The dispute over Vaca Muerta is, at the same time, a dispute for environmental justice and for the right of the Mapuche communities to live in their territories without being criminalized. While the provincial and federal authorities insist on a legal absurdity that can no longer hold, they seek to evict a community from its own territory. In response, the Mapuche community Lof Kaxipayi'n responded with a strong statement in their communiqué, once again putting at the center of the debate the depth of their rights and the legitimacy of their struggle: 'The mobilization in Vaca Muerta brings to light the rights that Figueroa insists on denying.' And that pollution, presented as an inevitable cost of progress, is in fact a concrete violation of basic rights. While the provincial government and the federal justice system responded with intimidation, threats, and fabricated cases, the recent mobilization of the Mapuche community Lof Kaxipayi'n has shaken the political and business power by halting the advance of YPF in Loma La Lata, a territory historically inhabited by the community and devastated for more than thirty years of exploitation. 'Tell me that it's useless to fight for our rights,' the communiqué concludes, reaffirming the dignity of a people who do not resign themselves to the abuses of power. While the state insists on persecuting those who defend the territory, the other side of Vaca Muerta is exposed in a judicial process rarely seen against the heart of the fossil model.
