Temuco, La Araucanía Region, Chile ·
Another year without our peñi weichafe Matías Valentin Catrileo Quezada yem, a university student and member of our space, who was shot by the Carabineros de Chile that caused his death while he was part of the occupation of the ex-fundo Santa Margarita, it has been 17 years since your departure but as the kuifikecheyem say if 1 falls 10 get up, MARICHIWEU ✊🏿✊🏿🔥🔥
An affectionate greeting to the family, mother and sister.
PETU MOGELEY TAÑI PEÑI MATIAS CATRILEO QUEZADA YAYAYAYAY 🔥🔥✊🏿✊🏿
CAM DELIVERS UNPUBLISHED TESTIMONIES ABOUT THE MURDER OF MAPUCHE WEYCHAFE MATÍAS CATRILEO
On January 3, 2008, in the early hours of the morning, a group of Weychafe once again entered the “Santa Margarita” property in another action resulting from a long struggle by the Mapuche families of the Wenteche territory to recover their lands stolen by the Chilean state and given to foreign settlers during the occupation of our Nation.
Among them was Matías Catrileo, a young Mapuche native of Santiago who, in the process of reuniting with his Mapuche self, returned to study in Temuco, learned about the national liberation struggle of his people, studied it, understood it and committed himself, leaving his studies in agronomy and joining the CAM, dedicating himself fully to the processes of territorial reconstruction.
A group of carabineros who at that time were providing protection to Jorge Luchsinger’s property fired bursts of sub-machine gun fire at the group and Matías was mortally wounded by a 9mm projectile and we know the story, the group of weychafe of the Cam did not leave his body and in the midst of the violent repression unleashed at that time safeguarded him and later handed him over under conditions of protection to prevent the state from manipulating with its dirty hands the body of one more martyr who left the struggle of our nation to achieve freedom.
We share with you the invitation of his family to commemorate and remember with them Matías, a being who beyond understanding the problem, took charge of something very important today in the midst of the superficiality that capitalism imposes on us, today more than ever the example of Matías is fundamental, to take charge of our reality with all the costs that this implies.
Amulepe taiñ weychan.❤🖤
The history of the “Santa Margarita” estate: Place where Matías Catrileo Quezada was murdered 17 years ago
It was on January 3, 2008, during the Bachelet government, when a shot from an UZI submachine gun (weapon of war) fired by a second corporal of the Carabineros, identified as Walter Ramírez, took the life of Matías Catrileo (from behind) at the Santa Margarita Estate, in the commune of Vilcún in the Araucanía region, owned by businessman Jorge Luchsinger who was under police protection. Catrileo was there, defending and claiming the Mapuche lands.
# Luchsinger Latifundista Family and its History:
The history of the Luchsinger latifundistas in the Araucanía region dates back to 1883, the year in which the Swiss settler Adán Luchsinger Martí arrived in Chile, where the treasury granted him approximately 60 hectares, about 70 kilometers north of Temuco. In 1906 they moved to Vilcún, and acquired 60 hectares from the German immigrant, Emilio Quappe. From this, Luchsinger began to buy several plots of land, totaling the thousand hectares. When he died in 1936, the entire inheritance was divided among his children.
According to official records, the descendants of the Luchsinger Rüff have five properties: Santa Margarita, owned by Jorge Luchsinger Villiger; the Santa Rosa Lote 1 farm, owned by Rodolfo Luchsinger Schiferli; the Santa Rosa Lote 2 farm, owned by Enrique Luchsinger Schiferli; the Santa Rosa estate, owned by Eduardo Luchsinger Schiferli, and another Santa Rosa estate, also in the name of Enrique Luchsinger Schiferli. Hectares that are claimed by the Mapuche communities.
# Santa Margarita Vilcún Farm:
The Santa Margarita estate occupies approximately 275 hectares, which corresponds to two plots of land, composed of a series of lots and hijuela, which is presented as “property” of Jorge Luchsinger Villiger, who on December 5, 1968, bought it from his father Conrado Luchsinger Rüff (who awarded it to him by ‘liquidation’ in 1954)
This farm is located in a place where numerous Mapuche families have historically lived, who live and carry their worldview, tradition and roots in it. This is directly embodied in the Mapuche territorial dispossession, where through the reduction of lands, they are controlled by a family group of businessmen.
# The Mapuche communities:
The Santa Margarita farm has been claimed for ancestral rights, by the Mapuche communities surrounding that sector for dozens of years. Where in 1999 the first occupation of the property was made by the Ayjarewe Wenteche organization of Truf Truf, together with dozens of families, which aimed to be definitive, but after an eviction order, around 100 police arrived to evict them.
It was already in 2001 that various direct actions began to be carried out, the claim was directly against the properties, which resulted in the installation of a barracks of special forces (inside the property) that ‘guarded’ night and day, but today there is no doubt, it is that this supposed improvement of “coordination” is transformed into greater militarization and greater protection of the police in the face of a legitimate demand of the Mapuche people such as the return of indigenous lands, including through Conadi, where they have been waiting for more than 30 years for the purchase of these, while the government and the right wing try to continue strengthening the police, and a greater onslaught of the police forces in the regions of Araucanía and Biobío.
For the restitution and return of ancestral lands to the Mapuche people!
Resumen Latinoamericano, January 4, 2025