* President Sebastián Piñera has announced a new US$8bn public investment plan for Chile’s southern impoverished La Araucanía Region with a further US$16bn to come from the private sector. The area has long been the site of conflict stemming from indigenous Mapuche claims to ancestral lands. The initiative also includes plans to present a constitutional reform which would formally recognise indigenous people, accelerate the creation of a ministry of indigenous people, and advance various infrastructure improvements and compensation for victims of rural violence, among other things. Upon taking office for a four-year term in March, President Piñera had identified a “national agreement for development and peace in the Araucanía” as one of five priorities.
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