A bullet wound in severe condition has left a new attack in the region of La Araucanía, in southern Chile, an area where there has been a complex territorial conflict that has worsened in recent weeks and faces the State, large companies of the forest and radical Mapuche groups.

Sources from the Carabineros police force confirmed to the EFE agency that the victim was inside Severe conditionwas admitted to Temuco hospital, after being shot in the cervical area while driving on a road in the town of Ercilla.

A group of hooded men blocked the route by crossing a van that caught fire. Then they started fighting with vehicles trying to pass. They were able to hit some of them and left one person injured, according to local media reports.

“At the scene of the events, a banner was found with legends referring to the Mapuche cause,” Carabineros Colonel Cristián Mansilla added.

Three nights of tension

This episode takes place after two days of arson attacks against a farmhouse, several trucks and cargo vehicles, a warehouse and a cabin in two different municipalities in the Bío Bío region, also in the south.

Here and in other regions of southern Chile, there has been territorial conflict for decades between the communities of the Mapuche ethnic group -the majority of the country-, the State and agricultural and forestry companies that exploitation of lands considered “ancestral” by indigenous peoples.

In the past year, this dispute has experienced an exacerbation of violence with frequent arson attacks on machinery and property, lethal shootings and hunger strikes by indigenous prisoners.

On Thursday, the government was led by Gabriel Boric a special police committee After that, Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, assured that they will work to give the State, Public Ministry and police “power to use special investigation procedures” of this type of crime.

ancient rivalry

The Mapuche people, the largest indigenous ethnic group in Chile, reclaimed the lands it had inhabited for centuries, before they were occupied by the state of Chile at the end of the 19th century in a process officially known as the “Pacification of La Araucanía” and now mostly belong to large economic groups.

Since taking office on March 11, leftist Gabriel Boric has halted militarization in the area declared by the previous president, the conservative Sebastián Piñera, in October 2021, and has deployed a “dialogue” strategy in the area that, so far, still not accepted by the local community.

In early April, Boric promised to address the conflict with the Mapuche people through “dialogue.”

“We have decided on a path that is dialogue and dialogue will disrupt many, who believe that things can be achieved through violence or through confrontation,” the president said, more than two weeks later. his Minister of the Interior. was received with gunshots in the air in an area of ​​Mapuche.

Source: EFE

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