The Mapuche conflict was once again in the news after the Unified Security Command of the Federal Forces evict the community lof Lafken Winkul Mapuwho had occupied land in Villa Mascardi, in Rio Negro. On the other side of the mountain range, the Chilean president Gabriel Boric It has been rehearsing a possible resolution that proposes to dispense with repression.
In May, shortly after coming to power, Boric decided to militarize the lands in the south of the neighboring country, which were being claimed by Mapuche groups. This action consisted of a “limited state of exception”, where the military could guard the routes and highways of the region of the Araucania, and the neighboring provinces of Arauco Y Biobio, to guarantee the protection of public roads without involving military operations. It should be noted that around 10% of the Chilean population identifies as Mapuche.
It was not an easy decision for the president, since respect for indigenous communities was part of both his political platform and the constitutional reform project he promoted.
Boric neither he wanted his actions to be associated with the emergency constitutional state of exception that his predecessor, Sebastian Pinera, had decreed in October of last year and that continued until March of this year. And that he contemplated direct action by the military with operations that ended with several arrests.
In addition, the hardest sectors of the leftist coalition that makes up the government questioned the current Chilean President, since any military deployment was seen as a “cutback to individual freedoms.”
For this reason, borik finally chose not to give the Armed Forces the authority to act directly on the Mapuche, but to guard the area, after protests by truckers and forestry workers due to insecurity, promoted by the most radicalized indigenous groups. The measure was successful in containing the internal crisis: the then Minister of Social Development, Jeanette Vega He had publicly opposed the state of emergency and ended up supporting the president’s decision. The same thing happened with the Minister of the Interior of Chile, Izkia Siches.
In June, the President had announced the restitution of 172 hectares to Mapuche families located in the area of the commune Freire, in La Araucanía, in southern Chile. Community Jose Maria Saavedra (about 50 families) was one of the beneficiaries, which constituted the first territorial restoration of the Boric government to the Mapuche. “This moment is very important because there were many years of waiting to recover this territory from the Mapuche people and we are happy because with these benefits we will be able to develop ourselves, improve the living conditions of our families, educate our children,” he told the press. Jorge Ancavilleader of that community.
Beyond the successes that Boric’s method could have reported, the conflict is not so easy to resolve. In August, the Chilean government evaluated extending these measures to the region of The rivers Y The lakes. “I do not rule out in any case the use of the tools that the Constitution grants me to be able to guarantee the safety of all people. I think we have to see it case by case (…) In the previous government we lived in the Araucanía Region for several months under a state of emergency and now we find ourselves in this situation. We were forced to maintain it, but the conflict was not resolved either,” the president said in an interview.
That same month, Boric suffered a setback: he had to accept the resignation Jeanette Vegaafter the local news service Ex Ante revealed that one of Vega’s advisers had been holding talks with Hector Llaitul, leader of the radical Mapuche organization CAM. Llaitul had been arrested as part of an investigation into arson attacks on forest assets and wood theft.
In Argentina, the problem seems to have no solution. It is that the eviction of the Mapuche community occurred after a group from Lafken Winkul Mapu took over the central cabin of the property The Radaleswhere members of the lof set fire to a Gendarmerie shelter that even had gunshot marks.
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