Chile: Indians-mapuche fight for their rights

November 9, 2007

Seven Indian activists, accused as per the sections of the so called «anti-terrorist law», which was adopted even at the epoch of dictator A. Pinochet, have been on hunger strike in prisons of Chile for 23 days. The law turned out to be very much appropriate for neo-liberal governments of E. Frei and R. Lagos, who used it for expanding repressions against the people of mapuche under the plea of «protection of private property», which allegedly was encroached on by Indian communities residents at the south of the country. Chilean authorities keep on stressing that the young leaders of mapuche are nothing else but criminal offenders.

The political nature of persecution of the seven Indians gives rise to no doubts. Hector Llaitul, Patricia Troncoso, Jaime Marileo, Juan Millalen, Jose Huenchunao, Ivan Llanquileo and Waikilaf Cadin Calfunao stand up for the right of their people for autonomy, for peaceful life at their historic lands that is more and more subjected to pressure by neo-liberal dealers, merchant and businessmen, who hunger for rapid enrichment. Under different pretexts they get permissions for lumbering, mining operations, construction of hydropower stations, etc., ignoring the just protests of Indian communities. As a rule these protests are ignored by the Chilean government and that gives ground for growth for protests of mapuche.

And as a result – militarisation of historic territories of mapuche, provocations of military confrontation, ruthless persecution of all daring to protest. We cannot help but notice that young leaders of mapuche with university degrees obtained in Canada, Holland and other western countries, are good at jurisprudence, social sciences, constitutional right. This is by no means taken into consideration by extremists that try to achieve their goal at any cost.

And it was not by chance that Juan Guzman, the judge, who carried out investigation on «Pinochet case» (presently dean of the Law department of Central University (Universidad Central) after visiting leaders of mapuche in prison, called them «political prisoners». Guzman also stated that assurances of the M. Bachelet government that «violence against the native population [of Chile] has been stopped» is not true the same way as the statement that «discrimination has been finished off».

Staunch resistance of mapuche people forced the present «socialist» government of Chile to adopt a draft (just a draft!) of Constitutional reform on recognition of Indian population of Chile and their rights. Now the draft has to be approved by the parliament that has quite a number of deputies of the right orientation having the respective approach to «Indian issues», which used to be solved very simply in the past: mapuche should not claim any «peculiarity» or «exclusiveness», they are the same Chileans as all the rest and have the same rights as all Chileans. It is like this the Chilean authorities wave aside the demands of mapuche, who, despite all assurances of the authorities, have always been the marginal part of the society, the most exploited, humiliated, forced to assimilation. Bloody episodes of genocide of authorities against mapuche in 20-30s of the XX century are still hushed up.

Till recent the Indians have not been taken, for example, to military service, and one can count on the fingers of one hand those Indians, who managed to «serve to get» the lowest military ranks. And how, the elitism of Chilean army, its preferable «white» racial contingent, catches the eye the same way as a Prussian training. It is not by chance that in offices of Chilean top brass until recently one could often see the portraits of high-rank officers of the Third Reich (now, under Bachelet, they might have hidden those portraits).

In Chile more and more insistent appeals to «pardon» mapuche leaders are addressed to president Michelle Bachelet. But will the right-conservative forces of the country, whose influence on the «socialist» government remains very strong, allow to do it?