In an unusual measure, the most exclusive gated community in Bariloche It must remove its perimeter fencing up to the cadastral limits because, according to the justification, it is located within a space of territory that the National State recognized as a Mapuche community.
This is not the first and only dispute between the Arelauquen Golf & Country Club and the community Jawon one of the slopes of Cerro Otto, a few kilometers from the city of Río Negro.
The subrogative federal judge Silvina Dominguez intimidated the private neighborhood to modify its limits within a period of five days, by making room for a precautionary measure presented by the community after a negotiation between the parties in which there was no agreement.
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In her opinion, the magistrate ordered the neighborhood “to shift the perimeter fence that delimits its territory up to the cadastral limits that correspond to it, under penalty of imposing sanctions for each day of delay.”
The National Institute for Indigenous Affairs (INAI) recognized the current and traditional occupation of 304 hectares on the southern slope of Cerro Otto, part of which adjoins the private neighborhood. However, the perimeter zero is located within a supposed “ancestral territory” recognized to the community, which motivated the presentation of the precautionary measure.
The magistrate considered that Resolution 43/2021 issued by the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI) “recognizes the occupation current, traditional and public community of the lof che José Celestino Quijada belonging to the Mapuche people with respect to the community territory” that is georeferenced in the judicial file.
“From the Lofche José Celestino Quijada we communicate that the Federal Judge of SC of Bariloche, ordered the private neighborhood Arelauquen Golf & Country Club SA, that: ‘…within five (5) days of notification, proceed to move the perimeter fence that delimits its territory up to the cadastral limits that correspond to it, under penalty of imposing sanctions for each day of delay’”, indicates a statement from the Mapuche community.
The rivalry between the private neighborhood and the community drags on various conflict situations that were not settled with mutual agreements and resulted in legal proceedings. The neighborhood was accused of blocking -in 2007- the only access to the town, preventing the entry of vehicles to supply the families that reside there. After that blockade, families had to travel more than two hours to reach the territory.
The Justice then ordered that the 60 members of the community could access their territory through the same access that the members of the private neighborhood did, until an alternative and passable entrance is adapted.
In June 2021, the federal judge Gustavo Zapata had ordered the free movement of the community through the disputed area that connects with the Barrio Unión of the tourist town. The ruling was ratified by Federal Judge Silvana Domínguez the same year, who dismissed a request for annulment by the company. Now, federal justice has once again issued an order establishing a minimum term for the perimeter fences placed by Arelauquen to be removed.
Last month, the court ordered Arelauquen Golf & Country Club to “provide authorization to carry out the works aimed at ensuring -through the use of its own facilities- the connection of public services -drinking water and electricity- claimed by the community.
It was Judge Domínguez herself who handed down that sentence, based “on the human right to access to water and electricity, considering that they are violated and that for this reason the survival of the community is in danger.”
The community lawyer, Matías Schraer, announced that he intends to obtain the restitution of the pass and 30 hectares that the club would have appropriated. On the other hand, they will request the National State, the implementation of public services in the sector.
“The first measure we ask for is that the community can enter through Arelauquen to their territory and they granted it to us in 2021; then we ask for another one so that the national State and the country provide it with electricity and water, that although we won it, we are still waiting for it to be implemented,” Schraer told ANBariloche.
In addition, he recalled that “when Arelauquen bought a lot to enlarge his gated community, they cut off the community that had a public road and then, instead of placing the wire where the surveyor indicated, they occupied 30 more hectares that, precisely, is the only flat part of the territory of the community”.
“This precautionary resolution is added to those already obtained in the same case where the community sues the national State to recognize our territory of traditional occupation and Arelauquen for having usurped and fenced off part of our territory and for having illegally blocked the road that connected us. with the public highway, putting the subsistence of the community at risk,” said the statement from the group that has been suing the State for its recognition for 20 years.
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