By: Orlando Cienfuegos, correspondent for Antorcha Estéreo
Extension of the State of Exception in southern Chile ignites the Mapuche Struggle; approaches to understand this century-old conflict and its relationship with the State of Emergency in Colombian Catatumbo.
May 16 marked three years since the government of pseudo-leftist Gabriel Boric decreed the State of Constitutional Emergency in the southern macrozone of Chile, which covers the regions of La Araucanía and Biobío, in order to placate the processes of land recovery and liberation, as well as the territorial autonomy demanded by the Mapuche communities, the historical and majority inhabitants in this area of the country.
After the longest State of Exception in Chilean history, which resulted in militarization and repression of Mapuche communities, this century-old conflict, instead of being resolved, is becoming more entangled every day, leaving a balance of dozens of deaths, thousands of wounded and hundreds arbitrarily detained for fighting in favor of their communities. To top it off, this week, the Chilean oligarchy, represented in Chile’s National Congress, approved a 30-day extension for the “State of Emergency”, which confirms the criminalizing and repressive policy against the Mapuche nation and the communities that confront landowning interests, multinationals and a State that does not recognize them.
To understand this ethnic, political, economic, ecological and territorial conflict that has been going on for more than 100 years, it is necessary to specify some elements that, due to their complexity and similarity, allow us to draw a parallel with what the Catatumbo region is experiencing, in our Colombia, hit by a “State of Emergency” declared in the same way by the pseudo-leftist Gustavo Petro.
Elements to understand the conflict of the Chilean State with the Mapuche communities.
The first thing that is necessary to know is that the Mapuche are a population originating from the south of Chile and part of Argentina, who have inhabited the lands they now claim for thousands of years, since before the arrival of the Spaniards in the fifteenth century to Our America, therefore their claim must be understood not only in territorial but also spiritual terms because it is justly alleged that this territory and its sovereignty are an ancestral matter, where they have lived for thousands of years, which collects their traditions and culture, where their myths took place and their ancestors lived and are now buried; one of the few territories in Abya Yala (Latin America) that resisted the colonial invasion and remained unscathed until the consolidation of the Chilean State at the beginning of the twentieth century, at which time the Creole elite attacked this area, managing to conquer it with blood and fire, displacing the native communities to 5% of their ancestral territory.
By the way, Mapuche academic Verónica Figueroa Huencho, a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford University and professor at the University of Chile, notes that the first explanation of the conflict is historical and lies in the European model with which the Chilean State was created, since “from the beginning, the State of Chile is built on an ‘ideal’ of homogeneity that does not consider indigenous peoples, forgetting our culture, our language, our system of representation. And so on for 200 years.” For this reason, these communities are not recognized in their integrity, disrespecting their Law of origin, major right or their own right, as well as their historical demands, which has led to a lack of dialogue, structural racism and ignorance.
A second element is the economic interests to which this macro-zone is subjected, which due to the fertility of its lands and its water sources, has been the subject of disputes, both by the landowners who, with the concession of the State, monopolize large tracts of land, as well as by the multinationals that carry out hydroelectric and nuclear projects in contravention and without consulting the Mapuche communities, who are displaced by these dynamics. An example of this problem is the usurpation of land that reached its peak with the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, who gave forestry companies enormous amounts of land to plant pines and eucalyptus. Although some governments such as Michelle Bachelet’s have made promises of land restitution, the truth is that in practice they have not been fulfilled.
Thirdly, we have State Violence as a constant that, with the passage of time, further deepens the conflict and generates intergenerational wounds that reduce the possibilities of a dialogue process that puts an end to the conflict. In this sense, Verónica Figueroa says that thanks to the use of the Anti-Terrorist Law (against the Mapuche), based on a doctrine of the Internal Enemy, the conflict is increasingly fueled. State violence has slowed down certain conversations that could take place in another way, thus advancing a political solution to the conflict. However, the logic of war persists thanks to a “constant militarization in what the State defines as a “conflict zone”: raids on communities, persecution of political leaders, children who live and grow up under this logic” Figueroa
Similarities with the conflict in Colombian Catatumbo
In accordance with the above, it can be said that the State of Exception imposed in southern Chile has several points in common with the State of Emergency decreed by the Colombian government in Catatumbo at the beginning of 2025.
The first similarity we find is that this conflict dates back a long time, it is not something spontaneous and, on the contrary, it has roots in the problem of the distribution of land, as well as in the defense and autonomy of the territories, which have been built collectively by the communities but that the oligarch and centralist State has tried to usurp by displacing the settlers through force, landowners and multinationals, installing problems such as monocultures, the timber industry and extraction projects.
Similarly, in both countries, militarization and repression have been the formula with which the oligarch State, based on the policy of the Internal Enemy, has mediated this conflict, generating countless disappearances, displacements, wounded and deaths. With this policy, the criminalization of social protest and violence against social leaders is the order of the day.
To justify the actions of the repressive forces and delegitimize the organized struggle of the communities, the States have applied the strategy of flooding these areas with illicit crops, at the expense of the will of the communities, and then militarily attacking these territories. Thus, in the south of Chile, the mass media of disinformation are carrying out a communication campaign where they point out that “criminal organizations with firepower operate in the area that are dedicated to arms trafficking through the exchange of marijuana.” All to justify militarization and make these territories look like a “conflict zone.”
Finally, the most obvious example of the similarity between these two conflicts and the actions of the oligarch states is that in both territories, the governments have promised everything; redistribution of land, universities, job opportunities, etc., but as always, they promise and never deliver.
Solution and conclusion
In both countries, the solution to the problem involves the recognition of the struggle and the rights of the communities. This is why the historian and anthropologist José Bengoa explains that “as long as the colonialist and discriminatory mentality of the Chilean State does not change, the Mapuche conflict has very little chance of being resolved.”
This step would allow, as the ELN has insisted so much, that the solution to the conflict is political, through dialogue and the direct and binding participation of the communities, carrying out real transformations, without falling into promises that will later be unfulfilled. Undoubtedly, reparation for victims is an important point.
The freedom of political prisoners is another nodal point in this political solution, since it cannot be that, for claiming or protesting for the rights, territory, self-determination and sovereignty of the communities, there are thousands of detainees in the dungeons of the State.
From the National Liberation Army [ELN], we support the Mapuche struggle and the communities of Catatumbo for the liberation of their territories, convinced that no one knows, better than the people, how to organize and administer the territory, thus achieving a dignified life, both for rural, urban and native inhabitants.
Bibliography:
- TeleSur, (May 15, 2025) Repression against the Mapuche Nation continues: Chile approves new extension of the state of emergency in the south.
- TeleSur, (May 13, 2025) Mapuche Nation denounces persecution and harassment after complaints against hydroelectric dams.
- BBC world, (11 August 2020) Mapuche in Chile: 4 keys to understanding the centuries-old conflict between indigenous people and the State (and could anything change with a new Constitution?).
Source: https://insurgenciaurbana-eln.net/el-estado-de-excepcion-contra-la-autonomia-de-las-comunidades/