Arson suspicions against Mapuche spark controversy in Chile

By Juan Garff Jan 12, 2012, 16:16 GMT

Santiago de Chile - Chile's raging forest fires have reignited an old conflict, as the government of President Sebastian Pinera has blamed a radical faction of the Mapuche indigenous people for starting the blazes in the southern Araucania region.

The Mapuche are demanding the return of ancestral land that is controlled by large reforestation companies. But they have denied involvement in the suspected arson in Araucania, which was alleged by Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter.

A radical group of the Mapuche has been fighting for the restitution of large portions of southern Chilean estates, on which their ancestors lived before European conquests.

Until the end of the 19th century, the Mapuche defended the land south of the Bio-Bio river against white invaders. In the 1960s and early 1970s, lands reform in Chile returned it to the original inhabitants.

But under the dictatorship of general Augusto Pinochet (1973-90), the common land of the Mapuche was partitioned and sold and large portions were given to reforestation companies.

The return to democracy in Chile sparked new claims by the Mapuche. But attempts to improve their situation achieved little, and as much has been admitted by subsequent governments.

Since the end of Pinochet's rule, Chile has restituted or legalized Mapuche ownership of about 500,000 hectares of land. But the tribe has laid claim to 3 million hectares.

Activists organizing land-occupying protests said they were pursued under an anti-terrorism law originating in the Pinochet era, which does not allow witnesses to be identified and involves prison sentences of up to 10 years for arson, civil disorder or squatting on foreign estates.

The leader of the illegal Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (CAM) group, Hector Llaitul, is currently serving a 15-year prison term for attempted manslaughter.

CAM is now suspected of involvement in some of the disastrous forest fires that have swept parts of Chile.

The first major fire, which raged in the Torres del Paine national park, destroyed more than 16,000 hectares.

Environmentalists and the opposition accuse the government of delayed and inefficient action against the fires, which killed seven firefighters.

Llaitul denied the interior minister's suggestion that the Mapuche may have been responsible. The Carabineros, Chile's military police, have meanwhile carried out house searches in Mapuche communities.

On Wednesday, a video caused a media uproar as police were shown beating a Mapuche woman. It was allegedly filmed a day earlier at a roadblock 15 kilometres from the regional capital of Temuco.

National Women's Service Minister Carolina Schmidt condemned the violence. Police said two officers were slightly injured in the incident.

Mapuche houses have also been set on fire by unidentified assailants in recent days.

'Our policy with the Mapuche people continues like before,' said Social Development Minister Joaquin Lavin. 'The events of the past few days will not make us retract an inch on the advances that have already been made together.'