According to Carabineros from the province of Cautín, on a farm in La Araucanía, on Wednesday, February 15, a group of armed hooded men, after threatening a worker, set fire to five machines owned by the Chilean forestry and paper holding company controlled by the Matte family.
The following day, the Mapuche electronic newspaper Werkén Noticias published a statement from the ORT Leftraru belonging to the Arauco-Malleco Coordinator (CAM), in which the so-called “Territorial Resistance Organ” claimed “sabotage” against the Mininco forestry company (de Empresas CMPC) on the Santa Ilse farm, located on the road between Teodoro Schmidt and Nueva Imperial.
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“In this action, no people were injured and we made it clear that the conditions of the terrain and climate were taken into account to ensure that we did not expose the civilian population, homes or land of neighboring communities,” they said from the ORT Leftraru, despite the fact that The attack caused a forest fire that was attended by firefighters and the aforementioned forestry company.
Despite the statement from the CAM in which it is also stressed that “forest women are not victims”, the time has come for responsibilities. This was confirmed by the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, who announced that the Government of President Gabriel Boric will present legal actions against the Mapuche organization and those responsible for the attacks. Complaints, in all cases that the records point to intentionality at the time of causing forest accidents.
“I don’t know in what indigenous claim agenda this can be justified,” said Minister Tohá, along with explaining that it is typified in the legal system that “setting fires when there are conditions like the current ones is a risk crime that endangers the population”.
The head of the Interior and Public Security portfolio maintained that “those calculations that the CAM says it made, I don’t know what it can do on the basis of that.” A fire under these conditions is not “controllable”, therefore, “from the moment you decide to carry out an action of this type, you are putting people’s lives at risk,” added the minister.
“In all matters, and we have done so, in which we have a history that there is intentionality in the generation of fires, the Government is taking legal actions of complaints and, by the way, working and coordinating with the agencies in the case, the police , the PDI and especially with the Prosecutor’s Office so that a great focus and priority is placed on these investigations,” explained the Secretary of State.
Defense Minister: “The region is large, there are many secondary roads”
The arson attack in Teodoro Schmidt was not the only one recorded in La Araucanía. A new incident took place, this time, in Curaco, between the communes of Collipulli and Ercilla, caused after another group of “hooded men” burned a truck belonging to the CMPC company, also with no injuries.
It is worth mentioning that these situations occur after the curfew decree that governs areas affected by forest fires, so there should be restrictions on mobility and a military presence on the streets.
The State of Constitutional Exception governs Ñuble, Biobío and La Araucanía. And the curfew in the province of Cautín (communes of Galvarino and Lautaro) and in the province of Malleco (communes of Angol, Collipulli, Curacautín, Ercilla, Los Sauces, Lumaco, Purén, Renaico, Traiguén and Victoria).
Regarding this background, Defense Minister Maya Fernández stated that “the region is large, there are many secondary roads.”
The military presence, yes, “has been important to give people peace of mind,” said Minister Fernández, detailing that more contingent has been arranged than had already been due to the State of Exception. “There has been a significant displacement in different areas,” concluded the head of Defense from Galvarino.
The following record was published by the Association for Peace and Reconciliation in La Araucanía (APRA) and shows what a camera installed in one of the CMPC trucks would have captured, at the time of the attack on forestry vehicles in Collipulli.
