20 years. The mountain is still standing thanks to its people

Abstract

March 23, 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of the Esquel plebiscite by which 80% of the population said NO to the mega-mining project Cordón de Esquel, owned by the transnational company Meridian Gold.
Indeed, the political, social and discursive event of the NO to the mine came to pierce and suspend, at national level, certain hegemonic consensuses about "Argentina becoming a mining country" and opened the possibility of imagining other possible worlds.
The celebration of this struggle and resistance sustained for 20 years took place in Esquel between March 19 and 26, 2023, the week of dignity. On Monday 20, as part of the opening of the anniversary, the exhibition "20 years standing up" was inaugurated at the Melipal Cultural Center, and ended with another ascent to Calfu Mahuida hill.