Public Policies and Indigenous Territorial Rights in Argentina (2021-present)

Abstract

The work problematizes central social issues in indigenous matters, organization, access and use of the territory, from 2021 to the present in Argentina (February 2024). Through documentary analysis, interviews and participant observation, the positions of national legislators and national organizations of Indigenous Peoples were analyzed in the treatment of the extension of National Law 26,160 (2021) and reforms of territorial-environmental regulations (February 2024). The following were identified: the deepening of territorial conflicts and collusion of local political interests with extractivist sectors; irregular treatment of the extension of Law 26,160; criminalization of the Mapuche People; and destructuring of environmental protection regulations with foreignization of lands after the arrival of a far-right government administration. From Indigenous Peoples they maintained the indigenous policy of defense of ancestral community territories, opposing individualistic and extractivist logics. The indigenous issue faces new challenges in the face of denialist discourse, delegitimization of indigenous peoples and environmental-territorial protection.