IPS-English ARGENTINA: Kolla Indians Fight to Protect Their Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 14:53:22 -0700 ROMAIPS LA DV HD PR IN MD SU=20 ARGENTINA: Kolla Indians Fight to Protect Their Land Marcela Valente ABRA PAMPA, Argentina, Jun 8 (IPS) - =94We are here to take care of the l= and, because we depend on it for a living,=94 said Andr=E9s Sajama, caciq= ue (chief) of Queta, a Kolla indigenous community in the northwestern Arg= entine province of Jujuy. =94We don=B4t want to block mining projects, bu= t we won=B4t allow them to take away what little we have left,=94 he told= IPS. Sajama forms part of the Jujuy Commission of Indigenous Participation (CP= I), which won a historic victory in May when the provincial administrativ= e disputes court ordered the state to grant land titles to 120 Kolla comm= unities in the country's Puna plateau region and in the Quebrada de Humah= uaca, a long, narrow mountain valley. The land where the Kolla indigenous people have lived for centuries is co= veted by agribusiness concerns keen on extending the agricultural frontie= r beyond central Argentina to the northwestern part of the country. Also interested in the land are investors who want to build upscale hotel= s, and mining companies eager to explore the Puna region and the Quebrada= de Humahuaca, where there are deposits of gold, copper and mercury. La Puna, an arid highland region shared by Argentina and Bolivia and loca= ted at 3,500 metres above sea level on average, is bordered on the east b= y the Quebrada de Humahuaca, which runs north to south. The United Nation= s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) added the va= lley to its list of World Heritage Sites in 2003. In the Puna region and the Quebrada de Humahuaca, which comprise 80 perce= nt of the provincial territory, more than 20,000 indigenous families grow= subsistence crops and raise sheep, goats and llamas. Up to now, the state had recognised their right to their ancestral land, = but land titling efforts have been delayed despite the continuous demands= by local indigenous communities. In 1996, the national government granted the provincial authorities 1.5 m= illion pesos -- equivalent at the time to 1.5 million dollars -- to regul= arise the land tenure status of the local communities and families. But s= o far, land titles have only been extended for three plots of land. In 2003, the CPI filed legal action in the provincial courts to demand th= at the government immediately fulfill its commitment to legalise the comm= unities' land tenure. But it was not until May that the administrative di= sputes court set a 15-month deadline for the land titling to be completed= =2E According to the verdict, the local communities and families have the rig= ht to be consulted about initiatives for exploiting the natural resources= found in their territory, and to participate in the debates on the proje= cts' environmental impact and on the distribution of the benefits. The Quebrada de Humahuaca was named a World Heritage Site because it foll= ows the line of a major cultural route, the Camino Inca, and shows substa= ntial archaeological evidence of its use as a major channel for trade ove= r the past 10,000 years. Silver was transported along the route, from wha= t is today Bolivia (to the north) to the R=EDo de la Plata or River Plate= - separating Argentina and Uruguay - to the south, where it was shipped = out to Europe. According to UNESCO, =94It features visible traces of prehistoric hunter-= gatherer communities, of the Inca Empire (15th to 16th centuries) and of = the fight for independence in the 19th and 20th centuries.=94 The indigenous people living in the area today are the descendants of the= native peoples that formed part of the Inca Empire. =94We are a living heritage of humanity, and they are trying to sell us,=94= Rosario Andrada, a member of the CPI and the leading plaintiff in the la= nd-titling case, told IPS. =94This entire region should be protected,=94 she said, gesturing towards= the ochre-coloured hills of the Puna region. =94Nevertheless, an investo= r from Switzerland who shows up with money to build a hotel is allowed to= do so without any problem.=94 =94We are not opposed to the mining companies, but we need title deeds to= ensure that our children can inherit our land, and to be able to partici= pate in the debate on natural resources,=94 said Sajama.=20 Indigenous peoples' right to their ancestral land has been enshrined in t= he Argentine constitution since 1994, and was also mentioned in the May r= uling by the provincial administrative disputes court. According to the 2001 census, indigenous people make up close to four per= cent of Argentina's population of 37 million. =94The Jujuy provincial government tells us that we are opposed to devel= opment. But I ask what development they are talking about when a mining c= ompany shows up to mine gold using cyanide, while nearby the children of = the Puna region continue to die of malnutrition?=94 remarked Andrada, the= president of the Warmi Sayasjunqo Foundation, a local group of Kolla ind= igenous women. Andrada pointed out that the arid land in the Puna region and the Quebrad= a de Humahuaca is still under the control of the local communities, becau= se the Kolla families =94have not left.=94 =94Our grandparents put up with all kinds of abuses and we are not going = to leave either. We will continue to defend our right to our land,=94 she= said. But she knows it won=B4t be easy. =94In other circumstances, the provinci= al government would have immediately appealed the verdict. But it so happ= ens that a constitutional reform that would allow the governor to run for= reelection is under debate, so the authorities are being careful to avoi= d unpopular stances that would alienate the poor,=94 said the indigenous = activist. Queta, Sajama's village, is home to 32 families who are praying that the = ruling will hold and that they will finally be granted permanent title to= their land. The livelihood of the indigenous people of Queta is based on subsistence = agriculture and raising sheep, goats and llamas. In the winter, the tempe= ratures plunge to 15 degrees below zero Celsius. =94Now (as the southern = hemisphere winter approaches) we are butchering our animals and selling t= he meat because the pastures have become scarce,=94 said the chief. There is only a primary school in the village. In order to attend seconda= ry school, Sajama's eight children, aged nine to 24, live on their own 45= km from Queta in a traditional =94rancho=94 or adobe and straw hut in Ab= ra Pampa, the main town in the Puna region. =94There is gold, copper and mercury in our region,=94 said the indigenou= s leader. =94But the mining companies show up with their technology and s= hortly afterwards our animals start to die, poisoned. How can it be possi= ble that they pollute and carry away the region's wealth, while we are le= ft without even a school for our children to attend?=94 Sajama said his mother took part in the =94Mal=F3n de la Paz=94 in 1946 -= - an indigenous peace march against the exploitative feudal system in the= impoverished rural areas of northwestern Argentina. Back then, indigenous families had to pay large landowners in livestock o= r labour in order to gain the right to use the land that their communitie= s had lived on for centuries. They also had to buy their food and other supplies from the landowner's s= tore, and if they were caught with merchandise from another supplier, it = was confiscated. Most of the families were caught up in debt bondage, and= basically worked as slaves for the local landholders. But in 1946, the indigenous communities organised, and 174 Kolla Indians = =66rom the provinces of Jujuy and Salta set out on a 1,800-km march to Bu= enos Aires, on foot and by mule, sleeping under the stars. It took them t= hree months to reach the capital. In Buenos Aires the government made many promises that came to nothing. H= owever, Sajama recalls that the state did reassert control over the land,= the landowners were indemnified, the property was divided up, and the in= digenous people were granted provisional titles to their ancestral land. But 60 years later, the Kolla indigenous communities still do not have pe= rmanent title to the land where their parents lived, and their grandparen= ts, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents before them.=20 ***** + HEALTH-ARGENTINA: Women's Care Blossoms at the Desert's Edge (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D33523) + HEALTH: Northwestern Argentina - a =94Paradise=94 Only for the Tourists (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D33456) + DEVELOPMENT-ARGENTINA: The Forgotten North (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D32351) + ARGENTINA: Indigenous Villages on the Auction Block - June 2005 (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3D29235) + Quebrada de Humahuaca - World Heritage Site (http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=3D31&id_site=3D1116) (END/IPS/LA DV HD IN PR MD SU/TRASP-SW/MV/AC/DCL/06) =20 =3D 06081459 ORP008 NNNN