Over one thousand Indigenous people arrived in Buenos Aires on Tuesday in the Malón de Paz march which set out from Jujuy a week ago to protest the provincial governor’s constitutional reform.

“Malón” is a term that originally referred to the raids carried out by Indigenous communities in South America in the 17th century.

The protestors walked to the Supreme Court of Justice, the National Congress, and the Obelisk. The date they chose is not coincidental, as August 1 is Pachamama Day — Aymaran and Quechuan for “Mother Earth,” a goddess revered by Andean Indigenous communities.

“[We] are requesting the National Judiciary to rule on the constitutional reform in the province of Jujuy. We have raised the matter in [Jujuy] but, since we did not get any response, we decided to walk to Buenos Aires,” a Queta Indigenous leader told Télam.

“In the province of Jujuy there is no rule of law, today we are living in a real dictatorship,” he said.

The reform, which was heavily criticized by a variety of social groups, was passed amid massive protests and fierce police repression which was condemned internationally. The new law forbids roadblocks as a valid form of protest and gives the provincial government further rights over natural resources — which the communities say endangers the ownership of their lands.

Among the demands are calls for the Supreme Court to rule the reform unconstitutional, the National Congress to sanction an Indigenous Community Property Law and the Executive Branch to takeover the province of Jujuy due to police brutality, persecution and detention of demonstrators.

The Malón de Paz left on July 25 from the Puna and La Quebrada, passing through San Salvador de Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, Rosario, and then toward Buenos Aires City.

The march was a new version of Argentina’s largest Indigenous protest for their territories, also known as the “Malón de la Paz,” which in 1946 saw 174 Kolla people marching from Jujuy to Buenos Aires protesting for their lands.

— Télam