The Government of the President, Gabriel Boricrejected the ultimatum given by the Mapuche communities in the Regional Presidential Delegation of La Araucanía, on the return of land within a period of six months.
The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalvepointed out in this regard that “we do not want to impose, but I think we have also been clear”.
“We are going to use the tool of dialogue, we are not supporters, we do not share the impositions, we do not share the threats and we do not share the violence,” the authority added.
Word of the Mapuche communities
Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for the communities, Veronica Cifuentesindicated on March 23 to 24 hours that “we have not come to ask, we have come to demand the return of our territory, which is usurped mainly by the forestry companies and by the landowners of the Loncoche district.”
“We strongly request that they meet our demands for the linked lands, granted within six months,” he added.
In addition, in the letter delivered to the Presidential Delegation of La Araucanía, the signatories ask for reparation measures, land compensation, exit of the forestry companies and the release of the so-called Mapuche political prisoners.
Cifuentes expressed that “if in six months the government does not respond to us as it should, or does not respond to our demands, these communities will enter into territorial control, supported by all the ‘ORPs’ that we have contact with.”
The ‘ORP’ are organs of territorial resistance that have links with organizations such as Weichan Auka Mapu (WAM) and the Arauco Malleco Coordinator (CAM), who have claimed hundreds of attacks and sabotage in the south.
Visit of Minister Siches
When asked about the frustrated visit of the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Sichesto Temucuicui -which included shots in the air- the spokesman for the organization AD Mapu, Jose Santos Millaoexpressed that “they have learned absolutely nothing, how we receive the authorities, our visitors when they come to our lof.”
“To the weichafes, they showed knowledge of their people and they said, ‘this can’t be like that,’ and they just rang out the bullets. We fully endorse and support those weichafes,” Santos Millao said.
Reactions from other communities
Regarding the ultimatum delivered in Temuco by the communities of Loncoche, the spokesman for the Malleco Resistance, Rodrigo Curipanstated that “we are not used to giving an ultimatum, we have continued working for a long time, but we consider that each community, each sector, has its own mechanism for understanding how it addresses the particular situation in its area.”
“In this case, as Mapuche communities of Malleco, we have said that we are not here for dialogue on anything, but that we are willing to establish, if there is a serious dialogue, that it has to do with territorial return,” Curipán said.
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