The Silent Struggle:
People around Salar del Hombre Muerto

In the breathtaking landscapes of the Salar del Hombre Muerto, a quiet battle rages on—a battle for power and control over Catamarca’s valuable lithium reserves. As the world rushes towards a greener future, the extractive lithium industry intensifies.

Yet, beneath the surface of the “green energy” narratives, intending to legitimize extractive operations in light of the climate crisis, lies a complex web of socio-cultural and environmental concerns.

Research has consistently shown a clear link between the expansion of the lithium mining frontier and an intensification of conflict. While conflicts partly revolve around water scarcity, exacerbated by the water-intensive lithium industry, they extend beyond natural resources and can have profound socio-economic and cultural dimensions.

Given that, even after more than 25 years of lithium extraction coupled with development promises, the communities close to Salar del Hombre Muerto continue to grapple with poor infrastructure and limited access to basic services, such as energy and health care, the grounds for resistance are further strengthened.

However, despite the evident and compelling reasons for opposition towards the lithium industry, unlike in other regions of Argentina, there have been few reports of overt conflict or resistance movements in the region around the Salar del Hombre Muerto.

This raises questions such as: Has conflict emerged but remained unreported? Was resistance suppressed and conflict silenced? If so, how? Or is it possible that resistance movements are absent in this particular area?

Manufacturing consent – silencing opposition

Surprisingly, even though it is a major target of the lithium rush, the Salar del Hombre Muerto has received little attention from both academia and activism. What emerges is that hegemonic forces seem to have successfully managed to divert attention away from this region, allowing the companies to proceed with the intensification of their extractive activities without facing major scrutiny.

Throughout my fieldwork conducted around the Salar del Hombre Muerto, it became evident that lithium mining companies exert significant control not only over the natural resources of the area but also over its human resources. To achieve this, the lithium industry employs subtle techniques to cultivate public support and improve the companies’ reputations.

As a result, scarcely any landscape in the area remains free from the lithium company billboards advocating their social responsibility efforts and greenwashing their environmental impacts. In this context, propaganda and discursive legitimization are also used to present their activities as necessary for progress and development.

When consent for the expansion of the lithium industry cannot be manufactured and attempts to shape public opinion fail, alternative strategies are employed to curb criticism and silence opposition.

Meeting the actors

Before further elaborating on how dominance is exerted, it is essential to unmask the key actors present in this extractive area. At the heart of this story are the local populations living around the Salar del Hombre Muerto. It is crucial to acknowledge that marginalized populations are not confined to indigenous communities; non-indigenous people are also influenced by the development of the lithium industry.

While much attention is rightly given to conflicts arising from violations of indigenous rights and/or consultation processes, there may be a tendency to overlook seemingly consensual encounters between mega-mining companies and local communities, especially in the context of non-indigenous communities. However, regardless of whether communities are recognized as indigenous or not, they bear the impacts of lithium mining and endure marginalization.

It further needs to be acknowledged that, although certainly less visible, situations of silence and consent do not imply that local people and their environment are not struggling with impacts and challenges.

Lastly, while not as immediately apparent as physical displacements caused by mega infrastructure projects such as land resettlement, it is crucial to recognize the equally profound but less visible forms of economic, cultural, and social displacement that have taken root in the wake of the growing lithium industry around the Salar del Hombre Muerto.

The key actors exerting dominance and shaping these dynamics are multinational lithium companies, with Livent Corporations occupying the central role as the major player in lithium extraction and exportation since 1997. Yet, they do not act alone; they are backed by a diversity of actors, such as academics and even NGOs, which through their pacification efforts contribute to the suppression of conflict.

Besides, governmental bodies, weak and susceptible to corporate influence, play a crucial role in facilitating the industry’s expansion. With their eyes on profitability, companies naturally prioritize corporate interests instead of public interests. The weakness of governmental institutions is not only reflected in the lax regulation of the lithium market, but is also leading to state responsibilities gradually being taken over by mining companies. This includes duties such as building schools.

This is coupled, amongst others, with the use of structural violence, information manipulation, victim-blaming, and police intimidation, as strategies to suppress opposition to extractive operations.

To provide a comprehensive understanding of how these hegemonic forces act on the lives of local populations this article elaborates on economic, cultural, and social displacements around the Salar del Hombre Muerto.

Economic Displacement

By undermining or weakening existing economic activities the lithium companies aim to create the perception that their presence is the sole opportunity for economic advancement. Essentially, the job opportunities that come with the development of the mining industry enable these companies to portray themselves as saviours.

The presence of mega-mining companies brought about significant economic displacement among the local communities residing around the Salar del Hombre Muerto. Traditionally dependent on subsistence activities like transhumant grazing and agriculture, these communities have undergone a dramatic shift toward monetized activities driven by the allure of the booming lithium sector.

As more livelihoods become entangled with the industry, traditional economic practices are sidelined, often leading to the loss of cultural heritage associated with these activities. This economic displacement not only affects individuals directly employed by mining companies but also indirectly impacts those providing services to the industry, perpetuating a cycle of dependency.

Cultural Displacement

The commodification of local livelihoods spurred by the lithium industry has not only transformed economic dynamics but has also given rise to cultural displacement. It appears that the introduction, if not imposition, of ‘modern’ values has accelerated the erosion of cultural values. Indigenous cosmologies, often marked by a deep connection to land and nature, have been overshadowed in this process.

This is particularly evident among the younger generation, who seems increasingly detached from Mother Earth, and the associated cultural practices. Instead, the modern ethos of material gain and capitalist pursuits takes center stage, prompting many to voice material aspirations and ideas of progress propagated by the industry.

This cultural displacement does more than merely disrupt cultural practices; as collective identities fade away and shared values become scarce, social cohesion is degraded.

Social Displacement

Social fragmentation appears to be further catalyzed by the economic dependency brought by the lithium industry. This is because conflictive interests emerged between those who, due to economic dependency, support the lithium industry and those who want to preserve the environment and traditional ways of living.

While most are aware of the negative externalities of the industry, few stand up against lithium mining. Many are economically bounded to agree to the development of the mining industry, leading a municipal worker to describe “people here” as “very conformist and silent, nobody talks, also not amongst each other”.

Hence, these internal divisions coupled with the absence of a shared identity and a fragmented sense of belonging make it increasingly difficult for the local population to unite and form resistance movements in solidarity.

While local communities exposed to the “extractive imperative” are not the ones to blame, it is clear to say that internal division impairs a community’s ability to resist and be resilient to external forces, such as the domination of the lithium industry. Hence, to reduce the vulnerability of local populations, efforts must be made to promote community building and to strengthen social cohesion.

Uncovering these aspects of economic, cultural, and social displacement sheds light on the multifaceted impacts of the lithium industry on the lives of local populations around the Salar del Hombre Muerto. By addressing these dimensions, I aimed to provide a comprehensive narrative that goes beyond the surface and offer a deeper understanding of the challenges communities face in the wake of lithium extraction.