Today, more than 500 Mapuche indigenous people have taken to the streets in Santiago, Chile on a march to protest continuing efforts by the Chilean government to deny them fundamental rights guaranteed under Chilean law. Motivating this historic protest are recent events involving not only actions by the Chilean government, but also involving the Indigenous Fund, a multilateral fund which is administered by the Inter-American Development Bank and other agencies, supposedly with democratic indigenous representation.
Mapuche leaders occupied the headquarters of CONADI and issued a statement calling Huenchulaf's sacking "the intervention and brutal destruction of an institution created to contribute to the protection and promotion of our rights, and which now has been converted into an obstacle to them, favoring instead the megaprojects of an authoritarian modernization which is leaving our country without a soul and without roots, which looks greedily at our few remaining ancestral territories".
Reacting to growing dissatisfaction by Chilean indigenous people, Chile's President Frei cancelled the conference of the Indigenous Peoples' Fund, an initiative to fund indigenous peoples' projects, in which Latin American governments, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other multilateral funding agencies participate, supposedly in partnership with indigenous peoples. The conference, which had been scheduled for Santiago, was moved to La Paz when Frei said that he could not guarantee the conference's security.
Mapuche leaders termed the moving of the conference "unjustified" and said it demonstrates that "(the fund) continues to be coordinated and directed by the governments without considering our opinions".
Please send letters to:
We are writing to express our solidarity with the march of Mapuche indigenous people and to manifest our indignation at recent actions by the Chilean government to deny Chilean indigenous peoples their rights as guaranteed under Chile's Indigenous law. The firing of Mauricio Huenchulaf as head of CONADI, and actions taken to promote Ralco Dam, the Truf Truf bypass and other roads affecting indigenous territories, destruction of Chile's forests in indigenous territories, and mining projects on indigenous land demonstrate your government's aggressive disregard of indigenous rights.
Furthermore, we denounce the unjustified moving of the conference of the Indigenous Fund from Santiago as a clear effort on your part to silence indigenous opposition to your policies at an important international forum.
We urge you to reconsider your blatant disrespect for the rights of Chile's indigenous peoples.
Sincerely,
Glenn Switkes, Director, Latin America Program
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org