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DAM-L LS: MAPUCHES MARCH 220 KM/ RALCO DAm "non"resettlement

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Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:03:19 -0800
To: irn-biobio@netvista.net
From: Monti Aguirre <monti@irn.org>
Subject: LS: MAPUCHES TO MAKE 220 KILOMETER MARCH.
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CHIP NEWS
February 27, 2001


         --  MAPUCHES TO MAKE 220 KILOMETER MARCH.  Members of
Mapuche communities, from Chile's largest indigenous group, are
to begin a 220 kilometer march next Sunday, March 4, to raise
awareness of the plight of their ethnic group, many of whom
live in considerable poverty on the margins of Chilean society.
         The march will begin in Tirua, in the Region VIII coastal
province of Arauco, and head north to the regional capital,
Concepcion.  From there, marchers will join a meeting of local
organizations, including community groups, professional guilds
and labor unions.
         The organizers hope the march will help publicize and
explain their demands for autonomy and the return of their
ancestral lands, which have largely passed into the hands of
private interests and forestry companies.
         The march has been timed to coincide with a similar action
by indigenous groups and Zapatista rebels from Chiapas, Mexico,
who are currently marching to that country's capital.  Both
marches are scheduled to reach their destinations on March 8,
and the Mexican delegation will be received by President
Vicente Fox.
         The Chilean march will also pay homage to Berta and
Nicolasa Quintreman, sisters  who are refusing to move from
their land, which is due to be flooded by the half-built Ralco
hydroelectric dam.  The Supreme court is expected to rule on
March 8 on their appeal to stop the construction of the multi-
million dollar project.
         Earlier this month the Quintreman sisters led a
demonstration in which they occupied the National Indigenous
Development Agency's (CONADI) office in Ralco, in a mountainous
eastern part of Region VIII, to protest continued work on the
dam.  Over the weekend local Mapuche community members erected
a fence around their cemetery in an attempt to prevent
construction work from disturbing their ancestors' graves.
         "We're not going to let them be buried under the water and
our culture does not allow us to move our ancestors," community
leader Maria Curriao said.
         The march is being organized by leaders from some 50
communities of the Lafquenche cultural group, consisting of
Mapuches living in the coastal region, who held a two-day
religious festival or nguillatun over the weekend.
         The gathering was held on part of a 2,700 hectare estate
that the Lafquenche Comillahue de Cerro Negro community is
demanding be returned to them.  Although turnout was somewhat
less than expected, the event represented an act of solidarity
for the community and was supported by local mayors Adolfo
Millabur and Lautaro Melita, and deputies Eugenio Tuma and
Alejandro Navarro.
*****
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Monti Aguirre
Latin American Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA. 94703 USA
Phone:  510 . 848.11.55 and 707 . 869.16.37
Fax:    510 . 848.10.08
e-mail:  monti @irn.org
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