"It is our land": the family that owns the field taken by the Mapuches in El Foyel resists entrenched

Claudio Andrade

10/16/2020 11:20 AM

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 10/16/2020 11:29 AM

Three members of the Soriani family, owner of the 600-hectare field in El Foyel - 80 kilometers from Bariloche and 46 kilometers from El Bolsón - occupied this Thursday by a Mapuche community,

and resisting in the main house of the property.

The Soriani absolutely

for fear that the agricultural facilities will end up being looted by the more than 50 members of the Gallardo Calfú lof who set up shop with tents, also blocking the main access roads.

(A lof is a family clan or lineage that recognizes the authority of a chieftain).

“We are not going to leave, this is our land.

And if we have to go talk to the Justice, my father and my brother will leave, but I will stay yes or yes, ”

Marcos Soriani

told

.

“This is not a Mapuche claim, for me those who are not trying to get out of the field

, what can I say?

They are criminals, ”Soriani said.

The family has lived on the property for about 40 years.

The referents of the lof Gallardo Calfú assure that in 1980 Miguel Soriani, Marcos's father,

Sixto Gallardo Calfú and

.

The Mapuche occupation is led by Blanca Gallardo, Sixto's daughter, who assured the El Bolsón media that in her claim she has the support of the National Institute of Associativism and Social Economy (Inaes).

Part of the family that owns the land taken in El Foyel resists at home.

The intervening prosecutor, Francisco Arrien, from El Bolsón, summoned the Soriani to a meeting for this Friday morning.

The landowners as well as the Río Negro authorities hope that the result of the judicial proceedings will be the

, according to what this newspaper was able to find out.

Soriani considers it likely that the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI), a body led by former senator Magdalena Odarda, is involved in the taking.

Odarda already collided with the governor of Río Negro, Arabela Carreras, when she endorsed the

in 700 hectares of the Argentine Army about ten kilometers from Bariloche.

“We

.

We were able to enter the house, but we have a lot of difficulty moving around.

The police came to guard especially the income, which is where some with tents were set up, ”explained Marcos Soriani.

On the property there are three houses, sheds and animals such as sheep, cows, horses and pigs, he explained.

Blanca Gallardo's version suggests that Soriani Sr. took advantage of her father.

“We were young when Mr. Soriani came in, first as general manager of the field and saying that my father had no children, when we were working outside.

When we returned, he was already in charge and

, and he had my old man living in a shed.

For

and as we could and we never had an answer like now, that Inaes is supporting us with our recovery.

When you are a child you have no possibility of fighting it and today, thank God I am stepping on my ground.

I'm excited and I'm going to sleep with my ancestors, ”she explained to

de El Bolsón.

“As Mapuches aware of our origin, we have the need to re-inhabit and develop ourselves with dignity in it, strengthening ourselves from our spirituality, with the forces of the place that always were.

We will resist, in our territory, before the

and [before] any outrage by the State, which ignores us as a pre-existing people, ”the lof said in a statement supporting the usurpation.

While the more than 50 occupants are distributed in the income and other sectors of the vast territory with tents, numerous self-organized neighbors went to the area with the intention of joining

in the house.

However, the Mapuche did not allow anyone else to enter the owners' houses.

“I am completely against this form of claim.

This is what Justice is for.

I coordinated the entire security operation and control of excesses with the local commissioner and the corresponding Ministry to keep the parties safe, ”

Pablo Albornoz, commissioner of El Manso

, told

this Friday

.

"There are personnel involved in the situation and the parties would have a meeting with the prosecutor in the course of this morning," he added.

Albornoz confirmed that the Soriani family and the authorities expect the Justice to intervene and order an

.

"The key is that Justice hurries", recognized a high provincial source.

Mascardi's conflict, with the lof Lafken Winkul Mapu, which has been going on for

, is always on the minds of officials.

In the South, there are several disputes over land occupations by Mapuches in which it appears that there will be no immediate resolution.

In Mascardi, 35 kilometers from Bariloche, the lof composed of the Nahuel / Colhuan families, have been since 2017 on a property that includes the Nahuel Huapi National Park and at least four private properties.

In the Virgen de las Nieves area, ten kilometers from Bariloche, the Millalonco-Ranquehue Community maintains some 700 hectares of the Argentine Army occupied;

and in El Bolsón, a group of neighbors, some of them of Mapuche origin, have been holding onto 70 hectares of the Forest Reserve since last August.

Bariloche.

Correspondent.

LGP

Look also

A new Mapuche take on the Cordillera: 600 hectares in El Foyel

They denounce another Mapuche usurpation next to Bariloche