Gabriel Boric to set up commission to return land to Mapuche communities

Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced the creation of a commission “for peace and understanding” to return land to Mapuche communities, which will be launched in March 2023 and will function until January 2025.

From Villarrica, the last stop on his two-day tour of araucaniaepicenter of the conflict between the Chilean state and the Mapuche people, the President invited all participants to take part in this initiative and stressed that “This commission is not for diagnosis, but for making recommendations. what national and international organizations have done to find a way out of the conflict”.

The president explained that the body would have an “open agenda” but with a mandate to “determine the demand for Mapuche land and propose specific timelines” for its restitution.

“I must say that it will not be possible to restore all the lands: there are cities built on Mapuche lands and they must be preserved,” warned the president, who also said that the rights of the people who have settled in these places for a long time will be protected.

The government will request international assistance to get “guided” through the process, Boric said, referring to similar experiences in Canada, the United States and New Zealand, for example.

“Concessions from all sides”

The President acknowledged that the process would involve “that all parties make concessions in order to establish a lasting peace”and assured that this process” provides for a dialogue with the forestries, in whose hands is part of the disputed land.

Borić marked the date chosen for the presentation of the cadastre and the commission’s proposals ahead of the 200th anniversary of the Tapihue Parliament, to celebrate the “new understanding between Chilean society and the Mapuche people”.

Boric appointed Victor Ramosresponsible for the plan for the good life developed by the Ministry of the Interior to provide a political solution to the conflict, as Presidential Plenipotentiary to lead this dialogue with Ana Lia Uriarte, General Secretary of the President.

“This is my first visit but not the last.I want to come several times during my term to continue working on different solutions,” the President concluded.

In La Araucania and other parts of southern Chile, a territorial dispute has existed for decades between the state, some Mapuche communities and logging companies exploiting land considered indigenous to indigenous peoples.

The Mapuche people, the largest indigenous ethnic group in Chile, are reclaiming the lands they inhabited for centuries before they were forcibly occupied by the Chilean state in the late 19th century in a process officially known as the “Pacification of La Araucania”. and which are currently owned mainly by timber companies.

As a result, arson attacks on cars and property are frequent, and the conflict has cost the lives of large numbers of the Mapuche community at the hands of government agents, policemen have died and hunger strikes by indigenous prisoners have also been reported.

(As reported by EFE)