RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Chilean Senate has approved this Tuesday the extension of the state of emergency until January 10 in four provinces of the southern regions of Bío Bío and La Araucanía due to the violent incidents registered in recent months.
Thus, the upper chamber has given the green light to this measure – with 19 votes in favor, 15 against, and one abstention – which had previously received the approval of the Chamber of Deputies, reports Chilean TV channel T13.
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Therefore, the provinces of Biobío and Arauco, in the Bío Bío region, and Cautín and Malleco, in La Araucanía, will continue under a state of emergency which has governed this southern part of the country since mid-October and which has already been renewed three times by the government of President Sebastián Piñera.
This same Tuesday, a group of hooded men carried out an early morning raid in the vicinity of Lake Lanalhue, in Bío Bío, which has left at least 27 properties destroyed.
Those responsible for the attacks have also made death threats against those on the site and have fired shots and cut down trees on various routes to prevent security forces from accessing the site.
The attacks, according to the coordinator of the South Macrozone, Pablo Urquízar, have been motivated by the debate on the extension of the state of emergency, and also because “this week the conviction of seven people who today are in preventive prison for the serious murder of Eliodoro Raiman and the serious injuries to his two grandchildren will be announced (…)”, said Urquízar, according to Radio Bío Bío.
Before the extension of the measure, the Chilean Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Rodrigo Delgado, intervened before the senators and referred to the attack mentioned above. “They are going to say that maybe there were no people in those properties, but they are an important investment that is added to the long list of attacked properties”, he accused.
“As long as there are people who want to use violence against people who, reasonably, want to invest, work, but also rest in this kind of places, of course, we have the responsibility to go ahead with the plan,” the minister defended regarding the extension of the state of emergency.
Finally, he clarified that the objective of this extraordinary measure “is not to attack anyone” or “criminalize” any Chilean ethnic group or people, but “to ensure that people can leave their homes and return to them as peacefully as possible”.
The current decree is in force until December 26, although the new Senate approval allows the extension of the measure for 15 more days, until January 10.
The state of emergency authorizes Armed Forces personnel to collaborate with the Carabineros in public order tasks in these regions, where the largest Mapuche population is concentrated, the largest indigenous group in the Latin American country, and which have been the scene of increasing violence, with clashes between security forces and citizens who maintain historical territorial demands.