[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l LS: Land Protests by Indigenous Groups Spread
***
CHIP NEWS
***
***
Date: April 27, 1999
Subject: Land Protests by Indigenous Groups Spread
Source: La Tercera
***
LAND PROTESTS BY INDIGENOUS
GROUPS SPREAD
Some 100 indigenous Mapuche communities in southern
Regions VIII and IX calling for the return of ancestral lands
occupied four more sites Monday, bringing the total number of
plots occupied in recent days to nine.
The latest land occupations, which began last week, are a
further development in the sometimes violent protesting over land
rights and stem from the government's inadequate response to
the matter, according to Mapuche spokesmen.
The indigenous groups started moving into the land April 22, and
some threatened to start cutting trees after breaking off dialogue
with authorities.
One of the latest land occupations occurred Monday on 208
hectares of the Rucananco estate, owned by forestry company
Mininco. Mapuche groups have had a long-running, sometimes
violent, feud with Mininco, accusing the firm of intimidating
indigenous groups and preventing them from using forestry land
to collect firewood and hunt.
One Mapuche spokesman said "despite the massive
unemployment our people suffer, the forestry companies won't
give us work, so we decided to take back land which has always
been ours and which for irregular actions on the part of
authorities now belongs to private companies."
*Chile Information Project
*The End*
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Monti Aguirre
Latin American Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA. 94703 USA
Phone: 510 . 848.11.55 and 707 . 591 .91.49
Fax: 510 . 848.10.08
e-mail: monti @irn.org
<color><param>ffff,0000,ffff</param>http://www.irn.org</color>