ZNet
LATIN AMERICA
Chile's Mapuche Indigenous Struggle for Land and Rights
by Roberto Manriquez - November 21, 2003
Oh Ngvnechen, give me your
breath
your breath of powerful air
This one will be a singer, you said, giving me
the blue horse of the word
-Elicura Chihuailaf
Despite 250 years of successful resistance against the invasion of the Spanish kingdom and nearly 200 years of struggle against the state of Chile, the Mapuche ('people of the earth') have neither arms nor army. Their only aspiration from then to now has been to keep their land and their culture. In November 2002, the assassination of the young Mapuche activist Alex Lemun at the hands of the police was a dramatic reminder of what the price of resistance can be.
Lamngen ("brother") Alex, in spite being just 17, had already been an active part of his community "Requem Lemun" in the Ercilla region, some 600 km south of Santiago de Chile in Araucania.
That sector is a perfect summary of the suffering faced by young Alex and his people. Land, usurped by forest companies that have, through extensive pine cultivation, eroded rich, arable land, extinguished waterways and sources, nearly erasing from the map of the region native trees that were centuries old.
There are some 1 million Mapuche in Chile. About 50% live in urban areas, especially Santiago, with the other 50% in rural areas in the south of the country.
The profound process of 'mestizaje' between the spanish colonizer and the Mapuche has created a situation where Chileans all agree that "we all have some Mapuche", and that this is the reality of all of Chile's 16 million inhabitants.
This sentiment arises easily when one remembers how the Mapuche successfully resisted the Spanish colonizers, forcing the crown to sign a border treaty in 1641, acknowledging its defeat.
But the sympathy becomes uncomfortable when the history of the state of Chile is brought up. In the history textbooks that all Chileans must study to pass high school there is a phrase that gives some clarity about this: "The Pacification of Araucania". In straight Orwellian prose, this phrase describes the invasion of Mapuche lands by Chile between 1881 and 1883.
Chronicles of the period reveal terrifying stories of what happened there, stories that are typical of foreign invasion: summary executions, pillage, burning of houses, rape, displacement of populations.
The Chilean state, politically and militarily dominant, took 95% of the Mapuche lands in the opening of a brutal offensive of theft and domination which, in spite of changing forms, continues to the present day.
If, under the administration of Eduardu Frei and Salvador Allende, between 1964 - 1973, the Mapuche managed to recover part of their ancestral land through successive agrarian reforms, the military coup and the Pinochet dictatorship set everything back to square one, starting a new process of theft, returning the land to its old latifundista owners.
The politics of extermination practiced by the military meant death and disappearance to hundreds of Mapuche leaders. Besides this, military decrees denied the very existence of indigenous peoples in the country and forced the breakup of communal landholdings.
At the same time, the brutal economic policies of the regime meant increased concentration of land and a regression of the economy to a role as an exporter of primary resources, in this case wood. Subsidies worth millions of dollars encouraged large investors to intervene in the ecosystem throughout the south of the country, introducing pine plantations on a large scale. Pine is an invasive species that destroys the vegetative cover rapidly and acidifies the soils. Rich, wet forests of arable land were devastated by erosion, altering the water cycle and destroying groundwater sources.
With the arrival of democracy in 1990, the ruling coalition of the centre-left Coordination for Democracy made a series of agreements with some indigenous groups on recognition, protection, and development of indigenous peoples (the Indigenous law) that meant, in some cases, the devolution of lands. According to the majority of indigenous communities, these were palliatives that served to legitimate the process of investment by national and transnational firms occupying Mapuche ancestral lands and destroying the natural environment.
At the same time the agreements were being signed, a land rights movement was being launched. That movement used occupations, marches, and other actions, all led by the main Mapuche oranizations: The Council for All the Lands and the Arauco Malleco Coordination.
These mobilizations have had the approval of the majority of Chileans who, in every poll, have recognized the historic injustice and despoliation of which they have been victimized. Despite this, the media maliciously and profusely claim that Chileans reject the land occupations and the 'use of violence' that is always attributed to the Mapuche (even when they are its victims). This helps to atomize, stigmatize, and criminalize the Mapuche cause, according to a norm that is not at all unique to Chile.
According to the Mapuche Commission for Human Rights (COMAPU), there are 38 Mapuche political prisoners. Of these, 29 are men, 3 women, and 6 are minors. This violates various international treaties signed by the government. Another 28 people are completing sentences without incarceration. (1)
The Majority are incarcerated for "Illicit Terrorist Associations": that is, for participating in land occupations and public marches, for the cutting of forests or the burning of sheds used by forest companies. These charges are nonsense rejected by public opinion.
According to the report, violent operations by Carabineros (police & paramilitaries) in the zone have intensified in the past 3 years, with physical aggressions, threats, attacks and robberies against members o various communities. But there are still more serious cases: a 10 year old girl, Daniela Nancupil, leader of a community leader, was kidnapped; Jorge Suarez Marijuan, brother of a community leader of Malla Malla in the Alto Bio Bio, was assassinated. Jorge Suarez's body was found floating in the river Queuco last December after disappearing days before. Autopsy reports revelaled signs of beating. This crime has gone unpunished, and many suspect the participation of ultra-right brigades protected by police agents. (2)
It is in this context that the savage assassination of the young community member Edmundo Alex Lemun should be understood. Peacefully participating in a land recovery with his family and community, Alex was shot in the face by the police and died five days later, on November 12 2002.
The community denounced the Carabineros acting on behalf of the Mininco forest company and the local government. The central government's only response was to declare that Lemun was 18 years old, not 17 as his family said. This was a disgusting maneuver to try to hide the fact that the young man was a minor.
Mid-year, facing the rigorous indifference of the national press, a special UN envoy for human rights of indigenous peoples, Mexican anthropologist Rodolfo Stavenhagen, visited the region. He criticized the repressive policies of the government and the treatment of community activists and their families as terrorists.
There was no official reaction by the administration of socialist President Ricardo Lagos, nor were there journalists to demand one of him.
In October the repression continued. Patricia Troncoso, a theology student until she embraced the Mapuche cause, participated actively in mobilizations of solidarity. Patricia has imprisoned, awaiting trial since last year for "Terrorist Association". She faces unproven accusations of burning forest company property.
On October 12, Patricia began a hunger strike. She is not the only one waiting in Arauco. Alex Lemun's parents await knowledge of their son's killer. The Mapuche await the national and international solidarity that can help reverse this tragic series of events.
By November 3 (when this note was written), a total of 35 holdings and ranches had been seized by Mapuche communities.
Contact Patricia:
Sección Femenina del Penal
Dirección Postal:
Centro Control Penitenciario VICTORIA
Chorrillos N° 557, Victoria, IX Región-Chile.
Fax: 56 (2) - 45 - 842766
Teléfono: 56 (2) - 45 - 842766 -
Campaign for the freedom of Mapuche Political
Prisoners, by the Mapuche Organization
Meli Wixan mapu (The Four Points of the Earth).
Address:
Martínez de Rozas 2311
fax 775 51 35 - celular 09 796 92 73
Email: meliwixanmapu@mixmail.com
Santiago de Chile
Roberto Manríquez is a Chilean journalist.. Robertomanriquez@hotmail.com
(1) Pag. 11 "Informe sobre situacion de Derechos Humanos en Territorio Mapuche". Coordinadora Aruaco Malleco, Araucanía, Abril 2003.
(2) Pag. 24 Informe ...
[translated by Justin Podur]