Mapuche International Link/English

Against the Mapuches: racism, stigmatisation and defamation
The indigenous town of Carahue hit the media headlines in Chile as 2012 got underway, this time for being linked with the criticised anti-terrorist law MORE

New Police Raid on Mapuche Community in Chile
The Chilean police again disrupted violently in the Mapuche community of Araucania, indigenous representatives denounced on social networks MORE

Chilean minister explains accusations against Mapuche people
Chile’s Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter pointed to a matter of misinterpretation as to why his statements apparently lay blame with indigeneous groups MORE

Oil drilling threatens Mapuche
While new techniques of hydrocarbon drilling in new areas are lauded by some as a solution to Argentina’s energy imports, the indigenous communities who live in areas where these resources can be found argue the activity is a threat to their communities MORE

Jailed Chile Mapuches ready for 'confrontation' with state
Leaders of an activist group of indigenous Mapuche people in Chile told AFP from their prison cell Monday that they were ready for a "confrontation" with the state to reclaim their "ancestral" lands MORE

Violent and Massive Police Attacks against the Mapuche Communities of the Wallmapu
“It is irresponsible of president Piñera to announce the use of the Antiterrorist Law against Mapuche community leaders because of the mere fact that they have territorial disputes with the forestry companies affected by the fires” MORE

Public Statement Made by Mapuche Communities of Makewe
Two sisters were arrested, tearing a child of a year and a half from the arms of his mother leaving him without anyone to care for him and his two siblings, both minors, who witnessed and tried to resist the violent beating and arrest MORE

Chile blames deadly fires on Mapuche Indian terror
Chile's government said Friday that many of the wildfires burning out of control in Patagonia were set intentionally, and blamed a Mapuche Indian group that has long struggled to regain its ancestral lands for starting the blaze that killed seven firefighters MORE

Chile Mapuche leader's house burned in suspected arson
A suspicious blaze has destroyed the home of an indigenous Mapuche leader in Chile, amid tension over a spate of forest fires MORE

The sister and mother of Matías Catrileo are detained
The sister of Catrileo, Catalina Catrileo, emphasised that “in spite of the Supreme Court endorsing the conviction and considering him to be to blame for the death of Matías, now this guilt will be repaid without prison, in freedom MORE

Chile Denounces Arrest, Beating of Mapuche Student Leader
The spokesman for the Confederation of Students of Chile, José Ancalao, reported being detained and beaten by police after a march commemorating the fourth anniversary of the murder of a young Mapuche, Matthias Castrileo MORE

Chilean Court Prohibits Use of Tear Gas Against Mapuche Communities
On Wednesday, December 21st, the Temuco Court of Appeals decided a case in which they ordered the Chilean police force to refrain from using tear gas in the homes of Mapuche communities near Ercilla MORE

Chile’s Mapuche community finds international support
A group of over 70 authors, artists and academics from Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and the United States, have sent a letter to the United Nations calling for intervention in the ongoing violence against the Mapuche people MORE

Mapuche Community of Valentín Marín Receives Land Titles
It was reported on Friday, December 9th, that the Mapuche community of Valentín Marín — located about 35 kilometers west of Temuco — received title to some small, but important parcels of land MORE

Statement against the latest Police violent raid into Temucuicui territory
Police and plain-clothes officers have entered the Community, attacked individuals and stolen animals, something which has been presented in formal complaints against the Police, but so far the Chilean Justice system has failed to deliver justice MORE

Mapuche Teacher Denounces Discrimination in Cerro Navia
“I have been victim of human rights abuses with the aim of obstructing the implementation of the indigenous language programme..." MORE

UN Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Visits Argentina, Offers Recommendations
The United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, recently ended an eleven-day trip to Argentina where he met with government officials and indigenous peoples throughout the country MORE

Indigenous Focus: Mapuche claim shows reaches, limits of international law
Last Wednesday, Nov. 30, four Mapuche individuals filed a claim against the Chilean government for violating their human rights MORE

El Indio Araucano, an example of overcoming adversity
The lyrics of the songs express that sentiment captured by the few socially conscious artists who then sheepishly raised their voice, the song "Mapuche lament", beautifully interpreted by the Indio Araucano MORE

Chile police clash with Mapuche Indians
Chilean police have taken action against Mapuche Indians, who were holding a demonstration south of Santiago to protest the planned construction of an airport on their territory MORE

Indians occupy U.S. company's gas plant in Argentina
Members of a Mapuche Indian community in western Argentina are occupying a gas-processing plant owned by U.S. energy firm Apache, the company said Thursday MORE

A New Strategy for Repression?
Mapuche children seem to be the target of the Chilean Police
“I was chased by a police helicopter whilst at the same time receiving the impact from lead pellets to various parts of my body, I was caught up with by the police, my hands tied up, I was subjected to insults, racist remarks and punches MORE

Chile, Police Special Forces intimidating Mapuche Indigenous communities
With the title “Mapuche Territory Militarization – Low-Intensity War” [es], Felipe Durán published a series of images denouncing police violence in the Mapuche community WenteWinKulMapu Lof Chequenco, in Ercilla MORE

Mapuche Environmental Activist Jose Llanquileo Visits European Parliament
On his first visit to Europe, Mr. Llanquileo came to Brussels to raise awareness of the environmental impact national and international companies have had on his community MORE

Speech of Machi Fidel Tranamil of the Makewe Territory before the UN Human Rights Council
The legitimate social protests are violently interrupted by the Chilean police who have indiscriminately arrested participants including women, the elderly and children MORE

Chilean Senate approves extensive anti-discrimination law
On Nov. 8, after a three-hour debate in the Chilean Senate, the anti-discrimination bill was finally approved by wide majority, establishing measures against discrimination, including those based on sexual orientation and gender identity MORE

Three Mapuche, Three Police Injured; Two Mapuche Arrested in Ercilla
On Wednesday, November 2nd, more violence broke out in Ercilla resulting in multiple injuries and arrests MORE

Brave Nina Honoured on Wedding Day
A human rights activist with cancer has received a special medal on the day of her wedding MORE

Mapuche Community Alleges Forgery of Signature on Document of Support for Hydroelectric Project
Representatives from the Mapuche community of Curarrehue filed a complaint with prosecutors alleging that at least one signature was forged on a document of support for a hydroelectric dam project MORE

Speech from Jorge Huenchullan, Werken of Temucuicui community, to the UN Human Rights Council
Our demands of land have been systematically criminalised which we confirm through the police and judicial repression that our Temucuicui community has been persecuted since 1991 by a series of atrocities MORE

Speech from Francisco Painevilo, a Mapuche minor, to the UN Human Rights Council
I suffered detention, kidnap and torture at the hands of the Chilean police while I was carrying out tasks relating to my cultural role, together with the shaman Fidel Tranamil Nahuel, in communal territorial land MORE

Mapuche Community Peacefully Occupies Traditional Lands and Plans to Stay Indefinitely
On the morning of Thursday, October 20th, approximately 30 families from the Mapuche-Huilliche community of Huichan Mapu walked onto a 250 hectare (approximately 615 acre) parcel of land in Frutillar, Chile and began a peaceful occupation of the land. MORE

Multiple Clashes Between Mapuche and Police in Ercilla; Four Officers Injured
On Sunday, October 2nd, there were multiple reports of two separate incidents between police and large groups of individuals in Ercilla on traditional Mapuche land. MORE

Mapuche people resist MONSANTO plan to enforce GM food and remove basic human rights!
In Chile the Mapuche people are mobilizing to resist the 'legal theft' of their genetic heritage following the Senate's adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of new Plant Varieties (UPOV91), the so called 'MONSANTO LAW'. MORE

Chile indigenous Mapuches mourn Colombus Day
Around 10,000 people have marched in the Chilean capital Santiago in support of the indigenous Mapuche people.
The protest marked the 519th anniversary of Christopher Colombus's arrival in the Americas, the start of the Spanish conquest. MORE

Tension in Chile’s south after Mapuche boy shot
Tensions are running high in the Araucanía Region after a young Mapuche boy was injured during a shooting incident involving a local farmer
MORE

Mapuche Teens Takeover Town to End “Police Brutality”
A decades-old debate over a 150-year-old conflict is heating up as Chilean cities spend their winter under a blanket of protests
MORE

Economic Progress Does Not Justify Everything
Land conflicts in ancestral Mapuche territory date back five centuries when the Spanish, with the aim of evangelizing and searching for gold, invaded Mapuche territory MORE

Mapuche put’s Former President Bachelet in Her Place at United Nations
Juana Calfunao, has developed an unwavering struggle for the rights of her people, which has cost her considerable time in jail, along with her husband, her eldest son and her sister MORE

Statement given by Chief Juana Calfunao to the UN Human Rights Council
We want to establish that the traditional authorities of the Mapuche people have never relinquished our rights as a people. Such as the right to keep our own laws and customs MORE

Official Statement Putting an End to the 4 Hunger Strikers in Victoria Hospital
We call on the Government to open a permanent and transparent dialogue in order to progress the respect and the guarantee of the rights of indigenous peoples MORE

Ancestral Land Rights – A People Hungry for Change
130 years following the brutally enforced Chilean and Argentinean colonisation that illegally occupied fertile, valuable Mapuche ancestral territory and cast aside its indigenous inhabitants to unfamiliar and baron reservations MORE

I Renounce my Chilean Nationality
I was born and educated in a family that had ethical values and who held high the notion of justice and respect for all citizens. Over the years what I witnessed through my life eventually convinced me that in Chile this was a myth MORE

News Archive

Demonstration in support of the Mapuche political prisoners on hunger strike
A call from Mapuche organisations in Santiago

mapuche demonstration
Letter handed to the Chilean Representative to the UK. Mapuche International Link hold a public demonstration on Thursday (May 26) in support of four Mapuche political prisoners now entering DAY 70 of their hunger strike protest. MORE

Conference

Tuesday 18th
January, 2011
15:00-18:00 Hs.
London

Reynaldo Mariqueo
The 1880s Genocide of the Mapuche-Tehuelche in Argentinean Patagonia in the so-called "Conquest of the Desert"

Details - Click here

Photo: Reynaldo Mariqueo and Mr. Rafael Moreno, Chilean Ambassador to the UK
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A photos of the demonstration which took place on June 2, 2011 in support of the Mapuche political prisoners on hunger strike

Photos: UK NGO’s appeal to Chile for justice for jailed Mapuche hunger strikers/Day 80 MORE

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INDIGENOUS FIGHT TO KEEP LAND IN CHILE
For the indigenous Pehuenches, the Bio-Bio River is sacred. According to their traditions, if the river is not respected, Mother Earth will get angry, nearby volcanoes will erupt and the land will tremble with earthquakes. MORE
- Special Article from the Washington Times

OTHER NEWS

Cowboys, Indians And Pseudo-Superheroes

UK NGO’s appeal to Chile for justice for jailed Mapuche hunger strikers/Day 80

Mapuche Hunger Strike Day 73: Chilean Ambassador Lunches While Political Prisoners Starve

Mapuche Hunger Strike Passes 70-Day Mark In Chile

Urgent Global Solidarity Call!: Mapuche Hunger Strike Reaches DAY 70

Medical Report on Mapuche prisoners on hunger strike

Mapuche hunger strike reaches 63 days, health conditions critical

38 MEPs support the EU-Mapuche initiative

World Organization Against Torture Denounce Conviction of Mapuche of Cañete Four

Members of the Coordinadora Mapuche Arauco Malleco Sentenced to 25 years in Chilean Jail

Statement given by Chief Juana Calfunao to the UN Human Rights Council