29/05/2026
Argentina’s far-right government, led by President Javier Milei, has blamed Indigenous Mapuche communities for the wildfires that have repeatedly devastated Andean Patagonia in recent years.
But judicial investigations have found no evidence to support these claims, despite officials suggesting links to “terrorism”.
One of the key drivers of these fires is the spread of pine monocultures – vast plantations of a single tree species that replace native forests, damage biodiversity and are highly vulnerable to fire.
Far from being a ‘climate solution’, these plantations are another form of extractivism – exploiting forests, water and land while dispossessing Indigenous and rural communities.
