The current Mapuche land-occupation strategy challenges the central questions of democratization in Chilean society, which the international community has largely viewed complacently since the election of Aylwin. In September, Aucan Huilcaman announced that, as part of their plans for the Columbus Quincentenary observance, the Mapuche would occupy lands taken over by Europeans, adopt a new flag to represent the Mapuche people, and attempt to persuade the government to recognize the existence of the Mapuche Nation (with its claim to an autonomous homeland). During the Columbus Quincentenary events, some three thousand Mapuche marched in Temuco in protest against the government. The purpose of the march was to present the Mapuche national flag to Prince Philipe of Bourbon, the heir to the Spanish throne. Mapuches also protested the celebration of the quincentenary with native ceremonies and demonstrations.

The decision to address Mapuche grievances against the Chilean state comes at a time when the Mapuche question is clearly being given low priority by the government. This is amply demonstrated in the Quinquen Valley lumber dispute and also in the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Río Bío Bío. The Altos del Bío Bío project, which local Pehuenche communities perceive as a grave threat, is being directed by ENDESA, a national electric private monopoly owned by the military (which Pinochet still controls) and paid for with money from the military pension fund. ENDESA is one of the most lucrative companies in Chile, having the monopolistic ability to control national electric rates.

In December 1992, the World Bank approved credit to ENDESA for the Pangue Project, one of the Bío Bío component elements. The loan of 2.5 percent of the capital outlay required for the project (some $450 million) makes the Bank a partner in the enterprise. The terms of the loan state that the project complies with all
environmental and socio-
economic guidelines required by the Bank for such development enterprises. However, the Pehuenche were not so sanguine about the effects of the dam, and they have allied themselves with the National Ecological Action Network (NEAN) to resist its contruction, claiming that the project will destroy their communities along the river, as well as cause flooding of forests and farmlands and the deaths of aquatic fauna (some of which are rare and endangered). The two organizations have also been joined by the Chilean Commission on Human Rights, the Institute for Ecological Policy, the Committee in Defense of Flora and Fauna, the Center for Alternative Development, and the MapuchePehuenche Center, in a statement that indicts the project for destroying the river, the regional ecological balance, and the Pehuenche culture, and for the theft of a national, cultural, and environmental treasure. After several confrontations with the Pehuenche, the Chilean Parliament is reportedly considering new environmental and indigenous legislation to protect native rights and may eventually require environmental impact statements for projects like the Pangue.

The Mapuche Consejo prisoners in Temuco have issued a call to the international community for solidarity against the repression of the Chilean state and the Supreme Court. In their statement from prison, they also said:

We call upon our people and all solidarity to support our action, considering it takes place in the field of the Mapuche rights deprived by the Chilean State. We Mapuche consider ourselves to be the Original Nation of the land that has been taken from us.

For the last century, Mapuches have demanded the return of their land and have fought for recognition by the Chilean state as a sovereign nation. Today, the Mapuche leaders are still demanding self-determination with some sort of autonomy in the traditional territories considered to belong to the Mapuches as the only way to preserve their culture and traditions and to live in harmony with the environment and not be incorporated forcibly into Chilean society. While it is not clear what to expect in the short term for possible resolutions to the impasse, it seems unrealistic to expect Mapuche nationalism to diminish.

For more information, contact:

José Marimán, Centro de Estudios y Documentación Mapuche Liwen
Aldunate 83, Casilla 1136
Temuco, Chile
tel: (045) 213-963

Fourth World Bulletin • February 1993

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