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dam-l LS: Mapuches Threaten to go Underground

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CHIP NEWS

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Date: May 12, 1999

Subject: Mapuches Threaten to go Underground

Sources: El Mercurio, La Tercera

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                    MAPUCHES THREATEN TO GO

                    UNDERGROUND


                    A leader of the Mapuche indigenous movement in southern

                    Chile says a hard- line response by the government to their

                    protests over land disputes will make the Mapuche shift their

                    efforts underground. 


                    "This isn't a police problem that is solved by jailing

                    (Mapuche) leaders," said Alihuen Antileo of the Mapuche

                    Community Association. He said such measures as the

                    jailing of indigenous leaders for their role in protests, land

                    occupations and other demonstrations "will only harden our

                    position. If they close off institutional paths to us, we will

                    open our own paths to reach our objectives. If it's necessary,

                    we'll go underground." Protests have increased in recent

                    months by the indigenous group as they've heightened calls

                    for land held by the government, logging companies and

                    other private interests. They say they're entitled to the land

                    because of ancestral land claims. 


                    Antileo criticized in particular the arrest of Mapuche

                    Community Association leader Pedro Cayuqueo. Cayuqueo

                    went to Switzerland, where he submitted a report to the

                    United Nations outlining purported violations of Mapuches'

                    human rights, and was arrested on his return for allegedly

                    occupying land. 


                    Antileo said a group of Mapuche protesters detained in

                    Traiguen in southern Region IX stemming from an incident

                    there are political prisoners. The inmates have started a

                    hunger strike to press for their release. 


                                       *Chile Information Project*

				*The End*

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Monti Aguirre

Latin American Campaigns 

International Rivers Network					

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e-mail:  monti @irn.org

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