{"id":18339,"date":"2021-11-19T11:36:24","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T16:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=18339"},"modified":"2021-11-19T11:50:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T16:50:54","slug":"peoples-world-mapuche-people-targeted-by-military-on-their-own-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/11\/19\/peoples-world-mapuche-people-targeted-by-military-on-their-own-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"People&#8217;s World: Mapuche people targeted by military on their own lands"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0ejdcVQP_TU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">VOA News: <a href=https:\/\/youtu.be\/0ejdcVQP_TU>Police and Protesters Clash During Mapuche Demonstration in Chile<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Mapuche people under siege by Chilean military; genocide being charged<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Friday, November 19, 2021<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\">By Albert Bender<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source\">People's World<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source-links\"><A \r\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.peoplesworld.org\/\">peoplesworld.org<\/A><\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nIn the southern sector of Chile, a \u201cstate of exception\u201d\u2014a euphemism for a \u201cstate of emergency\u201d\u2014has been declared by President Sebastian Pi\u00f1era. Troops have been sent to the Araucania region, the land of the Mapuche Indigenous nationality. (Note: The government\u2019s name for the area, Araucania, is considered a pejorative term by many Mapuche.)\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nPi\u00f1era has said four provinces have experienced what he claims to be a \u201cserious disturbance of public order.\u201d Mapuche leaders, in turn, charge government forces with genocide\u2014including the wanton invasion of Indigenous land, the burning of homes, the torture and killing of Native residents, and allegations of \u201cdrowning babies in the rivers.\u201d\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe Mapuche are the ancient inhabitants of what is now southern Chile and Argentina. Numbering 1.7 million, they make up 12% of the Chilean population and are the majority of the country\u2019s Indigenous people.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Chile?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Chile<\/a> | Chileans take to the streets to protest the murder of a Mapuche youth by the military. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/98lumTVjau\">pic.twitter.com\/98lumTVjau<\/a><\/p>&mdash; teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/telesurenglish\/status\/1457860523329007619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 9, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe invasion of the bloodthirsty, gold\u2013hungry Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century set off a nearly 350-year military struggle from 1541 to 1883 to fight off European domination. The Mapuche maintained one of the most successful martial resistance movements in the history of Indigenous peoples in this hemisphere. Historically, their resistance is truly inspirational.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nPresently, the Mapuche are still engaged in what has been a long fight to be recognized under the Chilean constitution. The current constitution\u2014due to be replaced\u2014was crafted during the fascist military rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The Chilean constitution is the only legislative document in all of Latin America that does not acknowledge Indigenous people within the country\u2019s borders.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nPinochet came to power in 1973, overthrowing socialist Salvador Allende with tremendous U.S. criminal complicity. The information sent by way of the \u201cIndian Grapevine\u201d at the time of Pinochet\u2019s revolt was that he turned on Chile\u2019s Indigenous peoples with a vengeance. There were reports that fascist doctors conducted fiendish Dr. Mengele-type experiments on Indigenous prisoners.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nAs much of their remaining land in the intervening decades was confiscated and sold to commercial agriculture interests and forestry companies, one of the paramount Mapuche demands has been the restoration of historic lands. The land that the Mapuche are referring to are the vast tracts of Indigenous territory given to oligarchical, rich business families during the fascist dictatorship of Pinochet that lasted until 1990.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" data-header=\"true\" data-footer=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/connuestras_manos\/51655505289\/in\/photolist-2mHBUNb-2mGyvF6-2kqUxvh-2mGCWfs-2mGBY5a-2mGzEyg-2mGumez-2mGCWw9-2mGywpA-2mGBXVN-2mGzEQi-2mGBYFk\" title=\"Untitled\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/51655505289_d735bcd95b_b.jpg\" class=\"img-fluid\" alt=\"Untitled\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\"><a href=https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/connuestras_manos\/51655505289\/>Connuestras_manos<\/a>: A crowd gathers to protest the shooting of Yordan Llempi Machac\u00e1n, a  24-year-old Mapuche man who was killed on November 3, 2021, in an encounter with military police in southern Chile where a significant number of Mapuche and Indigenous people live. The victim&#8217;s name has also been reported as Yordan  Llempi Machac\u00e1n in the media.\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nIn the 1990s, with Chile returning to some semblance of democracy, the government promised it would return the confiscated land back to the Mapuche. But the land back effort has been minimal, and many so-called \u201cowners\u201d have been reluctant to sell. Bureaucracy, meanwhile, has stymied the process.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThere has been some violence in the Mapuche provinces, directed at trucks carrying lumber for forestry companies. The right wing in Colombia has tried to attribute arson attacks on forestry vehicles to Indigenous activists, for instance. The Mapuche, however, suspect non-Mapuche of torching their own trucks to make money by filing fraudulent insurance claims. Also, there are drug traffickers in the area where the vehicles have been burned, and the so-called terrorists are always masked. Many Mapuche see this as just an excuse for the repression of Indigenous people.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe Mapuche are calling on international agencies to intervene in this and related matters. Recent actions of the Chilean National Congress, they say, are in violation of multiple international law charters, including the 1989 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO Convention 169) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.\r\n<p><\/p><div class=\"mt-1 mb-1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8411603009680747\" data-ad-slot=\"6394965691\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/div><p><\/p>\r\nBoth protocols require that national governments consult Indigenous peoples through appropriate procedures \u201cwhenever legislative or administrative measures affect them directly.\u201d Hence, the Mapuche leaders have every legal right under international law to appeal to international tribunals to request intervention to address the oppressive edicts of the Chilean legislature and president.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe Mapuche people continue to struggle peacefully for their rights and the recovery of their ancestral land in the face of increased repression, including more evictions, military raids, imprisonment, death, and genocide. An international clarion call to aid in their struggle has been sounded and must be answered by progressive forces worldwide.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<Strong>Note: Thumbnail photo of Mapuche flag by <a href=https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/193192899@N02\/51239494539\/>Catalina Rojas<\/a><\/strong>\r\n<P><\/p>\r\n<HR><EM>Albert Bender is a Cherokee activist, historian, political columnist, and freelance reporter for Native and Non-Native publications. He is currently writing a legal treatise on Native American sovereignty and working on a book on the war crimes committed by the U.S. against the Maya people in the Guatemalan civil war of the late 20th century. Albert is a consulting attorney on Indigenous sovereignty, land restoration, and Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) issues. He is the recipient of several Eagle Awards by the Tennessee Native American Eagle Organization.<\/em><HR>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThis article originally appeared on <A \r\nhref=https:\/\/www.peoplesworld.org\/article\/mapuche-people-under-siege-by-chilean-military-genocide-being-charged\/>People's \r\nWorld<\/A>. It is published under a <A \r\nhref=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/3.0\/us\/\">Creative \r\nCommons license<\/A>. \r\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/19\/mapucheflag-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Mapuche Flag\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" class=\"invisible\" \/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mapuche people continue to struggle peacefully for their rights and the recovery of their ancestral land in the face of increased repression.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13,14,23],"tags":[415,2166,176,2219,511,2218,25,416,2220],"class_list":["post-18339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-law","category-politics","category-world","tag-albert-bender","tag-chile","tag-genocide","tag-jordan-llemp-machacan","tag-law-enforcement","tag-mapuche","tag-military","tag-peoples-world","tag-yordan-llempi-machacan","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/19\/mapucheflag-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-4LN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}