For the Wichi Territory
Argentina in focus ⬿

For the Wichi Territory

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December 1, 2007
 

This ten-minute video, “Por el Territorio Wichi” (For the Wichi Territory) brings you to the heart of Indigenous struggle. It looks at the Wichi of northern Argentina, who’s land has been steadily invaded over the last 100 years.

Since then, loggers have felled their forest, and settlers have introduced cattle. These cattle not only turn the land already stolen from the Wichí into desert, but also break into the tiny plots of land which the Wichí have managed to hold on to, destroying their crops. The Wichí have been left almost landless and without their livelihood. The local Salta authorities have, since 1966, repeatedly promised to recognise Indian territory in their province – but have failed to fulfil one single promise. On the contrary, they have worked with the landowners to continue to deny the Wichí their land, handing it to settlers, and authorising its deforestation. The local government wants to build a trunk road connecting the bridge into Paraguay to the state highway system, opening up the area to further commercialisation.

Like nearly every Indigenous Nation in the world, the Wichi are doing everything they can to defend the land and ensure Wichi life can continue for generations to come.

“The indigenous said that no, it’s over. No more lies. If we have to die we will die in the place where we have always lived. It seems like a war on the Indians, “the campaign of the desert….”

For the Wichi Territory


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