Santiago de Chile, May 16. The Chilean government assured this Tuesday that rural violence in the south decreased by 30% since it decreed a state of emergency in the area a year ago, where a territorial conflict between the State, radical Mapuche groups and large foresters has existed for decades.
“Until 2021 there was no year in which the acts of rural violence in the southern macrozone did not increase. 2021, by figures, was the one that registered the most acts of violence. In 2022 we managed to lower them and in 2023 we continue with a downward trend “said the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.
The official warned, however, that “serious events continue to occur” and that “you cannot lower your arms.”
Despite promising that he would not do so, President Gabriel Boric decreed last May a state of emergency in the area, which allows the deployment of the Armed Forces to control public order and which was in force for months during the former president’s second term. Sebastian Piñera (2018-2022).
The measure has been extended twenty times by Parliament, which is preparing to discuss a new extension this week.
In La Araucanía and other regions of southern Chile, the so-called “Mapuche conflict” has existed for decades, a territorial dispute between the State, radical indigenous communities and forestry companies that exploit lands considered ancestral.
In this context, incendiary attacks on machinery and properties and roadblocks take place almost daily, and shootings with fatalities also occur periodically.
One of the main radical Mapuche organizations operating in the area is the Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco (CAM), whose leader Héctor Llaitul was arrested last August for the crimes of robbery, theft and attack against authority.
Although violence has decreased in general terms, in recent days there have been several episodes that have set off alarm bells again and the “Mapuche conflict” continues to be one of the most complex issues that Boric has to deal with, who cited the this Tuesday night to the parliamentarians of the area to analyze the state of emergency.
“We deputies from Araucanía were summoned by President Gabriel Boric to Cerro Castillo. I will personally request a state of siege for our region. Terrorism no longer resists half measures,” deputy Mauricio Ojeda, from the far-right Republican Party, wrote on Twitter.
Ojeda’s proposal, which has the support of other right-wing parliamentarians, allows for the restriction of freedom of movement or the right of assembly, among others, and which the ruling party considers “excessive.” EFE
mmm/jrh
