By Laura Guarinoni
Buenos Aires, Aug 20 (EFE).- Several Argentine Indigenous communities have been evicted from their lands in recent days in a new chapter of a long-standing conflict, while Javier Milei’s government is pushing for a private property law that would make evictions from ancestral territories even easier.
The evictions and attempted evictions of Indigenous communities in the provinces of Neuquén (south), Jujuy (north), and Misiones (northeast) share a common thread: disputes between registered property rights and claims of ancestral indigenous possession.
The situation in Argentina worsened with the Dec. 2024 repeal of Law 26,160, which declared a territorial emergency, suspended evictions, and established a registry of communal lands. Added to this is the debate in Congress over a proposal that, if approved, would allow for expedited evictions.
The Mapuche communities of Kinxikew and Melo, which have inhabited an ancestral territory between Bariloche and Villa La Angostura in southern Argentina for more than a century, faced an eviction operation on Wednesday involving hundreds of police officers, including members of the Special Operations Group.
The “lonco” (Mapuche authority) Lucas Melo Piñén summarized the situation to EFE: “My father is buried here, and my grandfather was murdered here. They want to drive us out with a fake title. These lands belong to us; we have evidence of prior occupation and recognition by the state.”
The National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI), responsible for designing and implementing public policies for indigenous peoples and guaranteeing their rights, recognized the Kinxikew community’s current, traditional, and public occupation in 2023. However, the government did not grant the community a title deed.
The litigation was initiated over 15 years ago by a Belgian family named Broers holds a property title since the 1970s, a title accepted by the courts to justify the eviction. This is the “fake” title that Melo Piñén refers to in his conversation with EFE.
Greed for resources on ancestral lands
On Aug. 10, police evicted families from the Santa Rosa community in Humahuaca, Jujuy, during an operation involving more than a hundred armed officers, the firing of rubber bullets, and resulting in several arrests.
The conflict stemmed from a dispute over boundaries and a cadastral map that the community considers erroneous, as well as from individuals claiming private ownership, including companies with interests in mining or real estate, backed by the provincial judiciary.
Natalia Morales, a Jujuy legislator from the Left Front, told EFE that this case is part of a complex context.
“The conflict is ongoing due to the geopolitical interests surrounding natural common goods, such as lithium and water. Jujuy serves as a testing ground for what Milei wants to expand nationwide,” she said.
Days earlier, on Jul. 28, some 50 police officers evicted the Mbya Guaraní Puente Quemado II community in Garuhapé, in the northwestern province of Misiones, at the request of forestry businessman Alfredo Ruff.
The defense filed an appeal, and two days later the eviction order was overturned, allowing the families to return to their land.
This particular conflict combines a land dispute with forestry interests in a province where the logging industry plays a central economic role.
Milei’s law on “express evictions”
The three cases described have occurred while the Argentine Congress debates the Law on the Inviolability of Private Property, which has already been approved by the Senate and is awaiting approval by the House of Representatives.
The bill establishes that urban and rural evictions can be processed through summary proceedings (of an extraordinary nature) and provides for the possibility of early repossession of the property, known as an “express eviction.”
Argentina’s Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) has warned of the consequences of expediting evictions without first resolving the land titles for indigenous territories.
According to CELS, the private property law proposed by the Milei administration could exacerbate conflicts, given that communal property is already recognized by the Constitution, and could also violate international treaties signed by Argentina regarding indigenous rights. EFE
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