members of the National Gendarmerie, and rumors circulated that the mining company would attempt to bring machinery into the mine area. The march, which had always been peaceful, overwhelmed the organizers, and there were physical acts of protest at the Canadian company's office. With hypocrisy and cynicism, the government condemned the "violence" and then immediately deployed an intimidating police operation, militarizing the area, carrying out violent and unfounded raids on families' homes, and arbitrarily arresting long-time defenders of water and the Andalgalá River. The social protest was used as a pretext for a fierce escalation that was not only unjust but also illegitimate.

The facts reveal that the legal security that governments assure to companies grants them a virtual status of impunity (in fact, Yamana Gold is operating in flagrant violation of National Law 26639 -Minimum Budgets for Glacier Protection- and ignoring a resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation that paralyzes its operations due to an Amparo Action filed by the neighbors), while its counterpart is the violation of the most basic rights of the affected populations.

This practice constitutes a factor in the systematic violation and structural degradation of democracy and basic human and environmental rights wherever an extractive project is established. This is the true source of the violence, not the acts of popular rebellion in defense of their territories, the material and spiritual foundation of their ways of life.

As public educators and social scientists whose work is dedicated to the democratization of our society, we cannot fail to warn that it is a grave epistemic and political error to confuse a political demonstration with mere acts of vandalism. Social uprisings are inherently political events through which populations react to unbearable situations of oppression and deprivation.

The criminal treatment that is intended to be given to the uprising of the people of Andalgalá is absolutely counterproductive to paving the way for a just and democratic resolution of a conflict generated by a large-scale extractive project that intends to operate without the social license of its inhabitants, and which constitutes a real and manifest threat against their present and future territory.

The use of public force to protect the exclusive private interests of foreign corporations is a blatant case of misappropriation of the popular mandate and a serious symptom of the structural flaws in our systems of government and justice. We strongly condemn this conduct and the repressive treatment of legitimate social protest. We join our voices to demand that the local government immediately rectify its repressive actions, cease the criminalization of protest, demilitarize the city of Andalgalá, and release those detained, in order to channel the conflict toward a peaceful and just resolution that respects the will of the people.

Unfortunately, we observe that beyond the polarization currently visible on the regional political scene, extractivism remains firmly entrenched as “state policy,” even against the will of the people. Both right-wing and self-proclaimed progressive governments continue to encourage the extractive plundering of the region's natural resources in pursuit of a colonial ideal of “development.” The economic, political, and environmental history of our region unequivocally demonstrates that the prevailing primary export model, a colonial wound in our economies, is the root of our structural dependency, the depletion of our territories, the impoverishment of our people, and the oligarchic concentration of power that dominates both our societies and the global landscape.

We urgently call upon the governments of the region to listen to the cry of our people to end extractivism and open democratic pathways towards ecologically sustainable, economically just, and politically autonomous transitions.

April 15th 2021
CLACSO Working Groups
Political ecology(ies) from the south/Abya Yala
Indigenous peoples, autonomies and collective rights
Latin American critical geographical thought
Borders, regionalization and globalization
Disputed Territorialities and R-existences
Critical studies of rural development

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.