“Water is worth more than lithium”, “No to reform! », we read on Thursday 20 July, on the placards brandished in the demonstrations that bring together several thousand people in the province of Jujuy, in northwest Argentina, and in Buenos Aires. That night, the region commemorated the “night of the apagon”“the night of the blackout”: the power outages orchestrated in 1976 by the military junta then in power, to carry out the kidnapping, detention or murder of 400 people in the province, of whom 33 are still missing.
This time, with traditional commemorative gestures, organized for the 47thAnd anniversary of this night of terror, new requests have been added. The indigenous communities of the province are protesting against a reform of the local constitution, which they believe is being carried out at a rapid pace by the governor of the province, Gerardo Morales. The amendments adopted in three weeks, against the three months of debate initially foreseen, make indigenous communities fear that they will be less protected against the advance of lithium extraction in the region.
In mid-June, hundreds of people descended from the puna Argentina, Andean highlands, towards San Salvador de Jujuy, the provincial capital, to protest against this reform. On the day of its adoption, June 20, the demonstrations organized in front of the Constituent Assembly had been brutally repressed, with 96 injured according to the local authorities.
“This constitutional process took place in an “express” way, with very little consultation of the indigenous communities, explains Pablo Gargiulo, lawyer member of Andhes, association of lawyers of northern Argentina. This is a sensitive subject because Argentina has signed up to a number of international treaties and conventions that recognize their right to be informed of measures that may harm their interests. »
Searches and arrests
This non-consultation, defended by the local government, would be in contradiction not only with Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, ratified by Argentina, but also with the national constitution, which prevails over the constitutions of the provinces.
Particularly denigrated, the new article 67 sanctions the prohibition of cutting “roads and streets as well as any other disturbance of the right to free movement of persons”. By blocking the roads leading to Chile and Bolivia as the most common forms of direct action by indigenous communities, the introduction of this new law severely limits their possibilities to demonstrate and make their claims visible.
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