The “out-of-frame” popular protest about the Atuel River

Abstract

The political events in Argentina in the 1970s led to social demonstrations of various
kinds, including student revolts. In the province of La Pampa, in this context, different
political, social and trade union organizations promoted, for the first time, actions of
massive protest demanding the payment of royalties corresponding to Mendoza’s use
of the waters of Atuel river to both the national and Mendoza’s governments. What
made it possible that sectors of different ideological backgrounds came together in
common action strategies? The analysis of the “out-of-frame” or the external to the
very reason for the demonstrations - that is to say, the restitution of royalties and,
eventually, the recognition that the río Atuel is also part of La Pampa – allows us to
revise, from a historical point of view, an event that we consider to be the basis of a
conflict that remained in time.