By Candela Palacios (CS Staff)

By Clemente Flores (Kolla)
Photos by Joaquin Zaldivar and Soledad Sede

Today, we take the floor on behalf of various Indigenous communities from the territory currently known as the Argentine Republic, who unfortunately could not be present here. We seek to convey their words in order to make known the persecution, violence, and dispossession that our brothers and sisters are suffering because of an extractivism that is disguised as "green", but which in reality responds to the same capitalist logic that has justified the destruction of our communities for more than five centuries. 

By Candela Palacios (CS Staff)

By Candela Palacios (CS Staff)

“Dad, tell me again, why did you have to go so far away?”

“We hoped that way the claim for our land would finally be heard, my son.”

“But is the land not already ours?” 

“Yes, son. It always has been. But some people want this fact to be forgotten, as we ourselves have been.” *

On June 15, 2023, the Constitutional Convention of the province of Jujuy, in the north of Argentina, approved a constitutional reform that severely rolls back achievements made at the national level in terms of human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights. The reform also criminalizes the act of protesting. 

For centuries, the Indigenous Peoples who live in the north of Argentina in the province of Jujuy have maintained their culture and ways of life differently from people from other parts of the country. In Jujuy, there are more than 400 Indigenous communities, a majority of whom are Kolla Peoples, but also Guaraní and Oclolla.

After years of pressure from students and community groups, in April 2017, Harvard University announced that it will  “pause” its investments in certain fossil fuel interests - including minerals, oil, and gas - citing the pressing problem of climate change as a reason to reevaluate their investment portfolio.