Los Patos River is not to be touched. Reflections on equality, self-determination and autonomy of peoples in extractivist contexts

Self-determination and autonomy for the Peoples

Abstract

In the following text we will address the advance of extractivism on the high Andean salt flats, members of the "lithium triangle", trying to understand the socio-environmental impacts from the perspectives of local communities. On the other hand, an attempt will be made to delve into the strategies that the people carry out to defend their territories, taking into account that the care of water becomes a fundamental issue. In this case, the defense of the Los Patos River (Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca), mobilizes the inhabitants of the Puna of Catamarca, who are weaving alliances with other groups, to strengthen themselves. The reason is to stop the advance of the litiferous companies on the river, as a fundamental vital element, as a guarantor of life, and in this sense, as being with an agency that is part of and at the same time a supporter of the Puno world, plot of the network of relationships that sustain the world in the Salar del Hombre Muerto.