Javier Milei’s ascent to power in December 2023 put many groups in Argentina on red alert. His ‘chainsaw plan’ to dismantle rights won since the dictatorship fell in 1983 has been coupled with combative rhetoric against ‘traitors’ and ‘enemies’ of freedom, including feminists, politicians, unions and the Left.
For Indigenous peoples, ‘the discourse has flipped 180 degrees’ says Mauro Millán, a Mapuche longko (spiritual and political leader). Where lip service was previously paid to Indigenous rights in Argentina, now ‘those who oppose Milei’s model, particularly the Mapuche, are being attacked in the media with unprecedented violence’.
