Wichí People
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The Wichí are a group indigenous people of
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. They are a large group of tribes, inhabiting the headwaters of the Bermejo River and the Pilcomayo River, in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
and
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
.


Notes on designation

This ethnic group was referred to by English settlers as Mataco, and is still widely known as such. The
etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...
of this term is obscure, but in several sources it is cited that the Wichí find the term
derogatory A pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility ...
. Among the Wichí exists a
folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...
for this term, which relates it to the Spanish verb ''matar'', to kill. Their preferred name and word for themselves is Wichi 'people' (), and their language is ''Wichí Lhamtés'' (). There is a pronunciation variant in some areas of
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
, , where the group refers to themselves as Weenhayek wichi, translated by Alvarsson (1988) as "''the different people''" (pl. ''Weenhayey''). Weenhayey informants of Alvarsson state that the old name was Olhamelh (), meaning simply ''us''. The subgroups within Wichí have been identified and received different names in literature: ''Nocten'' or ''Octenay'' in Bolivia, ''Véjos'', (perhaps more properly) ''Wejwus'' or ''Wehwos'' for the Western subgroup(s), and ''Güisnay'' for the Eastern subgroups of Argentina. The latter corresponds to Tewoq-lhelej, "the river people".


Population

At present, a number of Wichí groups can be found in Argentina and Bolivia, distributed as follows: * Argentina: **18 groups in the north-west of Chaco, about 180 km north-west of the town of Castelli. **Many communities in Formosa, departments of Bermejo (15 communities), Matacos (10 communities), Patiño (7 communities) and Ramón Lista (33 communities). **Other communities are located in
Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...
, departments of San Martín (21 communities), Rivadavia (57 communities, some of them with just a few individuals), Orán, Metán (2 communities) and Anta (3 communities), being the latter three more isolated; and in Jujuy, departments of Santa Bárbara, San Pedro and Ledesma. * Bolivia: Gran Chaco province, Tarija Department, on the Pilcomayo River, 14 communities living in the area from (and including) the town of Villa Montes up to D'Orbigny, in the Argentine border. ''
Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...
'' reports: * Wichí Lhamtés Güisnay/Pilcomayo Wichí: speakers in Argentina (2021) * Wichí Lhamtés Nocten: speakers in Bolivia (2012) * Wichí Lhamtés Vejoz/Bermejo Wichí: speakers in Argentina (2021)


Languages

Versions of Wichí are the most widely spoken languages of the Matacoan language family. Wichí includes three languages: * Wichí Lhamtés Vejoz * Wichí Lhamtés Güisnay * Wichí Lhamtés Nocten. The total number of speakers can only be estimated; no reliable figures exist. several sources. The Argentine National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) gives a figure of 36,135 speakers in Argentina only. In Rosario, the third biggest city of
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, there's a community of approximately 10,000 wichí people, all of them fluent in Wichí, including some native speakers. There are multiple
bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
primary schools. In Bolivia, Alvarsson estimated there were between 1,700 and 2,000 speakers in 1988; a census reported 1,912, and Diez Astete & Riester (1996) estimated between 2,300 and 2,600 Weenhayek in sixteen communities. According to Najlis (1968) and Gordon (2005), three main
dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
s can be distinguished in the Wichí group: southwestern or Vejós (Wehwós), northeastern or Güisnay (Weenhayek) and northwestern or Nocten (Oktenay). Tovar (1981) and other authors claim the existence of only two dialects (northeastern and southwestern), while Braunstein (1992–3) identifies eleven ethnical subgroups. The Wichí language is predominantly
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
ing and polysynthetic; verbal words have between 2 and 15 morphemes. Alienable and inalienable possession is distinguished. The phonological inventory is large, with simple, glottalized and aspirated stops and
sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels a ...
s. The number of
vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
s varies with dialect (five or six). The Anglican Church, and particularly Bishop David Leake and his missionary father Alfred Leake before him, have played a crucial role in finding a written form for the Wichí language to record their stories and foundational myths. Many Wichí people are Christian, and Bishop Leake, with the support of the Bible Society, translated the entire Old and New Testaments into written form for the Wichí to read and hear it in their own language.


History

Much of the information available about the history of the Wichí comes from
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
and
Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
missionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries. The first mission came in 1690, but was unsuccessful. Later in 1771, the Franciscan Mission of Zenta found better reception. However, with the decline of the Spanish power these missions also fell into decay. The Anglican Church has been heavily involved with the Wichí people since the beginning of the 20th Century. There are currently over 140 churches across the local area, which are almost exclusively attended by indigenous families. Many of the priests of the Anglican Church in Northern Argentina are from indigenous communities, and three of the Bishops of the (Anglican) Diocese of Northern Argentina are from indigenous communities, including the Wichí (cf. Diocese of Northern Argentina; Anglican Indigenous Network). The Wichí territory seems to have changed since the 18th century, when the first precise information on their existence and location was recorded. Their neighbors in the Pilcomayo River area were the Toba, and their lands on the Bermejo River extended from the current town of Embarcación, to a region north of current town of Castelli, in the Chaco Province. The Anglican Diocese of Northern Argentina has advocated on behalf of the Wichí people for over a century, mediating between the local governments of Formosa and Salta to try and secure the land rights of indigenous populations. (For over half a century the Anglican Church was privately purchasing some of these lands to allow the indigenous people to live there, while the National Government refused to acknowledge Wichí land rights (or human rights).) In February 2020, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled against the Government of Argentina in a landmark case and ordered reparations, restitution of land, and fishing rights to the indigenous communities. ASOCIANA, an ecological charity under the umbrella of the Anglican Church, has been heavily involved in this process and of documenting ecological crimes committed by private corporations and governments groups. According to Father Alejandro Corrado, a Franciscan of Tarija, the Wichí were nomadic; their houses were light structures scattered in the jungle. Corrado claims the Wichí lived chiefly upon fish and ''algarroba'', that is, the fruit of the local ''algarrobo'' tree (usually identified with '' Prosopis alba'' or South American mesquite), as well as honey-locust, but "they ate anything that was not
poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...
ous, even rats and
grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...
s". From the ''algarroba'' they were said to prepare an intoxicating
liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...
(this is probably ''aloja'', produced by
fermentation Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduce ...
of the sugar-loaded ''patay'' paste inside the fruit). The ripening of the ''algarroba'' was celebrated with a ceremony. Additionally, in Corrado's words, among the Wichí "everything is in common". He claimed that there was a division of tasks, the men occupying themselves with
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
or occasional
hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...
with bow or club, and the women doing practically all the other work. As for their religious beliefs, Corrado wrote that the Wichí medicine men fight off
disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...
"with singing and rattle", that the Wichí believe in a good spirit and a bad spirit, and that the
soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
s of the deceased are reincarnated in animals. There is evidence of the use of the entheogen Anadenanthera colubrina by Wichí shamans in Argentina. The
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...
Church of
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
started working within the Wichí community in the early parts of the last century, which resulted in the
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
majority in Weenhayek populations. The fact that the ideas of possession and ownership do not exist within the community has made this conversion quite easy. Everyone owns everything (and nothing) together, just as the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
dictates was the case with the first churches. There are other facts that have helped the contextualization of the
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
, such as the Weenhayek being fishermen (in the Pilcomayo River), just as some of the disciples in the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
. These facts have made it possible for the Weenhayek to maintain their unique cultural identity and traditions, in spite of embracing faith in Christianity.


Current threats

Wichí have traditionally lived off of supplies from hunting, fishing and basic agriculture. Since the beginning of the 20th century, significant portions of their traditional land have been taken over by outsiders, and what was once a
grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...
has since turned undergone
desertification Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of Soil fertility, fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation. This i ...
due to
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...
, the introduction of
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
, and more recently, the introduction of alien crops (
soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...
). A study conducted in 1998 by a graduate student from Clark University, Worcester, MA based on
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
photo surveys showed that between 1984 and 1996, 20% of the forest has been lost. The Wichí were affected by the
recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...
that lasted from 1999 to 2002, however, their economic self-sufficiency, their physical isolation, and the lack of recognition on the part of the authorities diminished the impact of the crisis, which was limited to
inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...
in the price of certain goods they cannot produce (such as sugar and red meat, replaceable by wild honey and fish) and to problems with the supply of medicines and healthcare. For many years, the Wichí have been struggling to get legal titles to the land they historically owned, which has been constantly seized and fenced by non-indigenous cattlers and farmers. Their land claims are centered around two large public land areas in eastern Salta, known as ''Lote 55'' (about 2,800 km2) and ''Lote 14''. The Wichí rights to that land have been recognized by law, but no practical enforcement actions have been taken by the Salta provincial government. At the beginning of 2004, the government of Salta decided to lift the protected status of the General Pizarro Natural Reserve, an area of 250 km2 in the Anta Department inhabited by about 100 Wichí, and to sell part of the land to two private companies, Everest SA and Initium Aferro SA, to be deforested and replaced with a
soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...
farm. After months of complaints, legal struggle, and a campaign sponsored by
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
, on 29 September 2005 (after an exposure in a popular TV show) a group of Argentine artists, actors, musicians, models, environmental groups, and Wichí representatives arranged a hearing with Chief of Cabinet Alberto Fernández, Director of the National Parks Administration Héctor Espina, and President Néstor Kirchner himself. The national government promised to discuss the matter with Salta governor Juan Carlos Romero. On the 14th of October 2005, the National Parks Administration and the government of Salta signed an agreement to create a new national protected area in General Pizarro. Of the approximately 213 km2 comprised by the new reserve, the Wichí will have the right of use of 22 km2, and they will own 8 km2. El Chaco, where Wichí also live, is the largest subtropical dry broadleaf forest of the earth. Currently, the Wichí and other indigenous groups are in danger of losing their land and livelihood to
agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...
es. Soy and cotton farmers want to cut down the trees in order to expand cultivation. The Chaco forest is being cut down six times faster than the Amazon jungle. The greatest profiteers are logging companies. Additionally, soy cultivation has accelerated deforestation. In a lot of cases, this means that the indigenous communities lose their land to agribusinesses and suffer under the intense use of fertilizers and pesticides, which poison the water they depend on. Since 2008, many indigenous people have organised in the “Movimiento Nacional Campesino Indígena” (National Movement of Indigenous Peasants), and fight for the legal right to their land.Conquest by chainsaw http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/logging-subtropical-dry-forest-deprives-indigenous-people-argentina-their-livelihood


Wichí society

Wichí, like other
hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...
peoples, were semi-
nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...
ic. Even today, despite transculturation, there is a fairly large number of ''montaraces'' (nomadic) communities or clans. Each Wichí village has its own territory, but usually a few communities share the use of the overlapping areas. Each community consists of one or more clans. Wichí society is matrilocal, i.e., people belong to their mothers' clans; upon
marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
, men move to their wives' villages. Individuals and families of some of the neighboring peoples like the Iyojwaja ( Chorote), Nivaklé, Qomlek ( Toba) and Tapy'y ( Tapieté) often live amongst the Wichí, sometimes marrying into their society. They build small mud houses with roofs made of leaves and branches, making them well adapted to the high temperatures of summer that can reach 50  °C (120  °F). During the dry season (winter) they depend on fishing in the Bermejo and Pilcomayo rivers, and cultivate
corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...
,
pumpkin A pumpkin is a cultivar, cultivated winter squash in the genus ''Cucurbita''. The term is most commonly applied to round, orange-colored squash varieties, but does not possess a scientific definition. It may be used in reference to many dif ...
s, beans and
watermelon The watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a Glossary of botanical terms#scandent, scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is plant breeding ...
s during summer. Throughout the year the Wichí hunt deer (''Cervidae'') such as "guasuncho" ('' Mazama goauzoubira'') and "corzuela roja" ('' Mazama americana''),
armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...
s ('' Dasypus'', '' Tolypeutes'' and '' Euphractus''),
rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...
s ("tapetí", '' Sylvilagus brasiliensis''), several types of
iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...
and peccaries (''Tayassu albirostris'', '' Tayassu tajacu''). Wichí also search for wild
honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...
and gather fruits. For centuries, they have used the strong fibers of chaguar ('' Bromelia serra'', '' Bromelia hieronymi'') for
weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
nets, purses and other textile objects; some communities base a substantial part of their economy on selling chaguar handicrafts. The most popular game among the Wichí is a team sport called `yaj ha`lä, which resembles
lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
. Games usually last from dawn to dusk without interruption, and are agreed upon between clans. The cultural significance of the game is lost, but it is still a subject of heavy
gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...
: rival clans bet animals, clothes, seeds and horses on the outcome of the game.


Notes


References

* Adelaar, Willem F.H., (2004). ''The languages of the Andes''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press * Alvarsson, Jan-Åke. (1988). ''The Mataco of the Gran Chaco: an ethnographic account of change and continuity in Mataco socio-economic organization.'' Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International (Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology, 11). * Braunstein, José A., 1992-3. "Presentación: esquema provisorio de las tribus chaqueñas". ''Hacia una Nueva Carta Étnica del Gran Chaco'', 4: 1–8. Las Lomitas, Formosa. * De la Cruz, Luis María, (1990). ''Grupos aborígenes de Formosa. Localización e identidad étnica (map). * * Díez Astete, Álvaro and Jürgen Riester, (1995). "Etnias y territorios indígenas". In Kathy Mihotek (ed.), ''Comunidades, territorios indígenas y biodiversidad en Bolivia''. Santa Cruz de la Sierra: UAGRM-Banco Mundial. * * * * Terraza, Jimena, (2001). "Towards a language planning of the endangered languages in Argentina: the case of Wichí in the Southwest of the Province of Salta". Symposium ''Linguistic Perspectives on Endangered Languages'', Helsinki University, Aug.29 to Sep.1, 2001. * *


See also

* Hamilton's Pharmacopeia


External links


Wichi language (research, documentation and education in Argentina)

Wichi Vocabulary List
(from the World Loanword Database)
Comparative Wichi Swadesh vocabulary list
(from Wiktionary'
Swadesh list appendix
*
INDEC
National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Argentina.
Grupo Sacham

Chacolinks - Support for the Wichi people of Argentina
(reports on the conservation of the language, culture, lands, etc. of the Wichí)

fro
Latin American Studies
taken from
The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...
, August 13, 2002.
Survival 2002
a report on current threats to the Wichí's rights.
The Art of Being Wichi
a Norwegian film that is currently being made on the Wichi Indians by Corax Videoproduksjon as.
Greenpeace
22 August 2005. Burning of forest lands in Salta (picture gallery). * About the General Pizarro Natural Reserve: *

Programa Control Ciudadano del Medio Ambiente. ''Caso: Desafectación de Reserva Provincial General Pizarro (provincia de Salta).'' *
Greenpeace
July 2005. ''Razones por las que no debe destruirse la Reserva de Pizarro (Salta).'' *
Biodiversidad en América Latina
''Argentina: la Reserva de Pizarro a punto de desaparecer.'' 26 September 2005. *

newspaper, 30 September 2005. ''El reclamo wichí llegó a la Rosada.'' *

newspaper, 15 October 2005. ''La reconquista de Pizarro.'' *

Scholarly paper: Hufty, M. (2008). Pizarro Protected Area: A political ecology perspective on land use, soybeans and Argentina's nature conservation policy. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wichi People Indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco Indigenous peoples in Bolivia Indigenous peoples in Argentina Indigenous peoples in Chile