The 'people of the land'
The plight of the indigenous nation of Mapuche
Indians and the systematic abuse of their human rights by the 'democratic'
government of Chile is virtually unknown in the west. It seems that
indigenous peoples only attract the attention of the 'civilised'
west, when matters get out of hand and it becomes impossible to
continue to suppress information - recent events in Bolivia are
only the most recent example.
Yet, the Mapuche story is steeped in a rich
history, a proud culture and a unique spiritual mystique that dates
centuries, from well before the first European explorations of South
America. But it's also a story about struggle and conflict; a struggle
for the very survival of the Mapuche culture and a conflict between
the rights of an indigenous nation conquered by force and the subsequent
assimilationist policies employed by the nexus of corporate state
power. True to form, western mainstream media have yet to bring
these matters to our attention.
The Mapuche people consider themselves to
be a people of the land, which derives from the indigenous
language, Mapudungun -- 'mapu' means land and 'che'
means people -- and they number in excess of 1.3 million
people, living throughout the Southern Cone of South America, in
what is now Chile and Argentina, making them the largest ethnic
minority group in both states. In Chile, the Mapuche people make
up almost 10 per cent of the population.
To understand the modern day conflict, a
brief look at its history is necessary. In 1641 the Mapuche nation
signed the treaty of Killin with the Spanish Empire, in which the
Spanish recognised the territorial autonomy of the Mapuche nation.
From this date, for more than two centuries, the Bio Bio river was
accepted as a natural frontier and the lands to the south of this
boundary as the territory of the Mapuche nation in full exercise
of its right to self-determination.
The treaty was signed as a result
of the Spanish Empire's failure to defeat the Mapuche in battle.
Reynaldo Mariqueo, a Mapuche Indian who fled his native homeland
whilst Pinochet was in power and who now lives in exile in the UK,
believes this event is without parallel in the history of South
American indigenous peoples:
"The Killin treaty, and numerous
other treaties signed with the Mapuche nation during two centuries
of diplomatic relations [with Spain], makes the Mapuche people stand
out simply because we were the first and only indigenous nation
on the continent whose sovereignty and autonomy was legally recognised".
By the 1880's, and with a rise in the political
and military power of both Chile and Argentina, two separate 'undeclared
wars' were waged against the Mapuche nation, ultimately resulting
in the conquest of their territory in 1885. With the armed conquest
of the Mapuche people complete, the Chilean and Argentine military
forces set out to weaken potential insurrection, which left thousands
of innocent Mapuche Indians slaughtered. For those who survived
the slaughter, families were separated and sent forcibly to work
as servants for white European settlers - a harbinger of the racism
still prevalent within Chilean society. In true Orwellian style,
these events are recorded in official Chilean history as the "pacification
In 1902, under British arbitration, the Chilean-Argentinean
border was finally agreed upon but this served to partition the
ancestral Mapuche homeland and divided Mapuche communities yet further.
The present day conflict is rarely, if ever,
reported in the west and when western mainstream media and Chile
do meet it tends to mean only one of two things; either exuberant
praise for Chile's economic performance since democracy was ushered
in, following the fall of Pinochet's regime, in 1990, or the historical
human rights abuses of the Pinochet regime. In their own right,
these have been, largely, fair observations but the ability of mainstream
media to ignore or suppress the suffering of the Mapuche people
only serves to lend credence to those who argue that mainstream
media acts as little more than a mouthpiece for elitist agendas.
Whilst the Mapuche people, like the vast
majority of civilised society, celebrated the downfall of the Pinochet
regime, democratic rule has done little to improve conditions for
the Mapuche nation.
The Mapuche people have been forced to learn
about democracy the hard way; their ancestral land has been expropriated
and damaged by wealthy transnational corporations; their human rights
continue to be violated; and now, the blatant abuse of anti-terrorism
laws brought in under Pinochet's dictatorship, their right to democratic
protest is being silenced, often with abject aggression. All of
this is, according to proponents of the free market, in the 'interest'
of progress, industrialisation, privatisation and development.
Indigenous peoples and international
It's ironic that the conflict has reached
new heights during a period in which the profile of indigenous peoples
rights has increased dramatically, within the major international
institutions. In 1989 the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
adopted 'Convention 169', the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention,
which, whilst criticised by some activists for its limited scope,
recognises the distinct rights of indigenous and tribal peoples.
In 1994, the United Nations (UN) introduced 'The International Decade
of the World's Indigenous People (1995 - 2004)', which was followed,
in July 2000, by the creation of a 'UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues'. A formal UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples
has been drafted by the 'Working Party on Indigenous Peoples' and
is currently under review by human rights experts at the 'UN's Commission
of Human Rights (UNCHR)'.
Chilean domestic law
Despite the emergence of a more advanced
thinking about indigenous rights within organisations like the UN,
successive Chilean governments have proven to be behind the pace
of such advancement just as they have proven impotent in passing
and enforcing effective laws that uphold indigenous rights.
It is remarkable that Chile is one of only three Latin American
states to have failed to ratify ILO convention 169.
Chile has, however, passed domestic legislation (Law 19.253) which
purports to protect the political, education, land, cultural and
development rights of indigenous people, but in practice this law
does little to protect the Mapuche people, in part because the strength
of the domestic legislation was significantly diminished before
it was finally enshrined in 1993 and in part, because of ineffectual
The failure of the Chilean constitution to
recognise the distinct cultural and political identities of indigenous
peoples highlights a clear sense of contempt for the people they
conquered with force. To his credit, President Lagos has backed
a proposal to amend the constitution to recognise the existence
of indigenous peoples, but sadly the Chilean Senate has twice rejected
In Chile's ninth region, on the Bio Bio river,
Mapuche communities and activists have been fighting a long running
battle with the Spanish power giant Endesa, one of the largest private
companies in Chile. Back in June 1997 the $600 million hydroelectric
Ralco dam project was approved by the Chilean government's environmental
office, but this ambitious project, which was one of six proposed
in Chile by Endesa, created many problems for the Mapuche people
and their ancestral land and created a tension between Chile's indigenous
law and energy laws.
A network of environmental activists, indigenous
groups and NGO's claim the Ralco project will result in a form of
'eco-cide', virtually destroying the sensitive eco-systems that
surround the Bio Bio river. The 155-metre high dam will create a
reservoir with a capacity of 1.2 billion cubic metres of water,
which will flood 3,467 hectares of land. The results of Endesa's
endeavours, according to activists, will not only help destroy the
environment but also endanger the history and culture of the Mapuche
peoples. Environmentalists deny Endesa's claim that the dams are
necessary to meet the country's growing energy demands, by pointing
to the conclusion of the Chilean Energy Department, who suggested
the Ralco dam need not be built because Chile will not require the
The fact that
the Chilean authorities did little to prevent the project serves
only to highlight the government's failure to enforce the law that
was purported to provide protection of indigenous lands. The Indigenous
Law (Law 19.253) established norms for the protection, promotion
and development of ethnic communities. Article 13 states that Indigenous
land cannot be "
annexed, mortgaged, levied or repossessed
except for Indigenous communities or persons . . .". Chile's
failure to ratify ILO Convention 169, effectively prevented hundreds
of Mapuche living on land affected by the dam from participating
in the process that led to the decision to support the construction
In June of this year, only a handful of families
opposed to the dam remained defiant and continued living in their
ancestral homes. But a judge's recent decision, ruled that Endesa
could continue its work despite the ongoing disputes with the Mapuche
The UN special envoy on indigenous rights,
Rodolfo Stavenhagen, said, in a report published in January 2003,
that Chile's authorities have consistently supported business interests
over the well-being of the Pehuenche (the particular Mapuche tribe
of that region). Stavenhagen's report also noted that two directors
from the National Indigenous Development Corporation (CONADI) were
sacked due to their opposition to the construction project and concluded
that the dam creates a threat to the traditional Pehuenche way of
Commercial tree farming
Despite recently securing an agreement with
two of the largest commercial tree farming companies in Chile, for
far-reaching environmental commitments for the protection of Chile's
native forests, the environmental impact of commercial tree farming
has acted as a catalyst for a rise in Mapuche activism in recent
years. Ancestral Mapuche land has been expropriated, by tree farming
companies, leading to the plantation of thousands of monoculture
eucalyptus and pine trees where there were once native forests.
The commercial tree plantations are processed into lumber and paper
pulp, mainly for export to North America, Asia and Europe.
the environmental group ForestEthics, most of the plantations are
species native to California or Australia and the density of the
plantations cause ground water to disappear. Often, the trees grow
so close together that wildlife can't move between them. In contrast,
native trees are likely to be extinct outside of national forests
by 2015, according to one report published by the Chilean government.
Misuse of anti terrorism laws to suppress
The Chilean authorities have detained many
Mapuche activists, invoking anti-terrorism laws, which deprive detainees
of the right to a speedy trial and allow prosecutors to withhold
evidence from defence lawyers. On a recent fact-finding mission
to Chile, Special Envoy to the United Nations, Rodolf Stavenholder,
told journalists that Chile was misusing anti-terrorism laws in
order to suppress legitimate dissent amongst Mapuche activists.
There is ample evidence to support this claim.
In November 2002, Chilean police shot dead
a seventeen year old Mapuche activist, Edmundo Lemun, during a peaceful
protest at tree farms in Ercilla. In response, hooded Mapuche activists
armed with shotguns and molotov cocktails invaded a Mininco workers'
camp outside the town, setting fire to the living quarters. There
have subsequently been a number of protests and acts against the
timber companies, many of which have ended in violence. Whilst an
investigation, into Lemun's death, was launched by the authorities,
activists and community leaders accused investigators of attempting
to conceal ballistics evidence that proved the responsibility of
Carabineros in the shooting.
In the UK, in September 2003, a London court
granted political asylum to two Chilean police officers (Carabineros),
alleged victims of death threats and other forms of persecution
on the part of their superior officers in the Chilean police force.
Jose Pino Ubilla and his wife Miram Solís Fernández
fled Chile after expressing objections, to their superior officers,
about institutional brutality by the police towards minority groups,
including the Mapuche. In papers submitted during their appeal for
asylum it was reported that Pino and Solis witnessed the torture
of arrested individuals and even police-authorised killings.
In October 2003, Patricia Troncoso, a Mapuche activist arrested
and imprisoned for 'terrorist association', began a hunger strike
whilst awaiting trial. She is accused of burning property belonging
to a forestry company; an act more plausibly associated with a belligerent
teenager than a terrorist who threatens the security of the State.
The hunger strike marks a dramatic intensification of the conflict
and only time will tell whether - and to what degree - Troncoso's
action will achieve its desired affect.
European Free Trade Agreement
Throughout Europe, the Mapuche conflict is
forcing people to sit up and take notice, albeit at a frustratingly
slow pace, with support groups springing up in the UK, Sweden, the
Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and France. This has been brought about,
in part at least, by the recently signed EU/Chile free trade agreement,
which has angered activists, because whilst EU principles
clearly support human rights, it rather disingenuously deemed it
acceptable to formalise trade agreements with Chile whilst simultaneously
glossing over Chile's human rights record.
Graham Watson, a British Member of the European
Parliament, believes the EU/Chile Free Trade Agreement "
lead to an increase in prosperity for Chileans, and that this, in
turn, will lead to higher standards of respect for human rights
Notably, Watson makes no reference to how those higher standards
of respect for human rights will come about. In any event, one only
needs to look to Israel, which recorded almost double Chile's per
capita GDP in 2002, to realise that higher standards of respect
for human rights do not naturally follow from increased prosperity.
The human family
In August 2003, as the UN celebrated the
'International Day of the World's Indigenous People', Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, warned that indigenous peoples still faced threats to
their lives and destruction of their "belief systems, cultures,
languages and ways of life." Rather poignantly, he added
the human family is a tapestry of enormous beauty
and diversity. The indigenous peoples of the world are a rich and
integral part of that tapestry
If the Chilean government has any desire
to retain or nurture this rich and integral part of the human family
then it must reverse those policies that seek to destroy the Mapuche
nation. To do this, Chile must recognise and respect the rights
of its indigenous peoples and it must put an end to the subordination
of those rights to the profit hungry model of neo-liberalism.
Only then can the 'people of the land' value
the virtues of democracy.
by Kurt Perry, freelance
writer and Mapuche activist
Back to top