Security & Strategic Review - January 2013 (ISSN 1741-4202)

A resurgence of violence in Mapuche territories that began in late December and continued into January provoked the government into placing the need to combat ‘terrorism’ at the top of its agenda — without appearing to have a clear idea of the kind of challenge it is facing or the extent to which it is willing to take repression. Against this backdrop Mapuche leaders announced that their aim is self-determination. After first dismissing this, President Sebastián Piñera granted priority to giving explicit constitutional standing to all ‘originary peoples’.

On 4 January a particularly shocking act of violence in the Mapuche heartland of Araucanía triggered an irate, if somewhat erratic response from the government in Santiago. A prominent, long-established farmer, 75-year-old Werner Luchsinger, and his wife were burnt alive when about 20 hooded persons raided his farm in Vilcún (in the province of Cautín in Araucanía) and set fire to the main house. Authorities were able to hear a blow-by-blow narration of events as Mrs Luchsinger called for help; by the time the fire brigade and police arrived it was too late.

President Sebastián Piñera cancelled all appointments and flew down to the area with interior minister Andrés Chadwick for what was described as a first-hand appraisal. He then convened an emergency meeting of his political and security cabinet, after which Chadwick convoked a session of heads of all intelligence agencies to try and put together a comprehensive picture of what sort of a situation was unfolding down south.

The Luchsinger murders were not the first episode in the recent surge of violence. In December there were two raids on rural estates, one of them resulting in the death of the caretaker, but not in Araucanía itself: they took place in Cañete, in the Arauco province of Biobío, the region that lies continuously to the north — historically the northernmost boundary of Mapuche territory [SSR-12-12]. On 2 January a truck was halted by hooded persons on a highway near Victoria (Malleco, Araucanía) who after forcing down the driver and passengers, set it alight. That same day in Nueva Imperial (Cautín, Araucanía) pro-Mapuche demonstrators clashed with Carabineros, the paramilitary police.

Already after the December incidents Chadwick had said, ‘We know that we must confront a powerful adversary [and] face complex political actions, and we know that they have communicational support.’ But he also said, ‘We believe  that there are about 120 persons who spread fear.’ Against them, he said, he would not rule out using the antiterrorist law.

As the new year began Chadwick added, ‘One has the impression that the groups responsible for the violent acts have external financing — though I don’t have any creditable precedents, I believe this given their mobility and organisational capability.’ He added that these groups evidently enjoy support from abroad, ‘particularly from Argentina’.

The day after the Luchsinger incident the Volterra forestry estate near Contulmo in the Arauco province of Bíobío suffered an arson attack which resulted in the destruction of machinery belonging to a contractor. As Piñera was discussing matters with his cabinet, another arson attack was taking place in the Lautaro province of Araucanía: the target was a house on an estate owned by Agro Dieflor. Damage was reported, but no casualties.

On 7 January the minister of the presidency, Cristián Larroulet, proclaimed that the Luchsinger murders ‘marked a before and after’ in the situation in Araucanía. ‘We are,’ he said, ‘in the presence of an organised terrorist group, with terrorist methods, with international connections that provide training and contacts with the Farc.’ This was followed by Chadwick’s announcement that the number of Carabineros deployed in Araucanía had ‘doubled’ to 403 [the latest contingent, 84 strong, had arrived on 4 January], an ‘antiterrorist unit’ had been created and the third-ranking Carabineros officer, General Carlos Carrasco, had been entrusted with commanding all ‘antiterrorist actions’ in Biobío, Araucanía and Los Ríos.

At this point Chadwick ruled out declaring a ‘constitutional state of exception’ on the grounds that the only one available was a ‘state of emergency’, which would only allow the executive to restrict the right to travel freely and the right of assembly. This is not quite so: it is the only one that the executive could impose completely on its own. The constitution provides for the imposition of a ‘state of siege’ granting sweeping powers, which the executive could declare on its own in exceptional cases, and referendum of later approval or disapproval by congress, or for which it could seek congressional approval, which would be deemed granted if congress failed to decide within 10 days.

On 9 January presidential spokeswoman Cecilia Pérez refused to rule out a ‘state of exception’. She said, ‘We’re not ruling out any measure in the next few days or weeks. We are assessing the scenarios of what is happening in Araucanía.’

Vigilantism & provocation

The situation was not improved when agriculture minister Luis Mayol chipped in remarking, ‘I pointed out six months ago that our rule of law considers, as do all legislations worldwide, legitimate self-defence. What does that mean? That equivalent means may be used when a person sees his life, that of his family or his goods threatened.’ In June 2012 he had said he ‘understood’ the announcement by farmers in Araucanía that they would buy weapons to defend themselves.

The media promptly picked up data from the Dirección General de Movilización Nacional showing that the registration of firearms by people in Araucanía had increased by 32.5% between 2010 and 2012. The commander of Carabineros in Araucanía, General Iván Bezmalinovic, said he was even more concerned about ‘the quantity of weapons we know are unregistered’.

This fed into an old claim by Mapuche leaders, revived in the heat of recent events, that many of the acts of violence in the region, in the words of Jorge Huenchullán, spokesman for the ‘autonomous’ Temucuicui community, had been staged by the authorities or by ‘groups who are not Mapuche; who are paramilitary, sons of farmers, retired policemen [...] in order to frame the Mapuche communities.’

One such group, known since 2002 only through its incendiary communiqués, is the self-styled Comando Hernán Trizano, which resurfaced in January with a statement that they had dynamite which they wouldn’t hesitate to use against Mapuche leaders. The recently murdered Werner Luchsinger’s cousin Jorge was accused in congress of having been one of the organisers of the Comando.

Isolation vs self-determination

By 14 January the government had embarked on an effort to isolate the ‘terrorists’ by presenting the Mapuche who hold elected office as the true representatives of their people. Chadwick and social development minister Joaquín Lavín held a first meeting with them in Temuco. Two days later the umbrella Mapuche organisation Aukiñ Wallmapu Ngulam (Council of All the Lands) held a summit on a hill outside Temuco attended by 300 leaders, with the government represented only by the provincial governors of Cautín and Malleco, and an official of the social development ministry. What the summiteers came up with cast the whole situation in an unsettling new light: a demand for self-determination.

Aucán Huilcamán, chief spokesman for the Council, announced, ‘This is an irrevocable process. Self-determination has been installed here as an issue, even if it is not on the agenda of the government and the parties. It has been announced and now comes only the state of materialising it.’

President Piñera responded on 17 January, ‘We are not willing to place at risk the unity of Chile.’ He added, ‘We are going to protect the rule of law. The application of the [antiterrorist] law is not against the Mapuche people but against those who opt for terrorism. We will fight them anywhere in Chile, regardless of ethnicity or colour.’

Indeed, the antiterrorist law had already been invoked on 11 January against one of three Mapuche arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Luchsinger incident (the other two were released on bail and the magistrate in charge of the case gave the prosecutors six months to come up with the evidence to sustain the terrorism charges).

On 21 January Piñera said he wanted to make two announcements. The first: ‘I have decided to grant maximum priority to the constitutional recognition of the originary peoples, and the creation of a council of our originary peoples that will be really representative of tradition and culture.’

The second is the decision to grant priority to ‘recognising that there has been an inexcusable lag in economic and social development; it is not by chance that the most backward regions in this respect have been Araucanía and Biobío’.

This came as Chadwick was sent back to Temuco for a second meeting with Mapuche community leaders to discuss solutions to the Mapuche demands.

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