translated from Spanish: FA in the face of violence in La Araucanía: “It is a raw expression of institutional, far-right and paramilitary racism”

Through a statement, the conglomerate stated that “The Minister of the Interior must be held accountable for these illegal procedures and both the Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary as a whole cannot be complicit and therefore the Government must complain against the violentists who yesterday, under racist slogans, committed crimes.” He also called on the government to “immediately cease state violence and open to dialogue involving recognition of the historic demands of the Mapuche people and unrestricted respect for the international and human rights treaties ratified by Chile.” In the text the conglomerate further argues that “as the Broad Front, we strongly denounce the actions of violent groups and Carabineros of Chile against the Mapuche people and we put an alert on the policy perpetuated by the President and the newly assumed Minister of the Interior. It is a stark expression of institutional, far-right and paramilitary racism.” “These facts are an expression of a racist state policy, seriously deepened by the Minister of the Interior. Institutional complicity is also demonstrated by the attacks of organized groups when tolerated by Carabineros of Chile, in full touch of a curfew, violating any health prevention rules, those contained in the Arms Control Act and it is also very serious that the application of the Law on State Security to racist groups organized in the region has been overlooked in an interested manner” , emphasizes the statement of the conglomerate. In this regard, the President of Commons, Jorge Ramírez, argued that “The government through the Minister of the Interior is trying to create conditions for a confrontation between peoples, encouraging hatred and racism against the Mapuche communities. The commoners legitimately call for the implementation of Convention 169 and the government instead of listening to and respecting the human rights and ancestral rights of Mapuche political prisoners decides to respond with hatred and attacks against them.” He added: “This is not a people versus another people, this is a people who have suffered the oppression and violence of a state for hundreds of years. The exit is democratic, respect for ancestral rights and the way for a free wallmapu.” We condemn the violent events that happened last night in La Araucanía starring civilians and supported by Carabineros of Chile, in a context of legitimate protest of the Mapuche people in support of the peñis who are on hunger strike today” said the coordinator of Unir, Lorena Fries, who stressed that “demands for political rights, territory and natural resources are part of the human rights that we have not taken charge of in recent decades”. For Gael Yeomans, President of Social Convergence, the facts show that “this Government is more willing to pardon convicts of crimes against humanity than to have the humanitarian action of allowing Machi Celestino Córdova to serve the rest of his sentence in his rewe, an act which he must also serve by the ILO Convention to which we join as a country. But they decided on the path of hatred, of criminalizing discourse, sending Victor Perez to provoke and completely discard the peaceful way. Here are political responsibilities that the government will have to take over.” For the president of the Democratic Revolution, Catalina Pérez, she argued “what is happening in La Araucanía is criminal and the government will have to clarify why it is inciting violence. The interior minister’s visit to the area was of no use because he did not consider a dialogue with the Mapuche on hunger strike and his pride only caught the situation more. That, coupled with the acts of racism armed by security institutions, is also violence. We call on the Government to open itself to the real dialogue in an urgent manner. There are children and families who in addition to the pandemic are suffering from the authoritarianism of those who now rule.” Finally, Luis Felipe Ramos, president of the Liberal Party, said that “nine months have passed since October 18, and centuries since the Chilean Conflict of Mapuche broke out, and we still do not understand that complex problems are solved with complex solutions,” stressing that “the government is doing is once again declaring war on its people rather than respecting the rule of law and guaranteeing the human rights of all.”

Original source in Spanish