Statement from the Mapuche Councillors of the Kingdom of
Araucania and Patagonia
March 20th, 2023
We, the Mapuche Councillors of the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia express our full support for the exceptional measures taken by our Prince, Frederic I, with the aim to renew and strengthen the institutions of the kingdom.
We want to remind all the members and supporters of the Kingdom that the existence of the Kingdom since it inception, is based solely and exclusively upon the existence of the Mapuche People.
The feat led by Toki Magñil and the lawyer Orelie-Antoine de Tounens, which concluded with the foundation, on November 17, 1860, of a monarchical government and the adoption of a national constitution, is still in force today.
Considering that the Mapuche Nation has faced, since the military occupation of its territory between 1879-85 by the Argentine and Chilean states, territorial dispossession, submission and subjugation; today the authorities of both states continue to employ the full weight of repressive force against modest communities that fight for the restitution of their ancestral lands.
Those attacks against our communities are also expressed in racism, discrimination and the destruction of their natural environment via the predatory extractive companies that operate without the free and informed, prior consent of the affected communities, as stipulated by ILO Convention 169 on indigenous peoples ratified by both states.
Araucania and Patagonia, that is, all of Wallmapu is currently under military occupation in contravention of international law. In Chile since the 17th May 2022, a large part of Mapuche territory, south of the Bi- Bio River is governed by a state of exception, under which the military police and the army commit all types of abuses against the Mapuche population.
We appeal to our Prince that among the structural changes of the Kingdom he considers a mechanism that deals with the monitoring of human rights of the Mapuche people on both sides of the Andes and that communication with the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague be reactivated due to the violation of the Rome Statute, articles 6 and 7, related to genocide and crimes against humanity.
Considering the grim scenario that our people are confronting, the below signatories consider it unacceptable that according to the complaint contained in the letter circulated by our Prince on March 13th , regarding the existence of anti-Mapuche elements within our institution, hence we request the use of those powers conferred by the Constitution and to proceed with immediate effect, the removal from our institution of all those operating against the rights and interests of our Mapuche people.
Reynaldo Mariqueo (Councillor of State)
Domingo Paine ( Councillor of the Kingdom)
Carlos Contreras Painemal (Councillor of the Kingdom)
Dame Nina Saleh Ahmed (Councillor of the Kingdom)
