Below is an article by Santiago Times

Chile is an indigenous word for “corner of the world.”  When we speak the country’s name we’re using the original language, Mapudungún, spoken by Chile’s largest indigenous group, the Mapuche.

These days there’s a heated polemic about the Mapuche.  It mostly has to do with the endless land and independence conflicts that have divided the country since its inception in the 1500s — conflicts that extended to post-independence times with the Pacificación de Araucanía (1860-1883). Pacification, of course, is a euphemism for the massacre of Mapuche civilization.

During the agrarian land reform movement of the 1960s the Mapuche had some of their lands returned to them. But with the coming of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1973, indigenous groups were once again divested of their properties.

Still, after centuries of struggle and the roller coaster ride of the past 50 years, it appears that forces for real change are finally in the ascendency.

There is talk of creating an Indigenous Ministry to give greater legal support to Mapuche causes, and, hopefully, when Chile’s new constitution is drafted the Mapuche and other indigenous groups will finally be recognized as sociopolitical entities in their own right, helping create a new mindset about what it means to be “Chilean.”

More impressive has been the courage and vision shown by Araucanía Regional Governor Francisco Huenchumilla. His voice of courage for peace and justice has emerged. His persona straddles both worlds, Spanish and indigenous. His dual ancestry gives credence to his unwavering position supporting non-Mapuches owning and utilizing formerly Mapuche territories, but only in those cases where agrarian productivity is active. He has staunchly protested the non-Mapuche ownership of Indian lands left fallow. Huenchumilla has stood out most significantly as a defender of Mapuche land rights and the re-allotment of those lands back to them causing the centers of power to listen. Justice through Indigenous land reacquisition would propel Chile from the symbol of social justice and equality of rights to its reality.

Huenchumilla assumed his position last March with an apology to the Mapuche people for centuries of abuse and neglect. He has since met with jailed Mapuche leaders, as well as with farmers and forestry companies threatened by the Mapuche resurgence.  Just weeks ago he averred that he would burn himself alive if it would somehow help resolve the festering Mapuche issue.

As “radical” as Huenchumilla’s words appear to some in Chile, it is worth noting that the region’s governor is sharply criticized by much more radical advocates within the Mapuche community.

Aucán Huilcamán, a Mapuche leader from the Council of All Lands, opposes the creation of an Indigenous Ministry, an effort he says would be an even greater intrusion by the state into Mapuche affairs. He wants political autonomy for the Mapuche people.

This writer urges President Michelle Bachelet to continue working closely with Huenchumilla to create an Indigenous Ministry (representing all Chilean indigenous groups: Aymara, Diaguita and Mapuche) and to speed up land purchases to benefit the Mapuche population.

The embers of violence and mutual repulsion still burn strongly in Southern Chile, kept alive by laws and unilateral business decisions — logging of ancient woods, polluting essential water sources, etc. — that exacerbate tensions.

Bachelet must keep her election promise to bring about social equality and the return of long-seized ancestral lands to the Mapuche. An Indigenous Ministry will not only help strengthen the Mapuche cause in Chile but would also set an example for many other South American countries, where for centuries the indigenous have been betrayed, dismissed, stolen from, forgotten, insulted and even slaughtered. In a few places, indigenous leaders have emerged.

President Bachelet has certainly demonstrated political courage on this issue. And thanks to Governor Huenchumilla’s clarity of historical truths and moral principles Mapuches may soon be entering the Chilean presidential palace through the front door.

Photo by Luca Catalano Gonzaga