The Peasant Movement of Santiago del Estero (Mocase), a member of La Via Campesina, estimated that nearly 3,000 people participated in the protest under the slogan “Not an inch more, the land is ours!”

The groups demanded that the people responsible for the death of Cristian Ferreira be punished. He was a member of the peasant organization murdered a month ago by hired assassins.

The demonstrators also blame the provincial government for allowing the advance of agribusiness and for violating indigenous rights.

They protested against the failure to enforce the forests law, the lack of limits on fumigation, the complicity in the advance of genetically modified soy and large scale cattle ranching.

The demonstration ended outside the headquarters of Ick and Cantos media corporations and of the Direction of Mining and Forests to repudiate the advance of open-pit mining and to demand to put an end to the logging of forests.

A report prepared for ALER by the Argentinean Federation of Community Radio Stations (Farco), also exposes that there was a recent attack of armed bands against a peasant community that resulted in one person injured by a bullet.