Background Information
The WICHI people number around 50,000 in total and are spread over some 200 communities in the three northern Provinces of Salta, Formosa and Chaco in Argentina, and in the Department of Tarija in the southwest of Bolivia.
They mostly inhabit the region known as the Semi-arid Chaco, an immense flatland of scrub and thorn forest in the heart of South America, with an unreliable rainfall of between 400 and 500 mm., and temperatures that can rise above 50º C. in the summer season.
Traditionally a hunter-gatherer people, at the time of the arrival of the first Spaniards in the 16th Century, the Wichi people covered an area of aproximately 150.000 sq. Km.. Their economy was based on the collection of wild fruits, roots and honeys, hunting, fishing and gardening. During the 17th and 18th Centuries the Spanish and Criollo population slowly encroached on the Wichi lands from the south and west, but it was not until after Independence from Spain in the last century that the process appropriation of Wichi lands intensified. The Wichi were dislodged from their traditional southern and western lands and found themselves increasingly confined to the poorest and most arid areas of the Chaco. And this process was not without repeated shedding of blood, although of all the different Chaco Indian peoples the Wichi have generally been considered among the most peaceful.
In this paper, I shall be concentrating on just one area, in the extreme northeast of the Province of Salta, covering about 6000 sq.km.., comprised of two plots of state land, known as Lote Fiscal 55 and Lote Fiscal 14. It constitutes the last frontier to have been occupied by non-Indians, as from the beginning of this century, and over the past few decades the tension between the criollo settlers and the Indians has become increasingly unsustainable. The conflict, as we shall see in more detail below, can be put down to differing conceptions of the land and its use, but in reality it involves two contrasting perceptions of life.
In the area that I will be referring to, there is an Indian population of more than 5500 - of whom roughly 5000 are Wichi - and a criollo population of nearly 3000. The latter mostly live of their livestock - cattle, goats, sheep and pigs - the sale of hardwoods for fenceposts, small trade and contraband with Bolivia. The Indians continue to live of fishing, hunting, wild fruits and honey, and small-scale agriculture. But they also hire their labour out, mostly for odd-jobs, and at harvest-time are trucked out to the more prosperous areas where they will work on large farms harvesting beans. Some of the Indians have secured semi-permanent jobs for the Government in the local health posts and village schools, and in many of the villages there are now "soup-kitchens" for children and the elderly which are run with funds from the Government.
The Conflict
As from the beginning of last century, with the entry of criollo settlers into these lands, two systems and sets of values have increasingly come into conflict. The criollos brought with them the concept of private property, seeing the land and its resources largely in relation to the needs of their livestock. Even though all the land in question continues to be fiscal or state land (the Province of Salta being the "owner"), many of the criollo families have staked out areas for themselves and, often employing force, have denied others access to "their" plot. In Indian eyes, the criollos, whom they call "ahätäy" (which means soemthing like "dangerous apparition"!), are lacking the fundamental qualities that make up human nature, since they are seen as miserly and, on top of that, angry.
For many years after the initial introduction of criollos into the area, some kind of modus vivendi was possible, since the criollos were still few and far between and the natural resources provided for the needs of both human groups. However, over the past thirty years or so tensions have been mounting as a result of the steady deterioration of the environment. The pastures, that attracted the herders in the first place, have long since been consumed and thorny scrub forest taken their place. With the loss of pasture cover, the soils have been subject to erosion and compacting, creating in some areas lands that are totally barren. Waterholes have become silted up and contaminated by the cattle and most of the wild game has either been liquidated or has retreated into the few areas left where there is little criollo presence. Many of the wild plants that traditionally provided the Indians with food have been drastically depleted by the livestock or otherwise the Wichi find that they are now in competition with the cattle and pigs of the criollos for the wild fruits they eat. On top of all this, the animals of the criollos invade their garden plots and can destroy a whole crop in a matter of a few hours.
This situation has inevitably led to feelings of resentment and profound insecurity on the part of the Indians, compounded by the fact that the criollos have always considered themselves vastly superior to the Indians, whom they have often looked upon as little more than wild animals. Distrust and animosity has increased as many of the criollos have themselves become impoverished since their cattle no longer have the fodder they require. On the other hand, the Indians have developed an inter-community organization over the past 20 years and have started to claim title to the land as the only means to secure their own rights of access to the natural resources and to protect (or recover) what is left. The reaction of the criollos to this stance has usually been to adopt an even tougher line, often accompanied with threats against those Indians who are leading the land claim.
