A fragile territory with coveted resources
"Patagonia is destined to be one of the purest areas on the planet. When the original qualities of the air are no more than a memory in the rest of the world, in Patagonia they will be an everyday reality, and that gives it a value that is easy to calculate", says Luis Sepúlveda in his book Nouvelles du sud. For while this isolated region still seems to be escaping part of a rumbling world, it also seems to be on borrowed time, as the abundance of its natural resources attracts national and foreign companies alike. With global energy demand on the rise, the region has emerged as a market of prime importance. For several decades, northern Patagonia has been riddled with gas and oil wells. Along the way, Argentina has become Latin America's leading producer of natural gas, with production reaching around 139 million cubic meters per day (m³/d) by 2023. Chile's fishing industry is flourishing: the country is ranked5th in the world with 5 million tons annually. It is the world's second-largest salmon producer after Norway: foreign sales of salmon jumped by 33% between 2012 and 2021, representing almost 650,000 tonnes and more than $5 billion in 2021. Some 2,400 aquaculture centers produce over 90% of the country's output. However, the exploitation of these fish-filled waters by industry generates unprecedented pollution, and small-scale fishermen, unable to compete with industrial fishing, no longer even feed on shellfish: toxic algae poisons the fauna and flora, while salmon wreaks havoc as far north as the Pacific. The country's natural wealth has been hijacked by a variety of economic policies, and the Argentine government even considered giving Patagonia to the United States in exchange for cancellation of its enormous debt to the International Monetary Fund (!)
The ecological problem
Massive pollution, soil exploitation and ecological disasters: Patagonia's landscapes have been disfigured by the world's biggest companies who have moved into the region over the last few decades. Between hydroelectric dam projects, national parks and mining operations, all the big players are present in this immense territory: Total, YPF, Tecpetrol, Chevron, Exxon... And despite the intervention of various associations and NGOs, denouncing a disregard for environmental rules and the rights of indigenous peoples, the oil industry operates without any controls. As recently as September 2024, at the huge Vaca Muerta shale gas field in Neuquén province, Greenpeace warned of the malfunctioning of this platform, which opened in 2010 on Mapuche territory. The government has already received two warnings from the UN, but environmental decrees are unfortunately being amended to benefit the companies. In March 2019, despite plans for a network of national parks in Patagonia, authorizations for mining concessions were issued in Chilean Patagonia, notably concerning the Los Domos mining project, comprising 19 drilling platforms and 12 mining concessions. The result? The mining project has cut 5,000 hectares from the proposed national park. Finally, in July 2019, a major incident occurred on the site of one of the country's leading mining groups, Pacific Steels Company. The Chilean navy was mobilized after 40,000 liters of diesel were spilled into the sea off Guarello Island, renowned for its pristine waters and marine ecosystem. The authorities reacted immediately, and the damage was limited: 1/3 of the contaminated water was recovered during a major clean-up operation.
Patagonia is no longer for sale!
It is in this context that two opposing visions of the use of natural resources clash: that of the exploitation and that of the conservation of natural areas. The latter receive only a minimal share of Chilean and Argentinean budgets, which struggle to guarantee their management and development. In the wake of numerous governmental indifferences to the serious environmental and social impacts, a number of private initiatives have embarked on colossal projects to ensure the protection of these wild spaces. In Chile, three national parks were created in 2017 following the donation of over 400,000 hectares of land by the Tompkins Foundation. In Argentina, despite pressure from mining companies, a law passed in 2010 promises to preserve from all human activity the pre-glacial zones that currently represent 10% of the planet's glacial freshwater reserves.
The long struggle of the Mapuche
Before the arrival of the Spanish, their territory covered 100,000 square kilometers: today, they live on 5% of their original territory. Persecuted under the Pinochet regime in Chile and gradually driven off all their land, the Mapuche are now organizing to regain use and ownership of their territories. One of their "small victories": since 1994, the Argentinean constitution has recognized the rights of indigenous peoples, including the right to bilingualism and representative bodies. In Chile, a 2014 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights emphasizes that criminal prosecutions invoking anti-terrorist laws against indigenous communities protecting their ancestral lands are now illegal. In recent years, a number of extremely violent events have led to the deaths of many Mapuche who were demanding the restitution of their land, which had become a virtual wasteland. However, Michelle Bachelet's government, with the help of the Church, has endeavored to return as much land as possible (66,000 hectares in all), and in 2016 organized a special commission dedicated to the Mapuche question. This concluded with a request for forgiveness from the Mapuche for the horrors committed in past centuries.
On the Argentine side, an event set the country on fire and deeply divided it in 2017, when a young environmental activist named Santiago Maldonado disappeared while taking part in a demonstration by the Mapuche community against the Benetton company, owner of 900,000 ha of land, some of which is claimed by the Mapuche. Although the government claimed that the military police, who had cracked down on the demonstration, were not responsible, Santiago's body was found lifeless in a river. This macabre discovery heightened the anger of activists and supporters of Cristina Kirchner - President Macri's number-one opponent - who compared the disappearance to the methods of the military dictatorship.
In Chile, the anti-terrorist law grants special powers to the forces of law and order, who exercise permanent control and systematic repression over the people. Closely watched by the Chilean state, the Mapuche have become suspicious and do not hesitate to act clandestinely. As a result, Mapuche minority groups have found themselves behind bars, having set fire to logging companies and religious buildings (43 incendiary attacks took place in 2017 in Araucania). In 2018 and 2019, Mapuche resistance became more radical: sabotage actions linked to territorial claims continued against private companies. The consequences were not in vain: the region gradually stopped receiving foreign capital. In the face of falling investment, President Pinera declared his intention to "restore order in the face of these terrorist acts". However, this is not the opinion of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which condemned Chile in 2013 for its unjustified use of the term in the Mapuche conflict and recognized the legitimacy of Mapuche social protest. As a result, heavy-handed police interventions in isolated communities are on the increase. Little understood by the Chilean nation, the situation seems to have come to a standstill: the more the authorities step up police and judicial repression, the more the Mapuche leaders become radicalized.
Political and social issues
Unstable since the arrival of the conquistadors, the political and social climate in both Chile and Argentina has become electric over the course of 2019. In two extremely unequal countries, where significant economic growth has failed to restore social equality, neoliberalism seems to be the common denominator of all these tensions. However, it is important to consider the unique situations of each of these two countries. Presented as having one of the most enviable economies on the American continent, Chile faced a social explosion as lively as it was unexpected after the announcement of the increase in the metro ticket on October 18, 2019. The announcement was one too many, prompting citizens to take to the streets in protest against President Pinera's reforms. Although politically and economically stable (GDP growth of 3.5% in 2019), Chile is one of those countries where wealth is in the hands of a particularly wealthy minority: 1% of the country's richest people own just over a quarter of the national GDP, while 1/4 of Chileans live below the poverty line. And although poverty has fallen over the last 30 years, the gap is not closing fast enough, as Chile is the most unequal OECD country in terms of income, with a minimum wage of just 370 euros. This poor distribution of wealth, the result of ultraliberal policies dating back to the dictatorship, has aroused the anger of Chileans, who are determined to demand social justice. Paralyzed by numerous strikes and massive demonstrations that brought together up to a million people in the capital, the country was faced with an unprecedented social movement, galvanized by the return of the armed forces to the streets: a first since the Pinochet dictatorship. After announcing a state of emergency and awkwardly asserting that the country was "at war", President Pinera took to the negotiating table to propose new measures capable of calming discontent. Despite the President's concessions, the country coordinated a general strike on November 12, 2019. In Santiago, in particular, violence and confrontations were extreme between the forces of order and the people, frustrated for decades by austerity. After an initial brutal reaction from the government (reinstatement of the curfew for the first time since 1987 and the army in the streets), President Pinera gradually opened up to a series of gradual responses. The announcement of the abandonment of a number of economic reforms and measures, as well as the cabinet reshuffle, was followed by the announcement of a 20% increase in the minimum pension. Beyond the concessions adopted in the emergency of the social movement, the government's real challenge seems to be that of the social refoundation so long hoped for and expected by the Chilean population. It should be remembered that the country's shortcomings stem in part from the current Constitution, which dates back to the dictatorship. Health, education, pensions, the environment, indigenous rights, access to water... debates on the privatization system are heated. One year after the popular uprising, on October 25, 2020, tens of thousands of Chileans celebrated in the streets of the capital the result of the referendum on the new constitution, approved by almost 79% of the vote. On May 15 and 16, 2021, Chileans were once again called to the polls to elect the 155 citizens responsible for drafting the new constitution. This historic vote gave the country an institution representative of society (with 17 seats reserved for indigenous nations and a gender parity mechanism). At the end of 2022, the parties were still negotiating the contours of a new Constituent Assembly, following the rejection by referendum of a first draft text submitted in September 2022. It now remains to be seen whether the constituent power will live up to the hopes of the 2019 social movement and the desires of citizens. For its part, Argentina, a veritable economic and political pendulum, cannot seem to get out of the crisis it has been going through for almost twenty years. On December 10, 2019, neoliberal President Mauricio Macri gave way to Alberto Fernandez, the new center-left president who won 47% of the vote. In recession for over a year, with inflation running at over 37%, Argentina is witnessing the return of Peronism. Created in the 1940s around the figure of Juan Perón, Peronism embodies the desire for social justice in an increasingly unequal country. Faced with a catastrophic economic situation and a social policy in shambles, the new president's objectives are considerable. Indeed, in 2018, the IMF granted the largest loan in its history with $57 billion. In early 2022, following approval of an agreement to renegotiate Argentina's $44 billion debt, the IMF recognized that the loan granted in 2018 was unsustainable. Argentina's eternal debt crisis seems to be continuing alongside economic difficulties that continue to mount: in an attempt to contain inflation, which reached over 100% in 2022 (almost 7% price increases per month), the government launched a measure called "fair prices" in November 2022. This new initiative involves freezing the prices of 1,700 essential products for 120 days.
