Shots were heard this Thursday as the entourage of the Chilean Interior Minister, Izkia Siches, passed by on her first visit to the Araucanía region, where Mapuche communities settle, militarized for four months after a series of arson attacks.
Siches, who took office on Friday with the government of the leftist Gabriel Boric, began this Tuesday along with other ministers a first visit to the Araucanía region, with the presence of the military since October 12. last year after former President Sebastián Piñera ordered a State of Exception after an escalation of arson attacks.
The High Complexity Prosecutor, César Schibar, reported that the delegation had to divert their journey when they were traveling along a rural road to the Mapuche community of Temucuicui, in the Ercilla commune, after a burning vehicle was left to block the access and the shots were fired into the air.
Siches was traveling through an area where several attacks have occurred, to meet with the father of Camilo Catrillanca, an indigenous man killed in 2018 by a police officer who shot him in the head.
A sign was found near the place that read: “Izkia Siches, as long as there are Mapuche political prisoners, there will be no dialogue.”
For her part, the minister confirmed the “cutting of the road” and “some shots fired into the air.”
“I must confess that the only thing I identified was the crash of our vehicle because it tried to go back, it was the only thing I visualized,” he assured the press from the Araucanía region.
“We understand that it was a measure of intimidation and that they did not shoot at the vehicles,” declared the governor of Araucanía, Luciano Rivas.
long-standing conflict
The visit is part of a new approach with which the Boric government seeks to address one of the most contentious issues of his brand new administration: the series of arson attacks that are recorded in the Araucanía and BioBío regions, in the south of Chile.
There is a large part of the Mapuche indigenous communities. who claim lands that they consider theirs by ancestral rights and that today are in the hands of forestry companies.
Radical Mapuche groups have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, but they also denounce the presence of forestry self-defense groups and sabotage by the police, as well as drug traffickers.
Siches defended his visit to the place, which he described as “abandoned” by the State, and ruled out that it was an improvised trip.
“This visit was planned before the change of command (this Friday). We knew, yes, that there could be some risk,” said Boric’s chief of staff.
However, Marcelo Catrillanca – Camilo’s father – assured that “The visit was very improvised (…) We cannot say that it was done in time.”
In this first trip to the Araucanía region, in addition to the victims of violence, the minister planned to meet with businessmen, carriers, authorities and local leaders.
With all of them, it seeks to implement “an integral response” to this conflict, which the government of the conservative Piñera faced with the militarization of the area through the decree of a “State of Exception”, which the Boric administration promised to withdraw.
“We have discussed the importance of having a Truth, Justice and Reparation Commission for all the victims,” Siches emphasized.
The violence has escalated in recent years, with arson attacks on private properties and forest machinery, as well as murders. In addition, the confrontations brought to light the presence of drug trafficking in the area.
“This government is going to put everything it has on the table to find political solutions, but those people who believe that violent means will not allow us to move forward, including demands against Mapuche political prisoners, are very wrong,” Siches assured.
In parallel, he urged those “groups of today who believe that we came with more of the same to this territory” to learn about the new government proposal.
