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News > Chile

Chile: Indigenous Mapuche Killed in Incident With Armed Forces

  • Carabineros, Chile's Military Police heavily armed in Southern Chile

    Carabineros, Chile's Military Police heavily armed in Southern Chile | Photo: Werken Noticias

Published 3 November 2021
Opinion

Two Mapuche community members died on Wednesday in a confusing incident with the Armed Forces that has not yet been clarified, in the context of the state of emergency that is in force in the south of the country.

"Two community members died in the commune of Cañete (south) in the context of confrontations with the forces of order, although it is not yet known if the deceased participated in the events," local authorities informed Radio Biobío.

On the other hand, the Mapuche Territorial Alliance of Chile reported this Wednesday that two Mapuche community members were killed and so far four have been injured at the hands of police officers in the town of Huentelolén in Bío Bío, a territory militarized by the state of emergency.

According to the Alliance, the police force supported by Marines fired at the Mapuche identified as 23-year-old Jordan Liempi Machacan and Iván Porma.

Likewise, it is detailed that among the injured people a nine-year-old girl is identified, in the San Miguel sector of the town of Huentelolén in the municipality of Cañete.

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According to an official preliminary version of the incident, a civilian vehicle fired at a Carabineros (militarized police) car in Cañete, a situation which led to the deployment of police and navy officers in an operation that ended with the two dead. This version already being challenged by Mapuche communities in the south who allege that armed forces fired at point-blank range. 

The Biobío region, where the incident occurred, and the Araucanía region in the south of the country have been in a state of emergency for three weeks by order of President Sebastián Piñera, who decreed the measure in order to control the acts of violence and arson attacks that have occurred in the area in recent years.

This week, Piñera sent to Congress a request to extend the measure for another 15 days.

The state of emergency constitutional exception allows the Executive to deploy the Armed Forces to carry out inspection, control, patrolling and surveillance tasks.

The Mapuche web portal, Werken Noticias, reported that Mapuche communities in resistance are now preparing to face what they called a"cowardly murder of the 2 weychafe murdered in cold blood in Arauco" and called for a "massive self-defense uprising"

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