Chile Government Apologises To Indigenous Mapuches 'For Taking Their Lands'
Chile Government Apologises To Indigenous Mapuches 'For Taking Their Lands'
SANTIAGO (CHILE), March 14 (BERNAMA-NNN-MERCOPRESS) -- The government of President Michelle Bachelet apologises in the name of the Chilean state to the indigenous Mapuche tribe "for taking their lands" and said it has a pending debt in terms of public policies that will allow the La Araucania region, where 600,000 of the Indians live, to emerge from poverty.
The statement was made by the new governor of the zone, Francisco Huenchumilla, one of the regional officials named by newly inaugurated President Michelle Bachelet.
In Araucania, indigenous militants have torched vehicles, highway toll booths and lumber shipments as part of a struggle to reclaim lands the Mapuches lost during a 19th century "pacification" campaign. Those lands are now largely occupied by lumber and agricultural interests.
"The state's payment of this debt is pending and for more than 130 years it has implemented public policies that have not managed to bring this region out of poverty and from among the last areas of national development," the governor said.
More:
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1021976