The Skeleton in Chile's Closet
The Skeleton in Chile's Closet
Chile has made progress toward democracy. Why do its indigenous people still feel left out?
BY Mira Galanova
MAY 16, 2014
On May 12, the Chilean Supreme Court upheld an 18-year-long prison sentence for Celestino Córdova, a Mapuche machi (shaman), for setting a house ablaze last year, killing an elderly couple. The case has sparked anger among his supporters since he was first sentenced by a lower court in late February. The couple, Werner Luchsinger and Vivian McKay, had been involved in a dispute with a local indigenous group over land they owned in Chile's Araucanía region, an area historically inhabited by the Mapuche indians.
On Feb. 28, Mapuche protesters gathered outside the Temuco courthouse to protest. "Thousands of us were slaughtered by Chileans and none of them went to jail," one of the Mapuches explained. But even despite this 130-year-old conflict, the machi's supporters were convinced of his innocence and insisted that the trial was staged. And they have good reason to believe that the state security and justice system is not treating them fairly. Over recent years, a number of Mapuche leaders have been arrested on trumped-up charges, only to be released after months in prison on absence of proof. In February, an undercover police agent, Raúl Castro Antipan, confessed that he had infiltrated a Mapuche community and lit fires to implicate the community's leaders on more than one occasion. The Mapuches argue that in convicting Córdova, the state is attempting to quell their demands for the return of their ancestral territories in the south of the country.
The Mapuches lost most of their land when they were incorporated into Chile at the end of the 19th century. But the conflict didn't end there. Over the years, much of the land they had been left with and that had been registered in their names was usurped from them and ended up in the hands of timber companies and private landowners. After the end of Pinochet's dictatorship, the state pledged to begin a new relationship with indigenous people, based on their fair treatment. The return of disputed territories to the Mapuches was a fundamental part of it.
However, the efforts at land restitution have been half-hearted. None of the democratic governments has been willing to jeopardize the interests of forest plantation owners, who are significant players in Chile's economic growth. Timber is the country's second largest export commodity, worth almost $6 billion a year. Moreover, the political elite is deeply invested in the industry. For example, the governor of Araucanía, Andrés Molina Magofke, has a 42 percent share in a small timber company Santa Laura, worth $600,000.
More:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/16/the_skeleton_in_chiles_closet