The new National Parks Administration decided to begin its management with a “deep audit” of the actions within the central agency and in all protected areas, review the land transfers carried out and establish as a definition that The “only flag that will fly in the Parks is the Argentine flag.”
The president of ParksCristian Larsen, was in Bariloche on Friday with a tight schedule of less than 24 hours in which prioritized visiting the Villa Mascardi area for two particular issues: the 2-hectare land that had been transferred by the previous management to the Arcángel Miguel foundation for Justice, Equality and Solidarity and that the new board decided to recover; and get to know the area that was occupied by the Lafken Winkul Mapu lof.
Agency sources indicated that Larsen toured the property donated to the foundation directed by Franco García Dellavalle, who was an official in the administration of Alberto Fernández and is a reference for a popular movement that makes up the Unión por la Patria force, where There are some “facilities”. The board’s requirement is that In three months the property will be returned or else the public force could intervene.
In the area where the Lafken Winkul Mapu lof was, which was evicted by Justice in 2022, Larsen has the reconstruction of a building in his “folder”on the same property where the old National Parks hotel was that For many years it remained abandoned and then was vandalized, to install a Park Ranger School, but there are no further details about where the funds will come from.
“There is the intention to rebuild and have the Park Ranger School again. It is an important symbol of sovereignty in our own territory,” remarked a representative of the organization.
During Mauricio Macri’s administration, when the hotel building was still standing but in a state of abandonment, the reinstallation of the Park Ranger School was also announced but never materialized.
In the same line, the board reviews the agreements signed by the previous leadership with land commitments and has the decision to reinvigorate legal actions in defense of heritage of National Parks in cases such as those of the usurpation of Mascardi, in which the previous authorities decided to desist from promoting the cause and promoting an agreement between the parties. For that reason, a trial is scheduled for June.
Also, like what was announced days ago by presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni, the new administration wants to remove the flags of indigenous peoples from protected areas.
“The National Parks are the heritage of all Argentines, not of those privileged to belong to a group close to the power in power. In these parks no other flag other than the Argentine one will fly.”said the spokesperson.
The symbolic theme of the flag leaves in doubt what will happen with the co-management plans which currently, and for years, maintains National Parks, especially in Lanín and Nahuel Huapi, with the Mapuche communities that inhabit the areas, in many cases with agrotourism projects and other activities.
