In a retreat, the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, ordered this Tuesday (17) the remilitarization of the southern region of the country, where conflicts between landowners and some Mapuche groups have been going on for decades. The measure will last for 30 days, with a possible extension upon congressional approval.
The indigenous claim the sovereignty of the Araucania area, respecting the demarcations of the territory before the Spanish colonization, which includes Chilean areas as well as neighboring Argentina.
In the campaign, the leftist made recognition of Mapuche culture and sovereignty a flag. At the time, he said that states of exception did not apply to the south of the country because it was a historical problem — Chile’s debt to its past — that could be dealt with through dialogue.
The imposition of a state of exception in northern Chile, on the other hand, was seen differently, since, for Boric, the intense flow of immigrants, especially Venezuelans and Haitians, should be treated in an exceptional way, that is, with the militarization of the area, due to conflicts between residents and refugees.
But an episode that took place days after the president’s inauguration, held on March 11, began to change the government’s mind. On a trip to Araucania, Izkia Siches, Minister of the Interior, the second most important position in the country’s hierarchy, was forced under shots fired into the air to continue her journey through a detour. She says she has witnessed cowardly attacks and roadblocks that “cut supply chains and increase the cost of living in the most remote parts of the country.”
On Monday night (16), the minister announced, alongside Maya Fernández, head of Defense, that the government would once again determine a state of emergency in the south, albeit with changes in relation to the measures previously imposed by Boric’s predecessor. , Sebastián Piñera. It would be what she called an “intermediate state of exception” and “protection”, more focused on crimes committed on streets and roads. In any case, it would be executed in the same way, with the Army taking control of the region.
“We are facing a very complex problem that will not be solved overnight. We also know that we must act in a coordinated manner as a society,” she said. “Our government is committed to an agenda of recognition of our indigenous peoples.”
Siches also indicated that dialogues with southern leaders will continue, with the creation of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and a position dedicated to cases of theft and smuggling of wood and fuel, among other products. The announcement split Boric’s support base, Apruebo Dignidad. One of the most important forces in the alliance, the Communist Party, was against the state of exception, while the other parties that make up the coalition approved the decision.
The opposition, in turn, took advantage of the moment to defend Piñera’s actions. “They can call it what they want, ‘intermediate state of exception’, but they are admitting failure to solve the problem through dialogue,” said Senator Javier Macaya of the Independent Democratic Union.
