Status: 13.10.2021 1:37 p.m.
After clashes between security forces and indigenous people in Chile, President Piñera declared a state of emergency in southern areas. It should apply for two weeks. Experts fear that this could worsen the situation.
After a series of acts of violence, Chile’s President Sebastían Piñera has declared a state of emergency in four of the country’s southern provinces. To protect the population, the military will be allowed to support the police in the provinces of Biobío, Arauco, Malleco and Cautín over the next two weeks. The head of state justified the state of emergency with a “serious disturbance of public order”.
Repeated acts of violence and attacks
In the areas mentioned, there were “repeated acts of violence related to drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime by armed groups,” said Piñera. In the south of Chile there had been an increasing number of attacks on the timber industry, for example. The government blames radical members of the Mapuche indigenous people.
With 1.7 million people, the Mapuche are the largest indigenous group among the 19 million inhabitants of Chile. They are demanding more autonomy from the Chilean state and the return of the land they consider to be their ancestral property. Most of the Mapuche people live in the capital, Santiago, and in the south of Chile.
The use of troops could exacerbate the conflict
The governor of La Araucanía, Luciano Rivas, welcomed the sending of the troops. There is a “very serious security crisis” in the region, he told CNN Chile. Political expert Lucía Dammert from the University of Santiago criticized Piñera’s decision. The use of troops could even worsen the conflict, she warned in an interview with the AFP news agency.
New constitution should give Mapuche more rights
The President of the Constituent Assembly, Elisa Loncón, criticized the declaration of a state of emergency. What people need are political and economic solutions that will help them overcome poverty, said Loncón – who belong to the Mapuche people. A new constitution has been drawn up in Chile since July, which should also give the Mapuche more rights.
A student was killed in a demonstration for the rights of indigenous peoples in Santiago on Sunday. According to her university, she watched the rally for a human rights organization. The police are accused of brutal crackdown on the demonstrators on social media.