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Mauricio Macri and Argentina's indigenous peoples
Argentinian president-elect promises to find solutions to Qom people land demands · Several indigenous organizations threw support behind defeated candidate Scioli during the election campaign
Before the election, 40 representatives of indigenous peoples had asked both candidates to guarantee the continuity and strengthening of public policies and collective rights of Argentina's first nations. The representatives were mainly leaders belonging to the Indigenous Participation Council (ICC), a body devised for the participation of indigenous peoples and established by the Argentinian government itself under Néster Kirchner's presidency in 2003.
No wonder then that those 40 representatives asked indigenous Argentinians to vote for Kirchnerist candidate Scioli. The representatives asked Scioli to promote a law on historical reparation relating to the ownership of lands, to give them a direct voice to the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs, and to grant full implementation of intercultural bilingual education.
The debate on indigenous rights went quite unnoticed over much of both candidates' campaigns. However, it was Macri -against what might seem from the ICC leaders' stance- who took two symbolic steps toward indigenous demands.
On the one side, Macri met Qom leader Félix Díaz, who has now been for 9 months camping in downtown Buenos Aires demanding a solution to a land issue affecting the Qom. Macri promised him to address the Qom's claim for the return of 7,000 hectares of ancestral indigenous territories in the province of Formosa, which according to the indigenous' representatives have been taken away by the Argentinian government.
On the other, Macri ended his election campaign in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, and indigenous-populated area where the conservative candidate participated in a Pachamama ritual -an action which did not spare him criticism- to ask, Macri himself said, "strength and wisdom" in his new job.
Front for Victory MPs reacted to Macri's somewhat surprising indigenous approach by introducing a bill on indigenous communal property in the Chamber of Deputies. Kirchnerist MPs argued that Scioli's victory would allow the development of the bill, which could in turn meet Qom demands.
In relation to other indigenous peoples, Macri took no explicit stance. The then-candidate, in a veiled criticism of Argentinian president Cristina Fernández's policies, said he wanted all native peoples to enjoy direct representation to the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs -the same demand the pro-Scioli ICC indigenous leaders were requesting.
So in general terms, indigenous organizations which during the campaign took sides for one or other candidate, did so for Scioli, either because they thought he was a safe bet or because they perceived him to stand closer to their demands. As an example of this, a document signed by the leadership of the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Argentina (ONPIA) announced that their members would too be voting for Scioli. The document argued that Macri symbolized the continuation of policies by Julio Argentino Roca, an army general and Argentinian president who from 1878 to 1885 led a campaign for the annexation of Mapuche, Ranquel and Tehuelche indigenous lands, a historical event that several indigenous organizations continue to regard as a genocide.