The peasant and peri-urban communities of the Bolsón de Fiambalá3 are located more than 300 kilometers west of the capital city of the province of Catamarca, the seat of Be. Pe., which implies that they are located in the "interior of the interiors", an idiomatic expression that alludes to the doubly peripheral condition of the territorial order: Catamarca is 'the interior' with respect to the 'center' represented by Buenos Aires, the capital of the country; in turn, Fiambalá is 'interior' in the provincial geography. This distinction is an indicator of the conditions of inferiority and disadvantage in relation to access to citizen rights that the populations settled there have. When one goes further into the 'interior', one finds less infrastructure and fewer resources for basic services, such as drinking water for domestic use; public health care; education at all levels; communication; transportation of people and products; and access to cultural, recreational and sports spaces. Beyond the allocations assigned by governments, according to the dominant logic of peripheral capitalism, human and non-human populations-communities of life are "makers of territorialities". In a region with a dry and semi-desert climate, subsistence depends mainly on socio-cultural capacities to regulate water use. Those of us who have seen and heard the socio-political and geo-historical evolution of these territorial conformations share them with anyone sensitive to understanding the narratives of resistance and re-existence of dignified and rebellious communities.

A research conducted by Horacio Machado Aráoz with the support of Be. Pe.4, gives an account of the establishment of the indigenous population around the year 1000. Six centuries before the arrival of the European conqueror, the Abaucan cultures of the Diaguita nation had developed the Kakana language and an organization whose economic component was based on a vast agricultural production, the management of Andean camelids (meat, wool and transport), as well as ceramic, textile and metallurgical activities. Life developed in abundance, with freedom and harmony, with the flow of the generous rivers and the protection of the Andean mountain range.

With the arrival of the slave system and territorial occupation, the situation changed drastically, with disastrous consequences that have lasted until the present day. In fact, the Bolsón de Fiambalá became mainly a supplier of human, vegetable and animal energy for the exploitation of the Potosí mine, which reached its peak between the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century. Timber and draught animals for the mining operations, animal meat for the miners' consumption and slave labor for the mine shaft constituted the main drainage of the territory and the beginning of the current desertification. To this was added the disposition of vine monoculture, which broke the productive diversity and required further deforestation of the carob tree forests to support the vineyards.

In addition, in the first half of the twentieth century, the construction of the railroad - necessary to transport raw materials to the country's ports, always feeding the accumulation of capital - ended up devastating the soil. The landscape became desolate with the omnipresence of the dunes that flooded the life-giving water, weakened the bodies and dramatically narrowed the horizons.

The agroecological practices that began with timid experiences in two or three communities made it possible to overcome the determinism imposed by monoculture, increased communication between all rural populations and, above all, recovered the ancestral identity that was denied, hidden by the processes of "racialization" imposed in the colonized spaces.

The processes of action-reflection and participatory research that such practices entailed gave rise, in 2009, to the organization of ACAMPA, the entity that brings together the peasant families of all the rural populations of the Bolsón de Fiambalá. Through ACAMPA, the growth of farms designed from an agroecological conception and the organization of native and creole seed exchange fairs were carried out, an experience that has been developing for more than twenty years. The fairs, which at the beginning were local and limited to the exhibition and exchange of seeds, seedlings and handicraft products, nowadays have the participation of farmers from different places of the provinces of Catamarca and Santiago del Estero; also, "fair-goers" and visitors from more distant provinces: La Rioja, Córdoba, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires. The gradual growth of this experience has meant, on the one hand, an increase in the diversity of products produced and the testing of modalities of fair and solidary commercialization; and, on the other hand, the collective approach to the fundamental axes of the political ecology of the South: food sovereignty, water justice, communal organization of the territory. In this process, which included the struggle for the defense of irrigation water and the creation of a community radio station, FM Horizonte, we can identify the hardened and tenacious traits of the ancestral ethnic heritage.

One of the most dramatic manifestations of the crisis of global capitalism is undoubtedly the environmental catastrophe we are experiencing, expressed in the reduced availability of energy and materials and the critical deepening of climate change and of the survival capacity of a large part of the ecosystems on a planetary level. The multidimensionality of the crisis, which is not only environmental, but also economic, social, political and cultural, allows us to speak of a collapse of global capitalism, the evidence of which deepened with the pandemic. This critical situation has led the central economies to seek urgent solutions to overcome the end of abundant energy, i.e. the peak of fossil fuels.

The roads lead to the need to defossilize the economy and, for this reason, global power has proposed green capitalism as a way out which, for the people, is a false solution to climate change. Among the proposals for energy transition, green capitalism -or green economy- has lithium as one of its main stars, since it is considered a key raw material for a transition towards a sustainable, clean and decarbonized energy matrix.

Such is the global lithium boom that the size of the global market for lithium compounds was estimated at USD 5,673.38 million in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 21,974.58 million in 2026. The demand for lithium could even quadruple by 2040.

According to the report prepared by the International Energy Agency, as the energy transition accelerates, clean energy technologies represent the fastest growing segment; in an assumed Paris Agreement compliance scenario, the share of total mineral demand will increase significantly over the next two decades,

The concept of "sustainable development" floods the political discourse of businessmen while extractivism in its various forms of irreversible devastation is accelerating at a dizzying pace. So, we have been experiencing four decades of green capitalism recipes = more growth, while the situation of collapse and environmental catastrophe that we mentioned, are increasingly evident. Lander concludes that this evidence occurs because the solutions presented by the multilateral organizations in question are based on "myths, falsehoods, distortions, conceptual swindles".

As we can see, this is a great fallacy and a deepening of the colonial reality in South-North relations. It is not only the defoliation of the economy that is a lie. It is also hidden that lithium extraction produces irreversible impacts on ecosystems.

Clearly, these damages or "externalities" occur in the South. The imperial cities will be able to drive electric cars, they will have cleaner environments and consciences, at the cost of the destruction of the environments and lifestyles of populations.

The discourses that position lithium as the banner of an energy revolution towards a cleaner and more egalitarian matrix conceal the basis of the material flows that will sustain the transition of the countries of the global North, based on the consumption of the common goods of the global South. It is a re-edition of what happened with oil during the 20th century, with the consequent deepening of inequalities, dispossession and environmental devastation and social conflicts in the places of extractive enclaves.

Lithium: energy transition, extractivism and debt

The curse of abundance that has characterized the colonial history of our America is reproduced with lithium. Its most important reserves at a global level -68%10 - are found in Latin America, particularly in the so-called lithium triangle, formed by Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. In the specific case of Argentina, there are three provinces in the north of the country, Salta, Jujuy and Catamarca, which in April 2021 formed the National Lithium Roundtable together with the national government, with the purpose of working together in its exploitation and industrialization.

Now, what is behind lithium in countries such as Argentina? Since lithium is considered a strategic mineral worldwide, its assured demand generates foreign currency, with two immediate purposes: to feed the starving reserves of the national treasury and to meet the payment of the debt contracted with the International Monetary Fund.

The exploitation of lithium feeds the state discourse of "growing to pay" and this growth is understood as the expansion of extractivism in our territories, which is nothing more than the permanent reissue of accumulation by dispossession that characterizes the historical and current relations between the Global North and the Global South.

In this logic, "growing" means sacrificing territories and handing over our common goods to transnational corporations that are not only encouraged to invest and welcomed with open arms, but are also offered significant tax and fiscal benefits (see infographic below). This is one of the reasons why mining only contributes 0.76% to Argentina's Gross Domestic Product, according to official data from November 2020.

In the province of Catamarca there are five lithium projects that are in advanced exploration stage, under construction or in production. Three of these projects are located in the Salar del Hombre Muerto, in Antofagasta de la Sierra; Fénix of the American company Livent; Sal de Vida of the Australian company Galaxy Resources LTD and Sal de Oro of the South Korean company Posco. Another one, Kachi, is located in Salar Carachi Pampa, also in Antofagasta de la Sierra, owned by Australian Lake Resources. And the fifth, Tres Quebradas, is located in Laguna Tres Quebradas, in the department of Tinogasta, owned by China's Zijin Mining. In 2016, the people of Fiambalá began to see vehicles of Liex S.A., a company dedicated to lithium exploration, a local subsidiary of the Canadian corporation Neo Lithium, circulating through their territories. At that time, the company already owned 100% of the mining rights of the Tres Quebradas salt flat, one of the salt flats with the highest known lithium concentration in Latin America, and had an approved Environmental Impact Study for the exploration stage.

In January 2022, the project was acquired in its entirety by the Chinese company Zijin Mining and Liex S.A. became its subsidiary. This purchase responds to the strategy deployed by the Asian giant to ensure access to lithium as a key resource for industrial processes that are already being implemented globally.

The agreement between Neo Lithium and Zijin for the acquisition of the project was that the purchase operation by the Chinese corporation would take place once the Environmental Impact Report for the construction and operation had been approved, which occurred precisely in January 2022.

It is important to clarify that the project is located in the southern subsite that is part of the high Andean and Puna lagoons of Catamarca, recognized under the Ramsar Convention and that, in addition to harboring a rich biodiversity, these lagoons play a role in the global ecosystem balance as they regulate the temperature of the planet.

When we analyze the strong advance of extractive activities in our territories, including mega-mining, we observe the involvement of important transnational corporations, which are frequently represented by national subsidiaries, as in the case of Liex S.A., and when we observe the ways in which these corporations operate, the political and territorial reality reveals that they count on the guarantee of the States at all levels. The evidences are many.

In the first place, the discourses emanating from the political powers place the extractive projects and the companies that implement them, as the means that will allow the leap forward of "development" and "progress" of the localities and regions where they settle, within the framework of the same discourse at national and Latin American level. In this sense, and taking into account the Liex case in Bolsón de Fiambalá, most of the speeches of public officials, including the mayor of Fiambalá, are focused on highlighting that thanks to the Tres Quebradas Project -3Q-, the different localities of the area will have a future, neither better nor worse, just a future. And this is so even in the framework of a public hearing such as the one held in the town of Fiambalá on December 17, 2021, where the Environmental Impact Report of the Exploitation Phase of this project was presented. At the event we witnessed the staging of a parody, where the provincial State, represented by the Secretary of Mining; the municipal executive, present in the person of the mayor, and a woman who acted as secretary and conductor of the hearing, played the sad role of puppets at the service of business interests. Perhaps this does not surprise us because we know that States at all levels are not neutral and that they have been weaving strategic alliances with transnational corporations.

What does surprise us is the unmasked brazenness with which the political authorities "sold" the project. In this sense, Roxana Paulón, mayor of Fiambalá, expressed in the opening remarks of the hearing:

"Since 2016 until now we have gone through a learning process between the state, the people of Fiambalá and the Liex company. Today we are in the presence of a public assembly. I welcome public and democratic processes. We must be responsible because we are not in front of a development project of one year, we are in front of a great development project of 50, 60 years for all the people of Fiambalá. I want to ratify as authority of this town my commitment again with the society of Fiambalá, but I need that we can continue growing and we can continue developing. Dear neighbors: today let us be useful and committed participants in our beloved society. We know what the people of Fiambalá need in order to grow and develop". And at the end of the hearing, the Mayoress emphasized again that "The neighbors do not want more mothers crying and firing their children in a terminal (because they have no job). Liex represents hope for us. Personally, I want to thank Liex company and I want them to know that I will continue to have the same demands, the same commitment with our people. Today in Fiambalá there is future, there is peace, there is hope".

If we were once taught that the State is an impartial arbiter, the alliances and complicities that the different forms of extractivism weave with the States, today show us the opposite. It is not only the complicities of the States; many NGOs and some university sectors also work at the service of the companies.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is part of the fabric of alliances between states and companies. In territories affected by extractive activities, there is often a process that could be called "privatization", as companies take on functions related to social policies that correspond to the State. Thus, they develop "community" projects, which, on closer inspection, are nothing more than cooptation and welfare policies to obtain a social license for the projects in the territories that are or will be affected. As is the case with States and allied NGOs, these projects "for the community" are discursively associated with the "local development" that the extractive ventures will generate in those territories. The advance of the corporate presence in the life of the communities, openly or surreptitiously, translates into an ever-increasing displacement of the governmental authorities in the resolution of the basic rights of the populations and in the assumption, also ever-increasing, by the companies. States "lose" their territories, they are deterritorialized, and these territories are "occupied" by extractive companies, many of them transnationals. The Liex company in Fiambalá is no exception. Under the slogan "Liex Community", the company has a community relations office in the center of the city of Fiambalá and on its website it shows the different "community activities" it undertakes in the Fiambalá community.

Another strategy that demonstrates this State-company alliance was the presence of public security forces, both provincial and national, at the door of the club where the hearing took place. The fear of a possible social outburst of opposition to the project led the political power to shield the interests of the company and "play" democracy through this monologic public hearing.

In addition to irreversible impacts on fragile and complex ecosystems, the Tres Quebradas Project will affect the livelihoods of the traditional peasant and indigenous populations that inhabit the Fiambalá Bolsón. The salinization of soils and the depletion of fresh water sources due to the excessive water consumption required for the brine evaporation process -necessary to obtain lithium in a mining that is defined as water mining- are dramatic effects on soil, air, water and climate, incompatible with peasant and indigenous lifestyles that need water to sustain their production and reproduce their lives. This denial of peasant and indigenous ways of life is evident because with lithium the productive activities - agriculture and small-scale animal husbandry - that are part of the identity they have built historically, disappear. Thus, this extractive project, like others, violates the right to self-determination of peoples and the ancestral rights of native and peasant peoples and imposes "development" imaginaries associated with these projects. Thus, their territories are sacrificed on the altars of extractivism.

The right to participation and to free, prior and informed consultation is also violated since public hearings, when they exist, are spaces where only business and political voices that support the installation of the project are heard, in addition to the fact that they are "guarded" by security forces.

We cannot fail to mention that on November 1, the mining police of Catamarca closed the lithium pilot plant of the Chinese company Zijin-Liex in the town of Fiambalá. Although there is still no official information on the reasons for the closure, some possible explanations have already begun to circulate through the local media and through the voice of the assemblies that are fighting against the advance of the project. Among them are: irregularities in the handling of chemical waste and in the safety and hygiene standards for a plant that handles highly dangerous chemical agents, and the lack of an infirmary, which is an indispensable requirement for the authorization and operation of a plant of these characteristics.

These would be the concrete reasons for the closure, but the Catamarca assemblies remind us that for months the company has been denounced for the extreme conditions of exploitation and precariousness of its workers and for irregularities in safety issues, and they also point out that the inhabitants of Fiambalá suffer intoxication processes due to the consumption of contaminated water, which could be related to the reasons for the closure of the plant.

Since the open-pit exploitation of Alumbrera, in Catamarca (1997), we can say that our peoples and territories have been amputated, cruelly and bestially devastated. Our hills have been perforated and transformed into toxic waste dumps. Our air poisoned with sulfuric and radioactive gases. Our water sources, severely diminished, turned into a tailings dam like a specter of death, making our own the pain of Mariana and Brumadinho, in Brazil. What companies call "environmental liabilities" - those that remain when their activities end - are assets of death and desolation, where it is not possible to develop vital activities. Life cannot develop in a lethally contaminated environment.

And the covid-19 pandemic confirms this manifest truth that a sick world produces a sick humanity in a reciprocal and inescapable way. We dare to maintain that this sickness is directly linked to the drive for ambition. An ambition without measure that has its turning point in the so-called discovery of America, when the invading eye saw, in gold, the reflection of the "perfect god" in its demand for blood to be worshipped.

Nor can we fail to mention the presence of the Christian churches in the historical evolution of this bad development. And at this point, we should mention that not infrequently these churches have supported -by action or omission- the destructive enterprise that was the conquest and colonization of the Continent, while the voices of the Montesinos and the Bartolomé de las Casas were tried to undermine. Today, in consonance with this heritage that touches us, the Churches and Mining Network has articulated processes in defense of territories and communities affected by large-scale transnational mining, while developing, among other activities, the Mining Divestment Campaign.

As an integral part of this Network, we present this case of plundering that takes place in the Bolsón de Fiambalá, in the west of Catamarca, Argentina. We come to tell you, from a reliable source, that the exploitation of lithium in the high Andean lagoons of Tres Quebradas, as well as all the exploitations taking place in the global South, constitute instances of the war unleashed since 1492, which has not ceased to this day: a war against Mother Earth, against women and agro-cultural peoples, against cultures stigmatized as primitive.

Yayo Herrero, reflecting on the situation generated from covid-19, tells us:

We are not facing the suicide of humanity, but the murder of much life at the hands of a part of humanity.

In this situation of collapse, it is up to us to discern on which side of humanity we will place our political and religious position. From the Faith that animates us, we invite you to listen to the "silent demands of vulnerable beings who aspire to the recognition of a 'cosmocentric dignity' based on the ethical principle of responsibility and the political imperative of care.