Hécotr Llaitul, head of the Arauco-Malleco Coordinator, jailed for a week. And now one of his sons has also been arrested for attempted murder. AFP
The Chilean police arrested one of the sons of Héctor Llaitul, the radical Mapuche leader imprisoned last week in the context of the territorial conflict with violent sectors that identify with that indigenous ethnic group which extends into southern Chile.
This is Ernesto Llaitul, arrested along with three other people for a arson and two counts of murder frustrated events that occurred in September 2021 in Los Angeles, in the Biobío region, 500 kilometers south of Santiago.
“There have been firearms attacks on forest truck drivers “, The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, explained this at a press conference.
The arrest came just days before the end of next Sunday’s crucial referendum in which Chileans will decide whether to approve or reject a new constitution.
The Charter proposes a multinational nation and grants ample autonomy to the Mapuche people. That feature is one of the most fueling the possibility of the Constitution being rejected, according to polls.
The arrest of his father Llaitul and now his son, a former violent activist in southern Chile, is an obvious strategy of the government of President Gabriel Boric show tenacity on this issue and seek the support of the critical sectors of the new Charter.
The detainees showed no resistance at the time of arrest and will be brought to justice in Los Angeles on Thursday, the official said.
Monsalve did not rule out that they exist in the next few hours “reactions of the organizations to which the prisoners belong” and assured that they will strengthen security in the so-called “southern macrozone”, to which Biobío and neighboring Araucanía belong.
For decades there has been a so-called “Mapuche conflict”, a territorial dispute between the state, radical indigenous communities and forestry companies that exploit lands considered to be ancestral.
The Arauco-Malleco Coordinator (CAM), whose head is Llaitul Sr., is one of the leading violent organizations that carry out sabotage on the territory, along with others such as the Mapuche Lavkenche Resistance, which wounded three people in an attack on Monday.
This organization is linked to the violent sectors that identify themselves as Mapuche on the Argentine side and is led by the fugitive Facundo Jones Wallace.
Despite promising he would not, Boric decreed a state of emergency in the area in May, which allows for it. deployment of the armed forces for the control of public order and who ruled for months in the mandate of Sebastián Piñera.
The escalation of the “Mapuche conflict” and the escalation of violence in the area is one of the most complex issues that Boric faces and last week he claimed the first victim in his cabinet.
Former Social Development Minister Jeannette Vega resigned the day after Llaitul’s arrest It was leaked that one of his advisers contacted the Mapuche leader in May
Santiago. With information from Efe and Clarín
Source: Clarin
