Weekly Report - 28 October 2003

A new wave of ferment has been spreading through Mapuche territory in the centre-south of Chile. As Mapuche students stage protests in demand of tailored education for indigenous communities, a militant Mapuche organisation has decided to short-circuit the Chilean judicial process and appeal a court sentence directly to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. More sedately but no less assertively, Mapuche leaders have informed President Ricardo Lagos that, following a decision by a national congress held days ago, they will be setting up a Mapuche `parliament'.