Chile’s social development minister resigns over contact with radical Mapuche leader

Chilean President Gabriel Boric accepted the resignation of Jeanette Vega Morales as Minister of Social Development after an official in her department had contact with Héctor Llaitul, one of the foremost radical Mapuche leaders, who was arrested Wednesday by local police.

“I made the decision to accept the resignation of the Minister of Social Development, Jeanette Vega, because I want you to know that as President of the Republic we must pay attention to the content and also to the form, and that the facts that we know make it appropriate to assert the political responsibility of the minister,” the President said at a press conference.

Vega took over as minister of social development on March 11 when Boric was sworn in as Chile’s President and was the first minister to step down from his post in the South American country’s current government.

Llaitul was arrested Wednesday at a restaurant in the town of Cañete, about 500 kilometers south of the Chilean capital, according to Chile’s criminal police.

The south of the country has for decades been the scene of the state’s struggle with Mapuche, Chile’s largest ethnic group with 1.7 million people, who demand the return of ancestral lands currently in the hands of agricultural and forestry companies that legally exploit them.

Violent episodes in recent years, as well as the lack of dialogue and agreements between the parties, have led to the deaths of several community members, police officers, and farmers, while police plots have been uncovered to accuse Mapuche activists of drug trafficking and weapons possession.

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