Borderlands, extractivism, and water under repressive contexts and neoliberal regimes: three case studies in Latin America

Abstract

In this contribution, we analyze how water has become an element of dispute both in repressive contexts and under the extractive neoliberal model consolidated in Latin America. This work is based on a research conducted since 2016 on empirical cases in traditional Indigenous territories located in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Colombia, and Guatemala. Through analyses derived from ethnographic, cartographic, archival, and secondary source work, we aim to demonstrate, first, the centrality of the territorial dimension in contexts of repression and massive violence against Indigenous peoples. Second, we address how water, whether due to scarcity, abundance, or excess, emerges as a central element in these contexts of structurally unequal relations between Indigenous peoples, governments, and markets. Finally, we analyze how states and extractive companies propose a scenario in which they establish mixed state and market logics, presenting them as “apolitical”. Both, articulated as part of their structure and repertoire, legitimize, articulate, and promote practices of dispossession that include different forms of violence.