The Chamber of Deputies of Mendoza voted in favor of a project that establishes that the Mapuches “should not be considered original Argentine peoples.” The initiative of the provincial government accumulated 30 votes in favor, 8 against, 6 abstentions and 4 absences. The legislators expressed their “concern” about the actions of the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI) regarding the conflict in the province.
The text approved during the session repudiates the National Decree 805/21 that establishes the suspension of evictions and the vacancy of disputed lands and instructed the INAI to carry out the technical-legal-cadastral survey of the situation of the areas occupied by the communities natives.
“Based on the scientific, historical, anthropological contributions provided at the time of the treatment in commission by specialists in the indigenous issue, that the Mapuches should not be considered original Argentine peoples in the terms of art. 75 sub. 17 of the National Constitution and International Treaties”, ensures the resolution presented by the head of the Bloc of PRO Deputies in Mendoza, Gustavo Cairo.
In this sense, the initiative expresses the “repudiation of Decree No. 850/21 of the National Executive Power, which extends and modifies Law 26,160, since it is null and void and was issued against the division of powers”, and raises the “concern about the procedure carried out by the INAI in Resolutions 36/2023; 42/2023 and 47/2023 of said body, omitting the due participation of the Province of Mendoza, Municipalities involved and third parties with legitimate interests and of the subsequent acts that derive from these”.
Through his social networks, the national deputy for Mendoza, Omar de Marchi celebrated the approval of the project by stating that “Mendoza is not negotiated.”
“Today, through a project promoted by Gustavo Cairo at the beginning of February, the Provincial Legislature recognized that the Mapuches are not Argentines. We will continue to defend Mendoza and we hope that justice will respond to our complaint to INAI,” said the opposition legislator.
The legislators who stood against it were Bruno Ceschin, Valentina Morán, Laura Chazarreta, Edgardo González, Laura Soto, Natalia Vicencio, Néstor Márquez (FdT) and José Luis Ramón (Protector). In addition, there were 6 abstentions from deputies Verónica Valverde, Marisa Garnica, Duilio Pezzutti, Roxana Escudero, Julio Villafañe (FdT) and Emanuel Fugazzotto (PV); and 4 absent from the vote: Omar Félix, Juan Pablo Gulino (FdT), Jorge Difonso (UP), and Sandra Astudillo, with leave request.
The deputy José Luis Ramón (Protector), who chairs the Rights and Guarantees commission, countered that the INAI “does not recognize the possession, nor the property title, nor is it ceding any type of land that has the value of depriving us of Mendoza, of these Mendoza who are the Mapuche people, of the economic resources that the Constitution of Mendoza says that the superficial do not have”.
Likewise, the legislator stated that he refuses “the existence of each and every one of these communities in the south of the province”and stressed that “what was recognized for them is the traditional, public and current occupation of the territory; What does not guarantee or grant any property rights, it is about the recognition of community occupation for a cultural issue, not for a private property system”.
