Indigenous Peoples in Argentina

The indigenous peoples represent about 3 to 5 percent of Argentinas population, but in some areas they can represent up to 25 percent of the population.  A large majority of the people in Argentina do not even realize that there are indigenous people even left.  Indigenous peoples are forced to hide their identities to avoid racial discrimination due to stereotyping.  Some of the stereotypes are that they are dirty, lazy, savages, and not intelligent.  Most of the indigenous groups speak their native languages and most of them only know their native language.  Those peoples that were forced to move to cities lose their native language over time, or their children do.  The religion that many of the groups practice are the same as their ancestors.  During the colonization, though, the indigenous peoples were forced to follow the religion of the colonizer, which was evangelical for the most part.  Often times, the indigenous groups would incorporate their native religion into their forced religion to keep many their same beliefs.  They found a way to fuse the two together so they could be happy and so could the colonizers.  This allowed them to keep their ancestral beliefs with them so that groups today can still carry those beliefs.

Over the decades of colonization by the French, Spanish, and British, the indigenous groups in Argentina have been push off of their land.  They have been push so far from society and given such little resources that it is hard for them to survive on their own.  Most of these indigenous groups live in hunter-gatherer societies, but even that is being made difficult due to human action.  The groups are in regions all throughout Argentina, but they are hardly even recognized by the majority of the population because they have been force to the least desirable areas in each region, which are rural areas.  The most populous area of indigenous peoples is in the Chaco region.  There is so much activity like logging, cattle farming, agricultural farming, and mining are causing major issue for the indigenous peoples.  The logging and cattle farms are causing desertification.  The agricultural farms are affecting biodiversity, which is causing a problem with natural food.  The mining is contaminating the rivers that the groups in this region rely on for water and fish.  The heavy metals, like mercury, are spilling into the water.  All of these issues together are leading to an increase in poverty and malnutrition in the region.  In Patagonia, the main issue is loss of land.  There are many instances when the fences of an indigenous persons fence is literally moved at night and that land is taken from them without them even knowing prior.  Their land is also sold by local governments while they are still on the land.  They can try to fight back, but their outcries are ignored.  If their lad is not taken, then often they are forced to sell their land to multinational companies who want to purchase that land.  Although some would think that this would provide employment, it does not because they have hardly any ties with the labor market.  In most of the regions that indigenous groups live, the water conditions are so bad from oil contamination that it cannot be drank at all.  This has led to extremely high levels of lead and mercury in the peoples blood.  These groups were pushed onto these regions to get them out of the way, but once they are out of the way people are still greedy enough to damage these groups environment, water, and blatantly steal their land.  All of these issues are forcing many of these indigenous groups to migrate to the cities because they cannot survive in the situation they have been forced into.

Many organizations are working together with each other and with the indigenous groups for specific purposes like media recognition, protecting their rights, and self-help.  The organizations are trying to work together to really protect the indigenous people who are in danger of losing their culture, land, and lives.  The organizations help to educate people who do not know about indigenous groups and put an end to discrimination.