Moira Millán: “The Mapuche people would never set fire to the forests”
The governor of Chubut accused the Mapuche people of being behind the fires in Los Alerces National Park. Meanwhile, the newspaper La Nación accused the Mapuche leader Moira Millán of heading an organization considered terrorist.
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Los Alerces National Park has been ablaze since Thursday, January 25. It is a territory of lakes and native forests, located 55 kilometers from the city of Esquel, in the province of Chubut. The fire started in the Bahía Rosales area, on Lake Futalaufquen.
In recent days, the governor of Chubut, Ignacio Torres, blamed the RAM (Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche), an organization about which very little verifiable information exists. And yesterday, in statements to the newspaper La Nación, an anonymous source directly accused the Mapuche weychafe, Moira Millán. According to the newspaper: “Cruz Cárdenas, closely linked to the RAM, is identified as the mastermind behind the fire, as is Moira Millán, who is believed to be the new leader of the RAM and lives in Corcovado. They have occupied a provincial property there that belongs to the police. Millán is the leader, and she is responsible for these kinds of terrorist acts, as is the group that acted in Villa Mascardi.” The newspaper did not contact Millán for comment at any point.
In response to the accusation, Millán, accompanied by the Lof Pillañ Mawiza and other indigenous leaders from Lofs in the area, held a press conference in Esquel to deny Torres's statements.
“The governor is diverting attention from the root of the crime of terricide in Los Alerces National Park,” said Millán. The press conference was broadcast on the social media channels of the Indigenous Women's Movement for Good Living, of which Millán is a member, along with the news website Infoterritorial.
The ghost of RAM
The mayor of Los Alerces, Danilo Hernández Otaño, a park ranger, reported today that the fire has already affected more than 1893 hectares.
This is not the first time that the fires in Los Alerces and other strategic locations in Argentine Patagonia have been used as an excuse to stigmatize and criminalize the Mapuche people. They have also been used to conjure up the specter of the RAM (Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche), a movement for which there is no evidence of existence in Argentina. The only person who has claimed to be part of the RAM is Jones Huala, in Chile.
“History repeats itself. Governor Torres is following the same line as governments that seek to stigmatize Indigenous peoples and create an internal enemy. The RAM (Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche) narrative in Argentina was introduced in 2017 by the then and current Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, after the disappearance of Santiago Maldonado. There is not a single trial that has been able to prove the existence of the RAM in Argentina. It was also used to justify the repression in Villa Mascardi, which ended with the murder of Rafael Nahuel ,” Ruben Marigo, the lawyer for Rafael Nahuel’s family, told Presentes.
The report by the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), “ Repressive Coordination Against the Mapuche People,” explains: “These local networks actively participate in constructing the image of the ‘violent Mapuche,’ with the support of major media outlets that, at various times, deploy veritable fear campaigns that also give the issue national reach. This strategy is central to legitimizing different forms of violence against forms of direct action and also underpins the political, police, and judicial offensive against the numerous communities that are litigating for land in Chubut, Río Negro, and Neuquén.”
Accuse to distract
Governor Torres's statements, cited by several media outlets since the fires began, had already pointed to the Mapuche people as responsible for the destruction of the forests. For days, the Movement of Indigenous Women and Diversities for Good Living has been responding: "The Mapuche people would never set fire to the forests."
During the press conference, they anticipated that legal action would be taken in response to the accusation of inciting racist violence.
“Do you know what the Mapuche people fear? Disrespect for life and territory,” said the weychafe. “The governor is a destroyer of the land. While he accuses the Mapuche people, he allows large transnational corporations to destroy the aquifers. If the governor is going to take responsibility for fighting ecocide, he has to cancel all the agreements with these land-destroying corporations.”
Millán emphasized the meeting between the governor of Chubut and officials from the United Arab Emirates, three days before the fires began. “ Who benefits from the fires?” he asked. “Obviously not the Mapuche people. The Mapuche people have always respected the balance and seek to restore the harmony that the non-Mapuche violate every day.”
Lawyer Ruben Marigo agrees with Millán: “The government’s interests are extractive. The sale of land and the exploitation of water. It happened with the Qataris, and now we saw the governor in a photo with officials from the United Arab Emirates.”
The people who care
“The only history the Mapuche people have is that of caring for the land, the water, and the mountains. They are honorable with their word; the Mapuche people are not afraid of anything. The mountains, the lakes, are more important than our lives. Why should our lives be more important than the life of the land? Here we are. Nothing will stop us. The Mapuche people have the responsibility to care for the territory,” Moira stated.
The leader also targeted the newspaper La Nación, which, since Patricia Bullrich's tenure as Minister of Security, has strongly supported the theory of the existence of the RAM (Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche). “La Nación was born with the genocide and endorses the genocide. It accuses me of being the mastermind behind the fires in Los Alerces. Not only is this absurd, it's a dangerous accusation that raises and reinforces a hypothesis of extermination against Indigenous peoples. Now they want to say there are good and bad Mapuche people. Does Mr. Ignacio Torres have a 'Mapuche-meter'?” she said, referring to statements where the governor makes this distinction.
The conference also highlighted that residents of Los Alerces offered their solidarity and told Millán that there are no rumors there that she is behind the fire; it is something that would never have occurred to them.
“We, the indigenous peoples, have no history of terrorism. Our history is one of caring for life and nature. We can die and nothing happens. But what if the forests die?” said Gloria Colihueque Catriman, from the Mapuche Tehuelche community Lof Catriman Colihueque, located near Lake Futalaufquen, at the close of the conference.
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