The Government declared the Mapuche Ancestral Resistance as a terrorist organization.

After the devastating fires that swept through the Patagonian forests of Chubut and Río Negro, the Government of Javier Milei made the decision to officially declare the Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche (RAM) as a terrorist organization, adding it to the official registry that includes individuals and groups identified for such activities.

The measure was adopted shortly after the leader of the RAM, the Mapuche terrorist Facundo Jones Huala, made a statement that caused widespread repudiation and led to legal complaints: "I claim responsibility for the sabotage and incendiary attacks on the infrastructure of the capitalist system, transnationals, and landowners".

Through a resolution from the Ministry of National Security published in the Official Gazette, it was ordered in four articles "to declare the requirements met for the registration of the Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche organization in the Public Registry of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism and its Financing (RePET)".

Furthermore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was instructed to validate the measure in accordance with current regulations, as the information will be shared by Argentina with other countries.

This registry includes organizations linked to Islamic terrorism, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Islamic Jihad, and ISIS, as well as the suspects of the AMIA bombing who have international arrest warrants.

The RePET, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, aims to facilitate access to and exchange of information about individuals and groups involved in terrorist activities or their financing, promoting cooperation both nationally and internationally.

The reasons

The grounds of the resolution published in the Official Gazette detail that the RAM carried out violent acts for more than ten years in the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, and Chubut.

Among the most serious incidents are intentional fires that devastated native forests, attacks on homes, establishments, and vehicles, as well as direct assaults on people.

According to the Ministry of National Security, the leaders of the organization have publicly claimed responsibility for these acts, including Jones Huala, who recently acknowledged the use of incendiary attacks as a "method of pressure".

The document also highlights that the RAM acts in conjunction with other groups that, although operating under different names, share the same objectives and respond to a common structure.

According to the report, these actions aim to "sow terror and pressure the authorities", fitting the criteria established in article 41 quinquies of the Argentine Penal Code, which increases penalties for crimes committed with terrorist purposes.

Facts linked to the RAM

Among the crimes committed by the RAM are, for example, an attack in 2010 that ended the life of Jose Domingo Maciel, a municipal street sweeper, when a Molotov cocktail exploded at the Police of Cipolletti, Rio Negro. Similarly, in 2012 they murdered the sergeant of the Neuquén Province Police, José Aigo.

In 2014, the Mapuche terrorist organization carried out an incendiary attack at the Neumeyer refuge in Bariloche. In the province of Chubut, they also carried out attacks on vehicles on National Route No. 40.