An arson attack in southern Chile

The radicalized Mapuche Lavkenche Resistance group claimed responsibility for an arson attack carried out at dawn on Sunday. The result was fifteen houses burned in the south of Chile, a region that is experiencing a long and already bitter conflict over land between indigenous communities and large agricultural and forestry companies. The Resistance published a statement of four conditions to not carry out more actions addressed to the new president Gabriel Boric,

The attack occurred in Cañete, Biobío region, six hundred kilometers south of Santiago de Chile, and did not cause any casualties. In its statement, the organization warns that “less than twenty days after assuming the Government of Bori,c his absolute ignorance of the territorial conflict that is being experienced in Wallmapu” has already become clear, as the Mapuches call their land. The government tries to “show a permissive and friendly face in the face of the territorial conflict (…), but without attacking the underlying problem.”

The Resistance gave Boric a period of 48 hours to fulfill four conditions, if he does not want “new mobilizations in all the territories.” Among their demands are the immediate withdrawal of all lawsuits in which the government is accusing Mapuches, the transfer to education and work centers of all convicted Mapuches who are in legal conditions to do so, that the government order their lawyers to are part of the persecution of the Mapuche political prisoners not to appear to litigate the allegations of the annulment appeal that will be discussed this Monday, April 4, in the Supreme Court and the dismissal of all the lawyers of the provincial delegations that have litigated in the Mapuche causes.

After the attack, Interior Undersecretary Manuel Monsalve announced an extraordinary meeting at La Moneda, the seat of government. In several regions of southern Chile there has been a entrenched dispute for decades between the State, some forestry and agricultural companies belonging to large economic groups and some indigenous groups that demand the return of lands they consider ancestral. Within the framework of this conflict, which has worsened in the last year, there have been numerous disturbances, attacks on agricultural machinery and properties, hunger strikes by indigenous prisoners, fires and shootouts with fatalities.

The conservative government of Sebastián Piñera opted for a repressive solution and placed the south of the country under a state of emergency with military control. Boric lifted the measure and sent senior officials to dialogue. But her Interior Minister Izkia Siches was met with bullets in Araucanía two weeks ago and the Undersecretary of the Interior was unable to reach Cañete due to a roadblock protesting her visit. The trips were diverted and the agenda of speaking with victims of state violence was fulfilled.

Recent Articles

Related News

Leave A Reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here