Winter 2000-2001 - HR in Colombia

continued . . . Chile, by Monica Sanchez

The Mapuche have a long and proud history of resistance. They are the only indigenous group to withstand the attacks of the Inca, never being conquered by them. They are also the only South American indigenous group that was never conquered by the Spaniards. Just over a century ago, the Mapuche nation spread across the present-day nations of Argentina and Chile. It possessed a vast territory that, on the Chilean side, stretched from the Bio-Bio River down to the South. This territory was recognized first by treaties with the Spanish Crown and then by a series of treaties and parliaments held with the newly established Republic of Chile.

However, during the early 1880's, the Chilean army was deployed in the region and used force to quell a Mapuche uprising, killing hundreds of thousands. With the military defeat of the Mapuche people in 1883, the Chileans took possession of the Mapuche territory. The Mapuche were then settled on reducciones, or reserves. This continued until 1929, when 3,078 reserves had been created. By 1979, the date of the current law that provides for the division and liquidation of the Mapuche reserves, the amount of land available to the Mapuche had been further reduced. Today, the Mapuches hold title to about 6 percent of their former territory. Although the word Mapuche means people of the land, an estimated 60 percent of Chile's 1.2 million Mapuches have had to migrate to the nation's two largest cities in search of jobs.

The plight of the Mapuche is clearly linked to the richness of their land. Mapuche leaders charge that the government is joining forces with commercial interests to exploit tribal lands and hoard profits. An illustration of this can be seen in the arrest of a Mapuche tribal leader after he presented a Human Rights Report to the United Nations. On May 14, 1999, the Environmental News Service (ENS) reported that, "Pedro Cayuqueo, a leader of Chile's Mapuche indigenous people, was arrested by the international police upon his arrival at Santiago's airport Sunday. He was returning from Geneva, Switzerland where he had taken part in the 55th annual session of the Commission on Human Rights of the UN."

The ENS report went on to explain that Cayuqueo traveled to Geneva as the secretary of the Co-ordination of Arauco-Malleco Communities in Conflict. According to the Mapuche International Link, a support group based in Bristol, England, "The context of his detention is the repressive official policy of the Chilean government towards Mapuche people. He suffered the penalty of those who dare to speak the truth. His aim was to make the international community aware of the daily violation of the rights of the Mapuche nation."

Cayuqueo's report to the Commission on Human Rights included details of what forestry companies have done in usurping Mapuche land as well as the serious damage to the environment they have caused: altering the eco-system, polluting the soil, rivers, sea and air. He referred to Arauco S.A., Mininco S.A., Volterra Ltd., Shell, Mitsubishi and Amindus among others. The Mapuche leader told the Commission these companies use chemicals such as sulphate of soda, chlorine, caustic soda, chlorate and gasoline, which contaminate the beaches around Concepción and its bay area, the Bio-Bio River, and the Gulf of Arauco. He added that the companies have destroyed native forests, caused the extinction of some species of trees and medicinal plants, poisoned people, caused congenital illnesses with their use of pesticides, and replanted forested areas with unsuitable species such as eucalyptus, which lowers the water table and leaves communities without water.

Cayuqueo also gave a detailed account of human rights violations especially in the provinces of Arauco and Malleco. Here, the indigenous communities of Cuyinco, Pascual Cona, Rucananco, Pichiloncoyan and Temulemu have been suffering systematic attacks on their basic human rights as defined by the UN. The police detain people illegally and torture them in police stations, where they are not treated according to the law or presumed innocent, Cayuqueo said. Mapuche people are stopped from using and enjoying the fruits of their own land. Armed police prevent Mapuche people from freely using public roads and rights of way through land in dispute. Cayuqueo complained to the Commission that the media publishes incorrect or damaging information about Mapuche leaders, insinuating their connection with subversive left-wing groups.

Billions of dollars worth of international investments in forestry, mining and hydroelectric projects are at stake in the increasingly violent conflict. A sprawling commercial timber project on the outskirts of Temocuicui (pronounced TEY-mo-kwee-kwee) demonstrates the type of tensions brewing across a region that the Mapuches have claimed as their homeland for nearly 200 years.

On November 4, 1999, The Dallas Morning News reported that since September, almost 400 armed Chilean National Police have been deployed in the forest to keep Temocuicui's residents from uprooting pine saplings and torching timber equipment. "What we are demanding is that they leave completely. We want them to pack up and go," said Jose Nain, a leader of the All Lands Movement, one of several organizations advocating mass protest among the Mapuches. Around the time of that report, the conflict had resulted in one death and several injuries to Mapuches, as well as more than 400 Mapuche protesters being jailed for acts of civil disobedience.

Many Mapuches view the conflict as one in which they have little left to lose, since their living standards have bottomed out and nobody is listening to their concerns. "We've been shot at. We've been taken prisoner. People come and say they will help, but nothing changes," explained Luz Verena, a mother of six who lives in Temocuicui.

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