Source:
Mapuche Nation
The clothing giant Benetton is commiting a gross act of injustice against the Mapuche people. Mapuche International Link is calling upon the global community to act now. June 2004.
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What began as a trial against the Mapuche for land usurpation ended with thequestioning of the historical legitimacy of the Company of Southern Argentine Lands,today in the hands of the Benetton multinational.
The proceedings against the Curiñanco-Nahuelquir family showed the obvious: there were never any real motives to initiate a penal judgement for territorial "usurpation." The indictment of the Attorney general, the accusing party, paradoxically showed that none of the factors which make up the dictment corresponded with the facts under judgement: deception, abuse of confidence, secrecy, threats and violence.
This trial showed once again the application of the "Colabelli Doctrine" in the Chubut province: conflicts that should have been settled in the civilian realm settled under penal jurisdiction to ensure the "return" of lands to the accusing "owners" and in all cases the local landowners and multinationals. This allowed the ordering of preventive violent evictions before the ownership of the land was settled.
With the penal question resolved, the most important conflict ends up close-up now: the legitimacy of the property tiles which were presented by the Company of Southern Argentine Lands.
The defense asked that this discussion develop in a new criminal trial, putting into question the legitimacy of the property titles which the Company shows in egards to over 900,000 hectares. And so a debate is opened regarding the true history of the "Conquest" and subsequent distribution of the patagonian lands. However, the Company insisted on closing the claims that the titles (which date to 1896) and the process developed would be enough.
During the entire please, the Benetton representative appealed directly to the present audience, mixing a victim attitude and a pedagogical tone to explain the notion of private property which was affected.
In front of him were over 200 mapuche and non-mapuche, to whom Rosa's and Atilio's words resonated: "We cannot usurp our own land, we are part of this land and we want to keep on living on it. Benetton cannot accuse us of being usurpers, they are the usurpers now. The truth will prevail above all."
ESC rights are valid, enforceable, justiciable and claimable under both local and international law. Civil society is campaigning for their full implementation.
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
It promises to give indigenous peoples a unique voice within the UN system.
Organization of Indigenous Peoples from North, Central, South America and the Pacific working for the sovereignty and self-determination of indigenous peoples and the recognition and protection of indigenous rights, traditional cultures and sacred lands.
Its main objectiveis to give information about the Mapuche people and initiatives of Mapuche organizations or organizations who are involved with Mapuche issues are supported.
Over the last ten years Benetton has acquired 900,000 hectares of land in the Patagonian provinces of Neuquen, Rio Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz and has since proceeded to fence off the area and evict the inhabitants. This is to allow them to graze their sheep and so satisfy the demand for wool generated by their textile industry. The emphasis is on low cost production, cheap labour and high profits. June 2004.
To the Mapuche Indians in southern Argentina, the Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton is the newest conquistador in 10,000 years of land struggles in Patagonia. Today Benetton is the largest landholder in Argentina, owning 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) in the resource-rich region of Patagonia. With 9% of Patagonia's most cultivatable land, their holdings amount to 40 times the size of the capital city of Buenos Aires, the second largest city in Latin America. By Sebastian Hacher.
The Benetton Group is today the largest landowner in Argentina, with 900,000 hectares (an area equivalent to 900,000 football fields) in resource rich Patagonia. With nine percent of the region's most cultivatable land, their holdings are 40 times the size of the capital city, Buenos Aires, the second largest city in Latin America.
To the Mapuche Indians in southern Argentina, the Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton is the newest conquistador in 10,000 years of land struggles in Patagonia. Today Benetton is the largest landholder in Argentina, owning 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) in the resource-rich region of Patagonia. With 9% of Patagonia's most cultivatable land, their holdings amount to 40 times the size of the capital city of Buenos Aires, the second largest city in Latin America.
The multinational Benetton owns massive amounts of land in Argentina, more than 900.000 hectares. Most of this land is situated in the south, in Patagonia, and used to be land of the indigenous inhabitants (Mapuches) that lived there long before Benetton or the Argentine State even existed.
