On December 31, after 17:30 hours, was found the body of the lonko Raquem Pillán, Jorge Mendoza Lebu, community of 61 years. Disappeared on December 29, two days after that will intensify the actions of protest and recovery of land that were convened after the fourth Trawun, which brought together 500 lonkos, machis, werkenes and weichafes in the House of the young man killed by the police, Camilo Catrillanca, in the area of the autonomous community of Temucuicui.
The family of Mendoza Lebu wore three days of intensive search in the sector of the commune of Ercilla until they found him. According to the homicide Brigade of the PDI, her body was hit, with evidence of “action of third parties”, a scene that inevitably brought to mind the death of his son, the werken (spokesperson), Víctor Mendoza Collío, who died on October 29, 2014 after being shot at the entrance of his home in the community, Manuel Pillán.
Jorge Mendoza, like his son, was a renowned mapuche leader who was active in the processes of recovery of land at the end of the 90s and during the year 2000. In 1999, was the lonko in charge of negotiations for the recovery of 500 hectares, which had been owned by the Raquem Pillán community, but were in the hands of the company Forestal Arauco, of Matte and Angelini families.
After a long time of intense clashes with troops of Carabinieri, who first came to protect a territory in the process of extraction of the industry in La Araucanía and afforestation, the company decided to sell the land. A road that had already been taken by the Mininco forestry company, which, in parallel, was in conflict with members of the community of Temucuicui the Alaska farm.
“The Lonko Mendoza participated in the meeting with the forestal Arauco forest located in Collipulli with his manager at the time the Lord Jorge Seron, there had two meetings with the management of the company”, reminds the Council of all lands, Aucan Huilcaman werken Paillama. It adds that “considering that the situation became unbearable the Arauco forestry company decided to sell the land to the community, what constituted a triumph for the community led by Lonko Juan Mendoza Lebu and with the permanent support of the Mapuche organization Council of all lands”.
Swarthy and tired eyes, Mendoza Lebu is described as a man “of good heart and silent” inside their community, always “low profile, withdrawn, but strong” and with a life marked by losses.
In his family “has run blood in this war,” they recognize from La Araucanía. And is that his character was marked by two large losses, that of his son Victor, a murder that still has no charge, and his 24-year-old nephew, Jaime Mendoza Collío, in August 2009, who received a bullet impact in the back of the carabiner Miguel Jara Mu NOZ and that, despite being found guilty by the Supreme Court, has not fulfilled any day’s jail sentence.
Like his uncle, he was leader of his community. He had been appointed werken, within the framework of the occupation of the farm San Sebastian, owned by the family of Gonzalez Jarpa. The grounds of the estate were claimed by the community Raquem Pillán, reason why it had given way to the occupation of territory.
Ercilla sector has been marked by several deaths of comuneros mapuche. The case of Juan Mendoza and his son Victor joined in death, in the year 2013, Rodrigo Melinao, Member of the community sector Lolokos Rayén Mapu, who received a gun shot in the chest. The 26 year old villager was found inside of a parcel in the sector Chiguaihue, also in Pidima, and his case is still not resolved by Justice.
The death which Yes was settled in the commune of Ercilla was the young Alex Lemún, who was killed in 2002 by Carabineros, Marco Aurelio Treuer Heysen, Colonel (r) in the context of a recovery of the Santa Alicia estate land belonging to the forestry Crecex and administered by the Forestal Mininco.
Troubled waters the lonko Mendoza Lebu death occurs in a context of upheaval in the so-called macrozone or Wallmapu according to the mapuche. The murder of Camilo Catrillanca resulted in the Organization of different actions which aim at the self-determination of the mapuche people, follow the line of recovery and territorial control, the demilitarization of the area and the creation of a Mapuche historical clarification Commission.
It is under this context that various actions have been initiated as the land reclamation of the fundo El Triunfo and Palermo, in the sector of the community of Temucuicui. In Ercilla, the occupation of the grounds of the entrepreneur Hernán Baier, the community Coñomil Epuleo, and the same occurs with the fundo de forestal Mininco, Poluco-Pidenco, occupied by the community Tricauco Mapu arrive.
Also demonstrations have been recorded in the route Puren, sector Los Sauces in Lumaco, of the route in Lonquimay and the road of Ercilla. One of the actions that caused more concern in the Government is the decision of the municipality of Ercilla. The Minister of the Interior, Andrés Chadwick, said that he expects the Mayor to give them permission from eviction “at the earliest”, because they have gone many days with this illegal takeover.
Member of mapuche-huilliche, Emilia Nuyado, pointed out that the death of the lonko Mendoza Lebu is given under the context of “a land claims process” in the Araucanía and added that the “repression makes one doubt about the causes of the death of the lonko”.
For the parliamentary, “it is not possible” that there is no clarity about what happened to 3 days that his body had been found and that “there is a suspicious delay in the delivery of all the background, therefore demand that a convincing and truthful version on what delivered le pas” “or the lonko, because this helps to raise more suspicions”.
The own Chadwick Minister dismissed the police action in the death of Mendoza Lebu, said that the PDI and the public prosecutor’s Office are carrying out actions authorized by the judiciary, in order to clarify the facts and identify the authors of its murder.
Hard hand in spite of that one of the requests after the fourth Trawun conducted on 22 December in Temucuicui was the demilitarization of La Araucanía, which has been reinforced repeatedly by Marcelo Catrillanca, the response from the Government of Sebastian Piñera was to announce yesterday the strengthening of police special forces troops, before the intensification of the demonstrations and shots of land in the area.
Chadwick stressed that there are 208 Carabineros, who are reinforcing security in the area, which the Government already presented 18 complaints against those responsible, and after emphasize that “we reinforce our commitment to security duty”, announced that they will invoke the law of State security where needed. Minister spokeswoman, Cecilia Pérez, followed the same line and stated that “any kind of violence is not justified, by very legitimate demands, demands with violence that have no place in our country”.
The family of Mendoza Lebu is still awaiting that the Legal medical service (SML) delivered its final report on the death of the lonko, while the Prosecutor’s Office of the Araucanía continues the investigation and today already should arise some results on the case.
