The Third Malón de la Paz, which brings together a hundred native communities, began its walk a week ago in Jujuy, on the border with Bolivia, and covered more than 1,800 kilometers on foot and by bus until reaching the Argentine capital on Day of the Pachamama in homage to “Mother Earth”. The march repeats the one carried out in 1946 by indigenous peoples claiming their ancestral territories.
The protesters demand that the national Congress approve the Indigenous Communal Property Law to define the territory of the aboriginal communities in the lands that they traditionally occupied and that they consider the basis of their material and spiritual subsistence.
The march in defense of “land, water and life” takes place in the midst of a turbulent political climate in Jujuy based on the constitutional reform promoted by Governor Gerardo Morales, a vice-presidential candidate for the largest opposition force. for the October elections, in which the ruling Peronism is gambling for power.
Sounding drums and amid chants, the protesters circulated through the streets shouting “Morales you are a thief, you stole the constitution.”
While the march against him was taking place, Morales declared himself “a militant of federalism and a man from the Great North. I know his problems and I know how to solve them, I already did it in Jujuy,” he published on his X social network account, formerly called Twitter.
The participants in the protest demand that Congress take the pertinent measures to intervene in that province, arguing that its authorities are persecuting those who question the reform of the provincial magna carta approved in June that unleashed a prolonged wave of protests from left-wing groups, unions and social and indigenous movements.
The modification of the constitution – which, among other things, penalizes protests that include roadblocks – had the support of a large part of the political forces, including Jujuy’s Peronism.
On the day of its promulgation, protesters set fire to official offices. Human rights organizations later denounced that the protest participants were excessively repressed by the police forces and dozens of them arbitrarily detained.
Morales blamed President Alberto Fernández and the social organizations that respond to Vice President and former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015) for the “extreme violence” in Jujuy.
Critics of the new constitution of Jujuy question that it criminalizes the right to protest by prohibiting blocking streets and routes and does not give enough space to the opinion of the original peoples on the use of the lands they inhabit and that are rich in lithium and other minerals.
A few days ago, more than 60 indigenous communities, the Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales and other organizations asked the Supreme Court of Jujuy to declare the new magna carta unconstitutional.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
