After 200 years and 10 constitutions, Chile is getting closer to recognizing its indigenous peoples [VIDEO]

There are 11 ethnic groups and almost 13% of the population, but they were never provided for in the Constitution: the indigenous peoples of Chile are experiencing a historic moment that could materialize with the approval in September of the first Magna Carta, which grants them recognition. and autonomy.

Chile is one of the few countries in Latin America that does not recognize or mention natives in its constitutional text, explained to Efe Peruvian Raquel Yrigoyen, a doctor of law from the University of Barcelona and an adviser on natives in numerous compound processes.

This could change on September 4 when a new constitution is submitted to a plebiscite that recognizes the country as a “Plurinational State” and recognizes eleven ethnic groups: Mapuche, Aymara, Rapanui, Likanantai, Quechua, Colla, Diaguita. , monkey, kaveskar, yagan, selknam.

“The country has a unique opportunity to keep up with its obligations under international law and the course that the region has followed for decades,” he explained.

“History is already made”

Whether approved or not, natives Chile they have already made history by participating in the drafting of the constituent text – from 17 of the 155 seats in the body – and having achieved this localElisa Loncon presided over it, Rosa Catrileo, an elector and the Mapuche – the majority ethnic group – told Efe.

This is the only time in more than 200 years of the country that this has happened and it is also the first opportunity they have to see themselves in the Basic Law after 10 constitutions and despite the fact that they are more than 2 out of 19 million inhabitants Chile.

“The new Magna Carta is a light of hope and recognition of rights that have been put off for decades, historical demands that the political elite refused to materialize,” Catrileo said.

Among the innovations are “participation in collegiate bodies with a reserved seat, mechanisms for preserving culture and language, protecting nature,” he stressed.

The villages are currently natives Chileans are provided for by the national legislation of 1993, and are also protected by international law in accordance with the Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), signed in 1989, and other legal entities.

Constitution “root”?

The proposal was generally “well received” among the communities themselves. nativeswho have demanded recognition and protection for their culture for decades, Thomas Jordan, a constitutional lawyer at Alberto Hurtado University, told Efe.

“However, there are minority groups who see it as too progressive, others see it as something far removed from their demands, and the most radical see it as too moderate,” he said.

Both in the campaign for the adoption of the new Constitution, and for its rejection natives. The former are accused of the need to provide for it in the basic law, the latter argue that the draft does not represent them.

Out of the world local there is also diversity: for supporters of a new Magna Carta, the draft repays a historic debt, but those who argue for its rejection point out that the text is “indigenous” and that it grants indigenous peoples more privileges than others. .

The right to “free determination and self-government” (Section 34) or recognition of one’s own legal systems (Section 309) are some of the most contentious points, Jordan explained.

“The law is not in accordance with Chile be a multinational state. They also don’t want natives have their own mechanisms of justice or government. They believe that this is discrimination and will damage national systems,” he explained.

Despite this, a poll by the Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Studies (CIIR) found that 95% of Chileans were in favor of its constitutional recognition.

bittersweet moment

Parallel to the founding process, the Mapuche people – the largest – are going through the most intense period in decades. Violence escalated with arson and fatal shootings in several southern regions.

Many of these episodes are part of a historic conflict in the countryside between the state and some forestry companies in the hands of large economic groups with Mapuche communities claiming land they have lived on for centuries.

For Salvador Millaleo, one of the most recognized legal experts in nativesit was the “non-recognition and marginalization of their demands” that made this controversy take root.

“The new Constitution introduces very profound changes that can promote new relations between the state and peoples. natives he noted, “but it will depend on how the government and parliament implement it.”

In the same vein, Yrigoyen added that “whenever rights are added to conflicts arising from non-recognition, violence is automatically reduced.”

(As reported by EFE)

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