In the country’s ‘lithium triangle’ activists say Indigenous land protections have been removed and protests against mining violently repressed
  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    3•6 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The amendments come amid increasing global demand for lithium, the “white gold” crucial for electric car batteries, laptops and mobile phones.

    The Guardian collected testimonies from 22 people, reviewed video evidence, and interviewed human rights experts, lawyers and local journalists about alleged police repression in the weeks following the reforms – a threat which, according to activists, persists to this day.

    Humahuaca, a dusty, pastel-hued town sitting in a valley alongside traces of the Inca empire, is one of the domains where protests erupted on the night of 1 July.

    Gutierrez, who lives in the Salinas Grandes Basin, an area rich in lithium, takes part in the protests as she is concerned about the impact of mining on the environment.

    Lithium extraction needs about 2m litres of water for each tonne, and as Argentina’s salt flats are found in arid territories, there are concerns about depleting sources.

    Argentina’s former human rights secretary Horacio Pietragalla also weighed in on the debate, filing a petition with the country’s supreme court and requesting an end to the repression.

    The original article contains 1,524 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 89%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!