Chilean Police Shooting results in the deaths of two Mapuche Land Defenders

The Governor of Malleco Province, Guillermo Pirce and General Christian Franzani visiting the scene on June 11th, 2017

by Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu, June 11, 2017
*News in development*
Two Mapuche land defenders were killed last night at the hands of Chilean police after an alleged action on the large landed estate of El Encino in the Township of Los Sauces, nearby the city of Angol in southern Chile, on the evening Saturday June 10th.

The Mapuche’s Struggle for the Land

Another Kind of Revolution

Militant Mapuches march at a funeral of one of their comrades.

by JOHN SEVERINO

In the aftermath of the inspiring popular uprising in Argentina at the end of 2001 and the battles that blocked neoliberalism in Bolivia from 2003-2005, the Left came to power in governments across South America—most notably in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, and Bolivia—in a series of electoral upsets that were quickly hailed as revolutions. In hindsight, these victories prove to be less than convincing. The new revolutionary governments institutionalized social movements, turning them into mere appendages, they continued cutting down the rainforests and displacing indigenous peoples in the name of progress, they supported free trade agreements, used paramilitary or police forces against student demonstrators, expanded the exploitation of gas, oil, and coal, and imprisoned dissidents. Business as usual.

Chilean police clash with protesters during Mapuche march

By By Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press, October 15, 2012

Militants attack police armoured vehicle in Santiago, Chile, during a protest in support of Mapuche land struggles and political prisoners on hunger strike, Oct 15, 2012.

SANTIAGO, Chile – Chilean police on Monday clashed with hooded vandals who infiltrated a protest by Mapuche Indians demanding land rights and autonomy.

Police shot tear gas and water cannons when the demonstration by 3,000 Mapuches in Chile’s capital turned violent. Sixteen people were arrested.

Chile: Mapuche Political Prisoners Continue Hunger Strike After 30 Days – Spokesperson Arrested

Spokesperson of the Wente Winkul Mapu Community Arrested

September 25th, 2012
A group of Police arrested the spokesperson of the Wente Winkul Mapu community and the Mapuche Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike, Daniel Melinao. Up till now, there is no known cause for the aggression.  The arrest took place at around 4pm in the area of Ercilla; there is no information about his current state at this time.

Attacks on Chile’s Indigenous Peoples Thwart Efforts at Land Reparations

Brittany Peterson, The Nation, August 13, 2012

Mapuche masked warriors in previous conflicts with Chilean state.

As dawn broke over southern Chile on July 30, smoke and flames rose from barricades blocking the main highway into the town Padre las Casas, 675 kilometers south of the capital of Santiago. About fifty members of the Paillanao Mapuche indigenous community had constructed the barricades to protest the fact that the government had not responded to requests to improve six miles of rural roads in their community.