Amid the ongoing expansion of Vaca Muerta Sur, the Mapuche community of Pino Kiñe was evicted from its ancestral territory in La Japonesa, Río Negro. An elderly couple, together with their family, was expelled by court order and under police pressure, in favour of a company with forestry and oil-sector links.

The measure was requested by Rielves S.A., a company engaged in the extraction of products from cultivated forests, including tree felling, log processing and the production of raw timber, logs, firewood, posts, charcoal, charcoal fines and other forestry products. Mapuche Tehuelche communities warn that the dispossession is linked to the oil industry in Vaca Muerta Sur.

At least a dozen police officers entered the Mapuche community’s territory, specifically lot 5, fraction A, section 21, covering an area of 2,500 hectares, in the locality of La Japonesa, as stated in the warrant. The Pino Kiñe community resides there and has for years denounced attempted evictions and institutional violence.

The operation, according to complaints, was carried out without prior notice or any opportunity for dialogue with the affected family. The court order was based on the registered title of the land in the name of Rielves S.A., which claims formal possession of the lot. However, the community maintains that the land has been historically inhabited.

The daughter of the evicted couple told Infoterritorial that her father and brother were beaten by police officers, who loaded all their belongings onto a lorry without allowing them to intervene, and that the family — including two minors — was forced to seek shelter in the countryside.