The most populous indigenous groups were the Aonikenk, Kolla, Qom, Wichí, Diaguita, Mocoví, Huarpe peoples, Mapuche and Guarani In the 2010 census [ INDEC ], 955,032 Argentines declared to be Amerindian or first-generation descendants of Amerindians, that is, 2.38% of the population. Peoples: Charrúa, Lule, Mbya-Guaraní, Mocoví, Pilagá, Toba, Tonocoté, Vilela, Wichí.In the central-south region, the Mapuche, Teheulche and Rankulche peoples are faced with the permanent invasion and theft of their lands. Kolla is made up of several groups including Zenta and Gispira. This affects the reproductive cycles of the flora and fauna that form the food of indigenous families. Kolla people hold elected positions and also participate in government activities. However, they do not have titles to their land because of the communal ownership of land. “There are still legacies from the colonial era and the history of exclusion is still highly visible,” Anaya wrote in his report.
Since then, however, the survey has not even begun to be carried out in half of the communities, despite the fact that the law has been extended three times. The indigenous community lives on privately owned agricultural land, to which they returned after being evicted in a major police operation. Along with neighboring Santiago del Estero, Salta is the Argentine province that has suffered the greatest deforestation in recent years, due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier, pushed mainly by transgenic soy, which today occupies more than half of the area planted in the country.“As the city of Tartagal grew, they pushed our indigenous communities out, so we go wherever we can,” explains López, who says that a couple of years ago they were evicted in an operation in which some 200 police officers participated.“However, these communities are not yet able to take control of the land because they do not have title to it. 70,505 Kolla people are living in Argentina today, the second highest number of Indigenous Argentines. Generalised stereotypes have forced many indigenous people to defensively hide their identity in order to avoid being subjected to racial discrimination. According to the last national census in the country (2010), there are 955,032 people in Argentina who self-identify as descended from or as indigenous peoples. And indigenous people benefit little from the employment created by newly-established agroindustries, given that their ties with the labour market are insecure, unstable or virtually non-existent. The backdrop is the pattern of discrimination that persists in Argentina despite advances made on paper, as then UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples James Anaya reported after a visit to the country in 2011. For example, the Lhaka Honat Association of Native Communities is an association of 43 communities from the Salta Chaco, the Mapuche Neuquén Federation is made up of Lonkos from communities in this province, the India Quilmes Community of Amaicha del Valle is made up of various grassroots communities, the Kolla Tinkunaku Community is made up of four communities, the Guaraní People’s Assembly comprises all of this people's communities in Jujuy province, the Pilagá Federation groups together this people's communities in Formosa province, and the Interwichí comprises Wichí communities in the same province. The decision-making mechanism is exclusive to each group, with decisions often being taken by consensus in community assemblies. Peoples: Atacama, Avá-Guaraní, Chané, Chorote, Chulupí, Diaguita-Calchaquí, Kolla, Ocloya, Omaguaca, Tapiete, Toba, Tupí-Guaraní, Wichí.Their territories expropriated over decades and their chiefs militarily defeated, the indigenous nations were incorporated as subjugated peoples and insecure occupiers of their own lands; they were forced to adopt a foreign religion and way of life.