Chilean Mapuche paramilitary group rejects Boric’s visit to La Araucanía

The Chilean Arauco Malleco Coordinator (CAM), a paramilitary and separatist group of the Mapuche ethnic group, rejected this Wednesday the announced visit of President Gabriel Boric to the region of La Araucanía (center), considering that it seeks to consolidate structures of domination and exploitation.

“[Boric’s trip] is due to the interests of the oligarchy, to the power of the economic groups that directly confront the Mapuche cause, since under his government the structures of domination that we have historically fought against have worsened,” said the CAM in a statement.

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Boric plans to travel this November 10 to Araucanía, a region that remains militarized despite the fact that the Chilean president promised during his campaign that he would not do so, due to the arson and armed attacks carried out by radical groups that claim the territorial demands of the Mapuche indigenous people.

With regard to the first visit of the head of state to the region in conflict, the CAM called for “not to fall into the government’s traps” and to “expel the capitalist expressions from Wallmapu”, that is, the territory historically occupied by the Mapuche indigenous peoples, that covers regions of Chile and Argentina.

“For us, nothing has changed. On the contrary, now colonialism and capitalism present themselves with ‘progressive’ airs, rearranging themselves in the Wallmapu to continue with the looting, criminalization, repression, murder and imprisonment of our weichafe [warriors],” said the coordinator.

The group, whose first acts of sabotage date back to 1997, questioned the military protection that the head of state will bring, which they consider “slams the door on a true dialogue with the expressions of the Mapuche resistance.”

According to the official agenda, Boric would arrive at the La Araucanía airport in an Air Force plane at dawn on November 10 and after an initial meeting with local authorities he would meet with victims of rural violence.

With information from Sputnik