ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network) — A Sept. 4 victory in the courts for the indigenous Moqoit of Argentina ends a 16-year legal dispute for the rights of their ancestral land.
“This verdict is important because it means the end of a long fight,” said Luis Acosta. Acosta worked for Mennonite Mission Network for 15 years as part of the Mennonite team working with indigenous people from the Chaco region of Argentina. He used his surveying skills to further the efforts of land reclamation. His wife, Monica Acosta, who works as a legal secretary, was also part of the Mennonite team, and helps people navigate the complex legal system.
The land, referred to as El Tabacal, is a 46-hectare—almost 119 acres—parcel of land in the Argentine Chaco that the provincial government sold to a white colonist named José Filipchuk. The Moqoit community had been living off the land with their hunter and gatherer lifestyle since before white settlers arrived on the continent.
Of the 100 hectares that this community had lived on for generations, the government gave away nearly half in one sale. This lot is small compared to other lots the government has stolen from indigenous communities since the 1940s. In this productive farming region of the Argentine Chaco, white settlers have benefited mightily from the policies of the provincial government, said Acosta.
The colonizing of indigenous land has caused major disruptions in the Moqoit and other indigenous groups’ way of life. In some cases, several families live in one house, or on a small bit of land. In other instances, the families that did not have land or could not survive on reduced tracts of land left the community and looked elsewhere for survival.
Oscar Villalba, a leader from the Moqoit community who works hard to win back his people’s land, was quoted in a sociological report: “When the families leave, it’s very painful because first of all, we run the risk of losing our culture, our language. When they [our people] go somewhere else, [our culture] starts disappearing.”
The community’s opportunity in the El Tabacal case was that the provincial government issued Filipchuk a provisional title for the land. This meant Filipchuk could use the land but wouldn’t receive a permanent title until after he paid for the land in full through monthly payments.
Since the Argentine government included indigenous rights in their constitution in 1994, Villalba and the community had legal reasons to pressure the provincial government to not issue the final title. The Moqoit community won the case in 2006.
After the verdict, the Moqoit community allowed Filipchuk’s farmer to harvest his sunflower crop, but they watched him carefully to ensure he didn’t try to cheat them and plant a new crop.
By February 2007, two months after the crop was harvested, the farmer’s laborer still lived on the land.
The farmer called the police when Villalba broke the lock to the laborer’s house. A visiting communications team from Mennonite Mission Network came by the land and documented the proceedings. The police officers dealt fairly with both sides and stood up for the community by escorting the farmer from the land.
However, in 2011, the court overruled the 2007 verdict due to technicalities related to Filipchuk’s widow, Patricia Tichy, and her access to the court proceedings.
“[The judgment] was for political reasons more than legal reasons,” said Acosta. “Everything we worked for went to zero.”
The community didn’t stop trying, and September of this year, the judge ruled that the government must respect the land of the indigenous community. Tichy will appeal the verdict.
“[She has] a low probability of winning [the case], but there is always danger that politics will defeat justice,” said Acosta.
The Acostas have continued to further what they started when they served on the Mennonite team. Their work on the El Tabacal case is typical of the background work they have done for years in support of indigenous rights.
“This verdict is important because it gives a legal precedent for future cases like this one,” said Acosta. “This verdict acknowledges the rights of the indigenous people that are recognized in the constitution of the Chaco and the national constitution.”
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For immediate release
Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact news@mennonitemission.net.
