After the Federal Justice issued a historic ruling on the matter, the government of Jujuy will have to restore an ancestral land. Additionally, it will have to repair the damages caused in another.
Both belong to the inhabitants of the town of Caspalá. In the case, it was determined that the Province encroached upon the rights of a community to preserve its ancestral customs in the place, located 3100 meters above sea level.
Unprecedented case: Jujuy must restore an ancestral land
The unprecedented measure by the Federal Justice is the result of an agreement reached between the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) and the provincial State Prosecutor’s Office. They agreed to put an end to the “state of social unrest” that began on November 18, 2022, according to the judicial decision.
The dispute began two years ago when the government of Jujuy intruded on a land used as a soccer field and for social gatherings. They sought to build a high school there.
The town of Caspalá defended the ancestral territory.
Faced with the families’ reaction to prevent it, who had even proposed an alternative location for the construction, there was police repression and detentions.
Only 400 inhabitants live in the town, which was recognized in 2021 by the World Tourism Organization as one of the “best destinations in the world”. This is due to its tranquility, rural and community lifestyle.
The idea was to move the claimed playing field there, as compensation. It was later confirmed that the provincial State expropriated the land through a law passed in record time, when the conflict with the Caspalá community was already raised.
The judicial dispute
Prosecutor Orsetti argued that, in the second land, the aggravating factor was not the destruction of a mere landscape, but the irreparable damage caused to prehispanic underground slab structures.
Expert witnesses associated them with the territorial expansion of the Inca empire, between the years 1000 and 1400. The inhabitants, in defense of the lands, claimed that their grandparents recognized the area as “the resting place of the ancestral souls of the town.”
According to the anthropologist Gustavo Ontiveros, in Cruz’s property, the machines “devastated part of four or five underground structures that could be tombs or circular silos.” In addition, structures of “ancient archaeological terraces, some prehispanic,” were destroyed.
Shortly after the case began, in June 2023, a precautionary measure halted the works. Although this generated a series of challenges by the provincial State, the arguments were addressed and rejected by the Federal Court of Appeals of Salta.
Caspalá, Jujuy.
The judicial agreement
Faced with the volume of evidence incriminating the Jujuy State, prosecutor Orsetti pursued a conflict resolution through an alternative solution aimed at “restoring social peace.”
The main objective was the comprehensive reparation of the affected inhabitants, provided for in Article 22 of the Federal Criminal Procedure Code.
The federal judge of Guarantees No. 2 of San Salvador de Jujuy, Carina Inés Gregoraschuk, endorsed the agreement, considering it unprecedented due to the characteristics of the process’s object.
The Jujuy government committed to restoring the conditions existing before the conflict began. This applies to the soccer field and the damaged private estate, within 30 business days.
It should be noted that this result does not extinguish criminal actions for the damages caused, against the state officials involved in the process. From former governor Gerardo Morales and ministry officials, to the former municipal commissioner.
