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Chile: New state terror as police kill Mapuche activist Camilo Catrillanca
November 30, 2018
Issue 1205
Chile
The recent death of 24-year-old Mapuche activist Camilo Catrillanca, who was gunned down in a police raid, has sparked wide condemnation and protests throughout Chile, writes Rodrigo Acuña.
On November 14, a newly created special “anti-terrorist” unit of the Chilean police known as Comando Jungla entered the Mapuche traditional community of Temukuikui near the town of Ercilla in the Araucanía region, about 370 miles south of Santiago. Claiming to be in pursuit of local car thieves, the operation involved hundreds of police officers with two helicopters.
Returning home with a 15-year-old minor on his tractor who was also wounded in the incident, Catrillanca — the grandson of a local indigenous leader — was shot multiple times. Community members say that, despite having suffered serious wounds, Catrillanca was surrounded by police and taken to a local clinic instead of a hospital. The minor who accompanied Catrillanca has recently given a statement to the Public Ministry, claims he was assaulted by police afterwards.
Quick to back the police special forces version of events that claimed Catrillanca was killed in a crossfire, interior minister Andrés Chadwick spoke to the press in a series of bungled press conferences. For days, Chadwick even went as far as to suggest that Catrillanca had a criminal record, cynically implying his death was warranted.
More:
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/chile-new-state-terror-police-kill-mapuche-activist-camilo-catrillanca