Chile’s Chamber of Deputies declares Mapuche organizations terrorists

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Tuesday, May 31, the Chilean Chamber of Deputies approved a draft resolution declaring the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (CAM) and other Mapuche organizations as illegal and terrorist associations.

Along with the CAM, the groups Resistencia Mapuche Malleco, Resistencia Mapuche Lafkenche, and Weichan Auka Mapu were also included in the category of illegal associations of a terrorist nature.

The draft resolution was adopted after the plenary analyzed CAM leader Héctor Llaitul’s statements about organizing an armed resistance in the so-called Southern Macrozone of the country because the government declared a state of emergency.

The lower house also asked Chilean President Gabriel Boric to criminally prosecute the groups mentioned above following the provisions of Law 18.314 on terrorist behavior.

It also requested the President to instruct the counter-terrorism office of the U.S. State Department and the Council of the European Union to declare the Arauco-Malleco Coordination, its armed wing Organs of Territorial Resistance, and Weichán Auka Mapu as terrorist organizations.

The Ministers of the Interior, Izkia Siches, and of Defense, Maya Fernández, participated in the legislative session on behalf of the Executive Branch, explaining the actions that the State has taken to normalize the situation in the south of the country.

“The government and this minister are deeply committed to the fundamental solutions to the problems of the people who inhabit this territory, but we will not limit ourselves to attacking only the symptoms, but our commitment has asked us to face the root of them,” said Siches.

He added that this “requires, undoubtedly, the unity of all the political forces represented in this Parliament (…) Addressing this conflict requires State policies, but there are also no shortcuts. There are no easy or short solutions other than to reach an agreement on a strategy and a plan”.