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### Viewing cable 09SANTIAGO843, CHILE: Indigenous Conflict Tops Domestic Political Agenda

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09SANTIAGO843 | 2009-09-10 21:36 | 2010-12-13 21:30 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Santiago

`

    VZCZCXYZ0000
    OO RUEHWEB

    DE RUEHSG #0843/01 2532136
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    O 102136Z SEP 09
    FM AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0020

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTIAGO 000843

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/09/10
    TAGS: PGOV SOCI CI
    SUBJECT: CHILE: Indigenous Conflict Tops Domestic Political Agenda

    REF: SANTIAGO 826

    CLASSIFIED BY: Laurie Weitzenkorn, A/DCM; REASON: 1.4(B), (D)

    ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Indigenous conflict -- particularly between
    Mapuche and non-indigenous land owners in southern Chile -- has
    forced itself prominently on to President Bachelet's political
    agenda following the August 12 police killing of a Mapuche
    activist. Over the past 20 years, relations between the government
    and Mapuche communities have been characterized by half-hearted
    attempts by the government and fractious organization and demands
    by the Mapuche, creating disappointment and frustration that
    perpetuate tension. Mapuche demands center on land, economic
    opportunity, and societal inclusion, but are poorly defined and
    vary greatly from community to community. End Summary.

    ¶2. (U) Poloff and Pol Specialist travelled to the heart of Chile's
    Mapuche territory, the regions of Araucania and Los Rios, August
    10-14. Reftel described the reality of tense, but generally
    non-violent, relations in contrast to the sensationalized images of
    the region. Septel will describe human right concerns and the
    justice process.

    After Mapuche Death, Indigenous Issues Claim Center Stage

    --------------------------------------------- ------------

    ¶3. (U) The August 12 police killing of Mapuche activist Jaime
    Mendoza -- and the subsequent reaction from indigenous communities
    -- has catapulted indigenous demands to the front of President
    Bachelet's political agenda once again. Mapuche activists held
    protests and blockaded a highway, while more than 3,000 mourners
    packed Mendoza's funeral. When President Bachelet sent a
    government delegation, led by the Under Secretary of the
    Presidency, to meet with all parties in Araucania, the Mapuche
    community refused to meet with the group. Bachelet subsequently
    named a cabinet minister, Jose Antonio Viera-Gallo, as the
    government's new indigenous policy coordinator, effectively
    capitulating to a long-standing Mapuche demand for higher-level
    government attention. Meanwhile, another indigenous group --
    Easter Islanders -- seem to have been inspired by Mapuche activism,
    recently occupying the island's only airport for 24 hours in a

    successful effort to gain government attention to their demands.

    Dashed Hopes: Concertacion's Failed Indigenous Policies

    --------------------------------------------- -----------

    ¶4. (SBU) Chile's return to democracy seemed to be a promising
    beginning for relations between the state and the Mapuche community
    after a history of conflict (reftel). The 1993 Indigenous Law
    legally recognized ethnic communities for the first time; protected
    current indigenous lands; created a fund to secure additional lands
    claimed by indigenous communities; established an indigenous
    development fund; and formed the National Corporation for
    Indigenous Development (CONADI), a new government body charged with
    implementing indigenous policy.

    ¶5. (SBU) Despite this encouraging start, indigenous Chileans have
    become frustrated with the Concertacion's broken promises,
    government inaction, and inefficient administration. Under Ricardo
    Lagos (1998-2004), the government approved the construction of a
    hydroelectric dam in Mapuche areas, despite more than a decade of
    strenuous objections from Mapuche activists. He later issued a
    last minute and poorly explained cancellation to what would have
    been the largest ever meeting between the Mapuche community and the
    Chilean President, angering thousands who had travelled from across
    the country for the dialogue.

    ¶6. (SBU) For her part, President Bachelet has been slow to focus
    on indigenous issues. She announced her indigenous policy,
    Re-Conocer, more than half way through her four-year term and in
    response to the outcry over the police shooting death of a Mapuche
    activist in January 2008. Critics charge (and privately some
    CONADI officials agree) that Re-Conocer is just re-packaging
    previous policies and creating more bureaucracy. Bachelet's
    presidential commissioner for indigenous affairs, Rodrigo Egana,

    was described by a prominent civic leader and close friend as
    "focused elsewhere."

    ¶7. (SBU) Moreover, the very organization that was meant to assist
    indigenous Chileans, CONADI, has become a lightning rod for native
    criticism. CONADI is decried as a bureaucratic and lethargic
    organization which, by looking to hire talented indigenous
    professionals, has co-opted many of the indigenous communities'
    best leaders. More than 90% of the agency's budget is dedicated to
    purchasing ancestral lands, yet land disputes appear to be
    worsening rather than subsiding. CONADI aims to boost
    opportunities for indigenous Chileans through scholarships and
    micro-enterprise support, but these grants are small (average USD
    6,000 for micro-enterprises), short-term, and labor-intensive to
    administer, further eating up resources. Several Mapuche and
    non-indigenous sources told us that only 30% of CONADI's budget
    actually reaches the communities it intends to serve, with the rest
    being lost to bureaucracy, waste, and inflated land prices.

    Land, Opportunity, and Respect: Mapuche Demands

    --------------------------------------------- ---

    ¶8. (U) The recovery of traditional Mapuche lands is the most
    common trigger for violent conflict and property destruction.
    Mapuche communities now live on just 6% of the territory they once
    controlled -- an unsettling situation for a people whose name means
    "people of the land." Activists are quick to point out that some
    wealthy white Chilean individuals -- such as forestry magnate
    Roberto Angelini -- own more land in traditional Mapuche areas than
    the entire Mapuche population combined. On the other hand,
    non-indigenous Chileans often have strong ties to the formerly
    Mapuche land they now own. Due to government colonization
    policies, some non-indigenous Chileans have lived on traditional
    Mapuche lands for generations, while many prominent businessmen
    have made substantial investments in land that they bought legally.

    ¶9. (SBU) The 1993 Indigenous Law, while designed to address these
    land concerns, has in some ways exacerbated the situation. The law
    provided a mechanism and funding to buy back traditional Mapuche
    land, but failed to set expectations about how much land would be
    recovered. The resulting process has been expensive, extremely
    slow, and resulted in less new land for Mapuches than they
    expected. Non-indigenous land owners often engage in price
    gouging, raising prices for disputed land to ridiculous levels,
    limiting the amount of land that can be purchased with budgeted
    funds. While the Chilean government has transferred more than
    650,000 hectares for Mapuche use, the vast majority of this land
    was already de facto Mapuche territory -- the purchase simply
    regularized the facts on the ground. Human rights campaigner Jose
    Aylwin told poloffs that only about 100,000 hectares of new land
    has been turned over to Mapuches since 1993.

    ¶10. (SBU) Aside from land disputes, poverty, lack of opportunity,
    and discrimination by majority Chilean culture are all underlying
    causes of conflict. The poverty rate for indigenous people is 12
    percentage points higher than for non-indigenous populations.
    Araucania -- the region with the highest percentage of Mapuche
    residents -- has the country's highest unemployment rate, nearly 11
    percent. And Mapuches face widespread discrimination.
    Multiculturalism is an uncommon term in a country that takes pride
    in its unitary "Chileanness," which is enshrined in the
    constitution. Mapuche academics in Temuco and Valdivia told
    Poloffs of experiences demonstrating how anti-Mapuche racism is
    acceptable even among well-educated Chileans. Typical Chilean
    attitudes toward Mapuches range from ignorance to distrust.

    Who Speaks for the Mapuche?

    ---------------------------

    ¶11. (SBU) The decentralized hierarchy and diffuse leadership that
    characterize Mapuche culture (described as a "multi-headed hydra"
    by one academic) impede community efforts to organize and
    complicate Chilean government efforts to find a valid negotiating

    partner. Mapuche villages are traditionally quite independent from
    one another, and are led by lonkos, or tribal chiefs.
    Traditionally, no authority exists beyond the lonko, meaning that
    no single person or organization speaks for the Mapuche. Because
    each lonko is viewed as the ultimate authority for his, admittedly
    very small, group of Mapuches, slights are inevitable as some
    Mapuches claim that each lonko should have access directly to the
    President, who represents the ultimate authority in majoritarian
    Chilean culture. Even more realistic Mapuche activists bristle
    when lonkos can not get meetings with the regional intendente
    (centrally appointed governor) and instead deal with lower-ranking
    civil servants.

    ¶12. (SBU) The on-going conflict with the government has led to the
    creation of new leadership structures across and within
    communities, from the sometimes violent Coordinadora Arauco Malleco
    (CAM) to the more pacifist Council of All Lands, to
    community-specific organizations with elected leadership. The
    newly created Mapuche Territorial Alliance aims to unite disparate
    Mapuche communities in a peaceful struggle for land rights. Within
    communities, the Chilean government has dictated that it will work
    only with elected representative Mapuche councils, leading to the
    creation of new bodies which supporters say are an effective way to
    make decisions and interact with the government, while detractors
    lament the loss of lonko authority and say that the council members
    have been co-opted.

    ¶13. (SBU) These new organizations, and the positions that some of
    them take, reflect the deep divisions in the Mapuche community.
    There is no consensus on what approach to take in seeking redress,
    or even on what the community's issues and goals are. In meetings
    with two lonkos in neighboring communities, one described his
    efforts to promote community-based tourism, gain access to CONADI
    resources and grants, and share traditional knowledge about local
    wildlife. In contrast, another lonko described his work on a
    proposal that would demand the return of all land from the Biobio
    river to the city of Palena -- an area compromising the majority of
    four of Chile's 15 regions -- end all major investment projects in
    the region, and dismantle CONADI.

    ¶14. (C) Comment: There is plenty of blame in Chile's
    long-standing Mapuche conflict to spread to all parties. Mapuche
    communities are disorganized and incoherent, offering up a range of
    demands from the logical to the fanciful, and rarely coordinating
    their efforts. A small number of violent actors discredit those
    who work in good faith to advance legitimate grievances. On the
    other hand, successive Concertacion governments have bungled
    indigenous policy, perpetually making it a low priority and failing
    to set and meet realistic expectations. Even with Bachelet's
    decision to designate a new, and higher-ranking indigenous policy
    coordinator, it is difficult to envision substantial progress in
    resolving this complex, long-standing issue. End Comment.
    SIMONS

`