| May 1991 |
The indigenous people of Argentina were represented in the International Indigenous Commission (CII), based in Geneva, which supports an indigenous perspective on bio-diversity. The 1991 conference was held in Argentina. |
| Aug 1991 |
The Wichi Indians of the Chaco province presented a map of their territory to the governor of Salta in order to gain officially demarcated land. Wichi land has been settled by non-indigenous people, fenced off and thus reducing the amount of arable land for the group. The governor signed a decree for 400,000 hectares of land and confirmed that they should be awarded a single communal title for it. Due to a change in governors after the election, the Wichi have still not received their land. The map was created with help from a Cultural Survival (U.S.-based) team of anthropologists, who recorded the oral history of this group and worked with them for 6 months. |
| Aug 1992 |
200 Mapuche Indians from Chile and Argentina met in Neuquen to discuss the future unification of the Mapuche nation. The group is divided between those who support allegiance to their governments and those who want complete autonomy and unification as one nation. This report also stated that the average Mapuche Indians earns $500 per year, primarily from agriculture or sheep herding. The land on which they live is the Atraico reservation. However, much of this land has been fenced off by landowners, thus prohibiting usage of the land by the Mapuches. Disease and deaths have been reported high among this group. |
| 1994 |
The Wichi Indian representative traveled to Geneva to represent the case of land demarcation for his group in front of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The organization for the Wichi Indians is called Thaka Honat and formed to represent the Wichi at all levels of government within the country. |
| Oct 1994 |
The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that cholera was increasing in Argentina. The disease spread due to Bolivian migration (where the disease was rampant due to contaminated water) into the country. The disease affected a large percentage of indigenous peoples in the northwest. |
| Nov 1994 |
In San Antonio de los Cobres, the Coya Indians have established a handmade indigenous crafts market for tourists who visit the Andean town. They pledged their allegiance to Argentina, but also stated their pride as being Coya Indians. Most of the village's 4,000 indigenous residents do not have electricity or running water. Privatization of the mining industry in this region has caused high rates of unemployment for these people. |
| Mar 1995 |
The U.S. Department of State reported that the revised Argentinean constitution incorporates international agreements intended to promote economic, political, social, and cultural rights for indigenous peoples. Although this provision was established, the court system was reported to delay land disputes of indigenous peoples, and social discrimination was reported as well. |
| Jun 1995 |
Cultural Survival and the Wichi Indians continued to work towards land demarcation for the group by petitioning government leaders and again speaking at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. No demarcation has been made for these people to date. |
| 1996 |
The National Plan for the Regulation of Fiscal Lands, launched in 1996, was intended to deal with indigenous land claims, involving roughly two million hectares. However, it has not been fully implemented in practice and many indigenous communities are without clear title to ancestral lands (Aboriginal Planet. "Argentina - Canada Indigenous Relations". 2002. http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/aboriginalplanet/around/latin/arargentina-en.asp, accessed: 11/16/2009). |
| Aug 2004 |
When a private company, Ingenio and Refinería San Martín del Tabacal S.A., violently attacked an indigenous community over a land dispute in the Salta Province, the local police did not intervene, but instead detained seven persons after the hired guards of the company filed a complaint with the police. (FIAN International. 2004. "Argentina: Repression, detention and attempted eviction of indigenous community in Salta.") |
| Nov 10, 2004 |
Italian textile businessman Luciano Benetton agreed to the Mapuche Indian's demands that he give up the title to lands traditionally inhabited by indigenous groups. 6,200 acres of land were returned to the indigenous. (The Guardian, 11/10/2004, "Benetton agrees to hand land to Indians") |
| Jul 2005 |
Indigenous demonstrated against the fencing off of traditional lands. Police responded with rubber bullets seriously injuring a leader of the Wichi indigenous people. (Amnesty International. 2006. "2006 Annual Report for Argentina.") |
| Dec 2005 |
After a severe storm, the provincial government sent the military to violently evict the indigenous groups that had been displaced. Consequently, the Guarani protested and were denied a meeting with a the provincial government. Several thousand took over the capital of the region, Resistencia, demanding federal assistance for families who lost their homes in the storm, as well as the relocation of soy, sugar and lumber companies responsible for polluting and infringing upon their lands. (Native Currents, Indian Country Today, 9/20/2006, "Declaring humanity and challenging legacies")
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| Mar 1, 2006 |
The Nam Qom Toba community in Formosa Province formally submitted a complaint to the IACHR charging the provincial police and national authorities with human rights abuse. Charges stem from the detainment and torture in 2002 of 80 people. (US Department of State. 03/06/2007. "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2006: Argentina." Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.) |
| Jul 2006 |
In Chaco region, Wichi, Toba and Mocova members participated in a month long hunger strike. As a result, the local government and the Instituto Aborigen Chaqueño signed an agreement to recognize 140,000 hectares of land claimed by the indigenous. (Minority Rights International. 2008. "Argentina Overview.") |
| Aug 2006 |
The Wichi community in the General Mosconi region set up a roadside camp to demand the return of communal land from private companies. (Amnesty International. 2007. "Human Rights in Argentine Republic.") |
| Aug 2006 |
The Chaco provincial government and the president of the Institute for Chaco Indigenous People signed a land ownership agreement to regularize land claims and settle disputes amicably. (US Department of State. 03/06/2007. "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2006: Argentina." Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.) |
| Aug 20, 2006 |
3,000 people from the Wichi, Toba and Macovi communities gathered in front of the provincial government building to demand the realization of their rights. (Native Currents, Indian Country Today, 09/20/2006, "Declaring humanity and challenging legacies") |
| Nov 1, 2006 |
Congress passed a law suspending for four years the dispossession of lands occupied by indigenous communities. (US Department of State. 03/06/2007. "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2006: Argentina." Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.) |
