[asia-apec 1696] Fw: CHILE: MAPUCHE CLASH WITH POLICE, LUMBER COMPANY

[APEC Monitoring Group]

Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2001 7:56 PM
Subject: CHILE: MAPUCHE CLASH WITH POLICE, LUMBER COMPANY


> CHILE: MAPUCHE CLASH WITH POLICE, LUMBER COMPANY
> 
> At 6am on Dec. 22, troops from the Carabineros (militarized
> police) Special Forces began the violent eviction of members of
> five Mapuche indigenous commmunities from the El Carmen estate
> near Temuco, which the communities had been occupying since Dec.
> 19. The land is claimed by the Forestal Bosques Arauco logging
> company. The troops used tear gas and fired shots into the air;
> the Mapuche responded with sticks and rocks. There were no
> arrests. Lumber workers and heavy machinery arrived soon
> afterwards to clear away barricades made of logs which the
> Mapuche had set up to block the company's access to the land. [La
> Tercera (Santiago) 12/22/00, 12/27/00]
>  
> Conflicts continued through the following week. The Mapuche
> insist they have a historic claim to the El Carmen estate.
> Forestal Bosques Araco has planted the land with eucalyptus trees
> and is now attempting to harvest the lumber; the Carabineros were
> sent in to ensure that workers could finish the job. 
>  
> New incidents broke out on Dec. 26, when nearly 40 hooded
> individuals attacked about 100 Carabineros agents with sticks,
> rocks and Molotov bombs at the El Carmen estate, and agents hit
> back with tear gas. Isaac Vergara, governor of the Ninth Region,
> suggested that the hooded individuals may have been agitators,
> rather than Mapuche community members. [LT 12/27/00]