Photo composition of Laguna Torre (Argentina) and a protest against a dam in Patagonia. Photo: Al Mayadeen.
By Stella Calloni – Feb 11, 2022
While the Argentine government maintains its protest against its British counterpart over the extension of the military base located in the Malvinas Islands archipelago, colonially occupied by Great Britain since 1833, a serious incident between civil guards of a foreign businessman who illegally purchased more than 12,000 hectares in the Patagonian province of Río Negro, Argentina, and protesters who rejected the usurpation of Lago Escondido, a paradisiacal site and a reserve of drinking water, exposed the alienation and occupation of the extremely rich territory of Argentine Patagonia.
Expedition Marches for the sovereignty of Lago Escondido began six years ago, led by the Interactive Foundation to Promote the Culture of Water (FIPCA). Protesters must now cross fords and mountains, as British businessman Joe Lewis has closed all access roads to the historic lake.
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Some 20 people from different social and union organizations joined FIPCA in a mobilization last Sunday led by former lieutenant Julio Cesar Urién, who was detained during the last military dictatorship for his relationship with Peronism.
The group was violently confronted by armed civil guards on horseback as the demonstrators were traveling along the only road that is open, according to the judicial decision.
Among the demonstrators was the doctor and Peronist leader Jorge Rachid, also an adviser to the government of the province of Buenos Aires, who was knocked off his feet.
This highlighted what is happening in Río Negro and other Patagonian provinces, where British companies that initially pretended to be Argentine, illegally bought large tracts of land. This is the case of Benetton, which, with the complicity of the Carlos Menem government in the 1990s, acquired two million hectares in the south and today intends to encroach on the scarce lands that have been left to the Mapuche community, which has been resisting the usurpation for years.
This is a story of the 21st century, which seems to refer to other times. Patagonia is threatened by British, Israeli, and US citizens. The businessman Lewis is the fifth-richest person in the world and built a landing strip where state-of-the-art warplanes can arrive, as has been denounced here for a long time.
Former President Mauricio Macri, a friend of Lewis, spent vacations at the businessman’s farm when he governed this country, and during his administration the lawsuits against this illegal occupation since 2011 were ignored, filed away, and forgotten.
Yesterday, Buenos Aires was the scene of another Expedition March for the Sovereignty of the Escondido Lake in front of the Casa de Río Negro [seat of the provincial government] using the slogans “English out of our territory!” and “the Malvinas are Argentine, Lake Escondido also.” The demonstrators claim local sovereignty over the entire territory of Patagonia, and in the same way the issue of persecution of the Mapuche people—who are being cornered within a few hectares—was revived, after the former minister of security of Macri’s government, Patricia Bullrich, described them as “terrorists.”
Yesterday’s march expressed solidarity with those who fight in the south for complete sovereignty. The deputy of the Parliament of the South, Hernán Harispe, recalled that sovereignty is not defended in pieces, and that this occupation entails the creation of a colonial enclave in Patagonia.
The disappearance and murder of Santiago Maldonado, a young artisan who supported the Mapuche in August 2017, as well as the murder of Rafael Nahuel in November 2017, whose community defended their right to usurped land, were also recalled in local media.
The call was also supported by Peronist organizations that denounced the criminal activity of Nicolás van Ditmar, an Argentine businessman who manages Lewis’ ranch, who has even threatened, with his paramilitary forces, judges who have acted in defense of national sovereignty in the south of the country.
Featured image: Photo composition of Laguna Torre (Argentina) and a protest against a dam in Patagonia. Photo: Al Mayadeen.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
