192 Pía Marchegiani and Louisa Parks
Guayatayoc de Jujuy y Salta, 2015). Consultation processes should respect this
full view of c ommunity, and be based on unbiased information, good faith and
genuine consultation where external actors are ready to listen and change. The
processes should also respect communities’ wishes as to their timing and, as such,
leave sufficient time whenever needed for communities to discuss and define
their views and positions without external interference or pressure.
Overall, the document defines a clear process for consultation in the context
of the communities’ culture, describing the history of the communities from
their own point of view, their expectations regarding consultation and consent
on the basis of international, national and provincial laws, and advice on how
such procedures should unfold. Beyond consultation, the protocol is part of a
wider struggle for the recognition of indigenous rights, expressed in the text
through the retelling of a history of oppression (Flores, 2017). The name of the
protocol, Kachi Yupi (Tracks in the Salt), is significant on all these fronts:
Why did we think of tracks in the salt? Because this document is rooted
in the essence of our identity, in the heritage of our grandparents, in the
tracks left by their struggle for our territory, in the marks left by their feet,
in the signs left by history, in the remains of their teachings and wisdom;
in the deep and lasting impression of their culture.
At the same time, a track represents a path to follow, a guide for the passage of people and animals, a furrow that we must follow. This document
then, hopes to serve as a track, as a community conduit to channel our
rights to participation, consultation and Free, Prior and Informed Consent
and thus continue the legacy of our ancestors of the defence of the land and
territories with which we are intimately connected.
(Comunidades indígenas de las Salinas Grandes y Laguna de
Guayatayoc de Jujuy y Salta, 2015, p. 6)
The path outlined in the Kachi Yupi community protocol can thus be thought of
as stretching not only outwards, describing modes of respectful communication,
but also from the past to the future, and from the local to the global. The change
inherent to tracks drawn in salt that leave deep marks, as well as the space to
carve new ways, also speaks to the intention of the communities.
After the Protocol – From Dialogue to Contention
The Kachi Yupi community protocol’s publication and launch in December
2015 was timed to coincide with elections in Argentina, in a bid to attract attention from authorities. The elections were won by the opposition, and heralded
a new governing coalition under the name Cambiemos at the federal level, led
by new President Mauricio Macri’s liberal Propuesta Republicana party (PRO).
An ally from the same coalition (Unión Cívica Radical – UCR) won elections
and took up government in Jujuy province. This provincial government had
Guayatayoc de Jujuy y Salta, 2015). Consultation processes should respect this
full view of c ommunity, and be based on unbiased information, good faith and
genuine consultation where external actors are ready to listen and change. The
processes should also respect communities’ wishes as to their timing and, as such,
leave sufficient time whenever needed for communities to discuss and define
their views and positions without external interference or pressure.
Overall, the document defines a clear process for consultation in the context
of the communities’ culture, describing the history of the communities from
their own point of view, their expectations regarding consultation and consent
on the basis of international, national and provincial laws, and advice on how
such procedures should unfold. Beyond consultation, the protocol is part of a
wider struggle for the recognition of indigenous rights, expressed in the text
through the retelling of a history of oppression (Flores, 2017). The name of the
protocol, Kachi Yupi (Tracks in the Salt), is significant on all these fronts:
Why did we think of tracks in the salt? Because this document is rooted
in the essence of our identity, in the heritage of our grandparents, in the
tracks left by their struggle for our territory, in the marks left by their feet,
in the signs left by history, in the remains of their teachings and wisdom;
in the deep and lasting impression of their culture.
At the same time, a track represents a path to follow, a guide for the passage of people and animals, a furrow that we must follow. This document
then, hopes to serve as a track, as a community conduit to channel our
rights to participation, consultation and Free, Prior and Informed Consent
and thus continue the legacy of our ancestors of the defence of the land and
territories with which we are intimately connected.
(Comunidades indígenas de las Salinas Grandes y Laguna de
Guayatayoc de Jujuy y Salta, 2015, p. 6)
The path outlined in the Kachi Yupi community protocol can thus be thought of
as stretching not only outwards, describing modes of respectful communication,
but also from the past to the future, and from the local to the global. The change
inherent to tracks drawn in salt that leave deep marks, as well as the space to
carve new ways, also speaks to the intention of the communities.
After the Protocol – From Dialogue to Contention
The Kachi Yupi community protocol’s publication and launch in December
2015 was timed to coincide with elections in Argentina, in a bid to attract attention from authorities. The elections were won by the opposition, and heralded
a new governing coalition under the name Cambiemos at the federal level, led
by new President Mauricio Macri’s liberal Propuesta Republicana party (PRO).
An ally from the same coalition (Unión Cívica Radical – UCR) won elections
and took up government in Jujuy province. This provincial government had