Members of the Raquem Pillá community pose for a photo. // File Photo: Chilean Government

Authorities in the southern Chilean region of La Araucanía are investigating the death of an indigenous Mapuche community leader whose body was found on a rural road New Year’s Eve with signs of foul play. Juan de Dios Mendoza Lebu was the highest authority of the Raquem Pillá community, one of several in southern Chile that has been at odds with central Chilean governments over decades of conflict that in recent months has turned increasingly violent. Authorities will investigate whether the alleged crime is related to the complaint made by Mapuche communities about acts of repression by local police. Is the administration of President Sebastián Piñera doing enough to address the conflict? How likely is social unrest to continue or further escalate? What needs to be done to resolve Chile’s longstanding issues with Mapuche communities?

Patricia Richards, Meigs professor of sociology and women’s studies at the University of Georgia: “The current Piñera administration has done more to exacerbate conflicts than to resolve them. The same could be said of Bachelet’s recent administration, as well as Piñera’s previous administration, as well as the governments of the Concertación. What is missing in Chile is the political will to entertain the legitimacy of the claims of Mapuche communities and organizations. These claims are focused on a variety of issues, although the most intense conflicts have surrounded claims for territory and self-determination. In general, the democratic governments of Chile have aggravated the situation by charging Mapuche individuals dead also under questionable circumstances. Formal investigations still await in limbo. Central to the Mapuches’ fight for ownership of Araucanía is the fact that it contains the largest forest reserves of Chile and is home to powerful political and economic agribusiness. Despite the government’s redistribution of lands to the Mapuches since 1993, they remain unsatisfied and restive. Mapuches continue to seize lands, occupy land illegally, destroy roads and infrastructure and stop valuable agriculture from reaching consumers, locally and abroad. Those actions led former President Bachelet to reinstate Pinochet’s anti-terrorism law in 2007, which President Piñera expanded during his first term and during his current second term, failing to subdue the Mapuches, who will continue protesting and destroying until their grievances are redressed. A solution to the mutual violence will require negotiations monitored and assisted by neutral parties who can help the Mapuches and the government reach a middle-ground acceptance of the limitations inherent in each other’s demands and expectations. Suspicious deaths and arbitrary detention of Mapuches is not conducive to this conflict's resolution, nor is the continuing destruction of interests vital to Chile’s economy and government by Araucanía’s Mapuches.”

Maria Velez de Berliner, managing director of RTG-Red Team Group, Inc.: “Chile’s Mapuches have held grievances against the government and police for more than three centuries. These result from the violence forced relocation and dispossession caused by the government’s Operation for the Pacification of Araucanía (Region IX). Chile’s National Intelligence Agency and its national police, the Carabineros, target Mapuche activists, political opponents and dissidents. Several Mapuche leaders have been in preventive detention since 2017 without charges or the benefit of counsel. Mendoza Lebu was not alone; others have been found dead also under questionable circumstances. Formal investigations still await in limbo. Central to the Mapuches’ fight for ownership of Araucanía is the fact that it contains the largest forest reserves of Chile and is home to powerful political and economic agribusiness. Despite the government’s redistribution of lands to the Mapuches since 1993, they remain unsatisfied and restive. Mapuches continue to seize lands, occupy land illegally, destroy roads and infrastructure and stop valuable agriculture from reaching consumers, locally and abroad. Those actions led former President Bachelet to reinstate Pinochet’s anti-terrorism law in 2007, which President Piñera expanded during his first term and during his current second term, failing to subdue the Mapuches, who will continue protesting and destroying until their grievances are redressed. A solution to the mutual violence will require negotiations monitored and assisted by neutral parties who can help the Mapuches and the government reach a middle-ground acceptance of the limitations inherent in each other’s demands and expectations. Suspicious deaths and arbitrary detention of Mapuches is not conducive to this conflict's resolution, nor is the continuing destruction of interests vital to Chile’s economy and government by Araucanía’s Mapuches.”

Robert Funk, assistant professor at the Institute for Public Affairs at the University of Chile: “Mendoza Lebu’s death has not really made the headlines, which remain dominated by the misinformation and mishandling of the Catrillanca case. One of the striking things of the Piñera administration is how it gets itself into serious trouble while the country enjoys a strong economy and a weak, divided and unpopular opposition. The administration should be dominating. Instead, it is responding badly to crises such as the one in Araucanía. This is especially unfortunate since, prior to the killing of Catrillanca, the government, through Social Development Minister Alfredo Moreno, was making slow but good progress in establishing a dialogue between important stakeholders, some of whom had not previously sat together. The key to progress with the Mapuche nation—indeed, with all its indigenous communities—is a major shift in attitudes, both public and institutional. Chile must recognize the special status that indigenous people have within its society, and indigenous groups must recognize that their territories are part of a large unit called Chile. But this will require dialogue, probably years of it. There are, of course, extremists who have an interest in dynamiting dialogue, and the challenge is to move forward regardless. The instinct is to halt everything when a tragedy like what happened to Catrillanca occurs. In this sense, the government has been astute in making Moreno, a former foreign minister with strong links to the business sector, responsible for the negotiations. Where Piñera has been weaker is in confronting the way the police—the Carabineros—handles its relations with indigenous groups and, indeed, all forms of popular protest.”

Editor’s note: The Advisor sought a commentary for this Q&A from Fernando Sáenz Taladriz, the head of Chile’s National Corporation for Indigenous Development, or CONADI, but did not receive a reply. 

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