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News > Chile

Chile: Indigenous People Demand Role in Constitution Draft

  • A woman wears a mask reading, “I approve”, during a demonstration on behalf of the agreement of a constitutional reformation. September 25, 2020.

    A woman wears a mask reading, “I approve”, during a demonstration on behalf of the agreement of a constitutional reformation. September 25, 2020. | Photo: EFE

Published 2 October 2020
Opinion

A first draft of the law proposal was approved, leaving for a later discussion 16 articles in August.

Representatives of Chilean Indigenous communities and organizations demanded from Congress not to prolong the discussion about native people's participation in drafting a new constitutional text if Chilean people approve it in October 25 plebiscite.

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"We would like to ask the parliamentarians to be able to continue the discussion in the Constitution Committee of the Senate. It is fundamental to have a Plurinational Convention with the presence of all the Chilean Indigenous people, men, and women with cosmovisions, with a harmonious vision of Mother Nature, who can provide their different perspectives," said Hortencia Hidalgo, an Aymara member of the Chasquinayrampi Indigenous Communication and Research Center.

A first draft of the law proposal was approved, leaving for a later discussion 16 articles in August. Despite the expediency of the bill’s approval facing the plebiscite in October, Congress deliberated about the legal text for the last time on September 2.

The legislative initiative pursues to ensure Senate seats for Indigenous people despite plebiscite challenges. Even when Mapuche people have been in the front line of native people's conflict and dialogue with the government, other Indigenous groups are willing to participate in the fundamental law's reform.

"The reserved seats are the real possibility for indigenous people to participate in the constituent process, to participate in the most important dialogue that society has," said Mapuche constitutionalist lawyer Salvador Millaleo.

According to pollster Activa Research, over 80 percent of Chilean people approve the constitutional reform. Even when a new constitution would not immediately solve the conflicts between Chilean people and the government, it could ensure a more participative society with alternative and plural options for all citizens. 

The Chilean referendum, which was rescheduled from April 26 to October 25 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, could open the way for substantial modifications to the political and economic model created by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

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