Argentina

From ever-cold Ushuaia, the continent’s southernmost province, to the arid and dry mountains of La Puna, in northwest Argentina, environmental leaders are resisting the advance of companies that, under the old promises of development, charge against the lifestyles of residents and communities, depleting natural resources, and destroying the regions’ fauna and flora. From the extraction of lithium in Jujuy, the open-pit megamining in Catamarca and San Juan to the land conflicts in Patagonia, companies have spun webs -sometimes subtle, sometimes explicit- with authorities that have already resulted in fatalities.