Indigenous women are at the forefront of protests in Argentina against recent legislation that tramples on their land and community rights, restricts protests and freedom of assembly, and hands power to mining companies keen to exploit their lithium-rich homelands.
The protests started in the north-western province of Jujuy, which borders Bolivia and Chile, but resistance has spread to Buenos Aires, where many women remain camped out in front of the Palace of Justice, home of the country’s Supreme Court.
Jujuy has a large Indigenous population – almost 8% of residents identify as Indigenous, triple the provincial average – and also falls into the so-called “lithium triangle”. The extensive salt flats of northern Argentina, northern Chile and southern Bolivia contain the majority of the world’s reserves of lithium. Nicknamed ‘white gold’, the mineral is in high demand for use in batteries and the transition to so-called ‘clean’ energies, but mining it demands vast amounts of water and damages ecosystems.
