• Minister for Women, Gender and Diversity, Elizabeth Gomez, resigns in protest over indigenous women’s detention.
• Seven indigenous women from the Mapuche nation were detained Tuesday by security forces.
• Clashes broke out between security forces and protesters clearing lands in Rio Negro province.

According to state news agency Telam, Argentina’s Minister for Women, Gender, and Diversity, Elizabeth Gomez, resigned in protest of the high-profile detention of several indigenous women leaders this week.

The Mapuche women were detained by Argentinian security forces on Tuesday amid clashes over their community’s occupation of private and public lands, according to Telam.

“The situation is extremely worrying. “Seven indigenous women, one of whom is the community’s spiritual leader, have been detained for more than 48 hours,” Gomez said in an interview with local radio station AM750 on Thursday. Her portfolio includes the advancement of women’s and indigenous minorities’ rights.

Gomez resigned the next day.

Argentina’s president, Alberto Fernandez, has accepted Gomez’s resignation, according to presidential spokesperson Gabriela Cerruti, according to Telam.

Also Read

Argentina shocked by attempted assassination on vice president

Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was shot at from close...

According to Telam, federal police conducted an operation on Tuesday to clear lands of members of the Lof Lafken Winkul Mapu indigenous community in the Rio Negro province.

Members of the community had occupied the areas while protesting for better treatment of indigenous groups in the country, as part of the Mapuche’s long struggle for recognition of their language and cultural heritage, as well as better economic treatment from the government.

Seven women were detained after clashes between security forces and demonstrators, according to Telam.

According to the agency, four were later transferred to a prison in the province of Buenos Aires, about 1500 kilometres from where they were arrested. They were transferred because the local penitentiary in Rio Negro province was full, according to Argentina’s Security Ministry.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the penitentiary system stated that the four women remained in their custody but did not specify whether any had been formally charged.

Also Read

Argentina rallies around Cristina Fernández de Kirchner following a failed murder attempt

Crowds in Buenos Aires's capital city chanted, "We are all Cristina," in...