Mapuche Protest, Environmental Conflict and Social Movement Linkage in Chile

Abstract

This article chronicles the promise and limitations of social movement networks as mechanisms of political voice in Mapuche Chile. Although protest has largely fallen from favour in post-authoritarian Chile, environmental conflicts have shaken the southern territories of the Mapuche Indians since redemocratisation. State promises of indigenous recognition and state access have clashed headlong with ambitious regional development priorities in hydropower and forestry. To resolve claims of injustice over ancestral land and resource rights, Mapuche leaders have forged sophisticated links with environmental organisations, human rights activists, scholars and other indigenous groups. Linkage politics in Chile presents a vital test of civil society development and Latin American democratic consolidation.

Notes

1 For example, M Keck & K Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998; G Lievesley, Democracy in Latin America: Mobilization, Power and the Search for a New Politics, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999; and D Brooks & J Fox (ed), Cross-Border Dialogues: US–Mexico Social Movement Networking, La Jolla, CA: Center for US–Mexico Studies, University of California San Diego, 2002.

2 L Diamond, ‘Rethinking civil society: toward democratic consolidation’, Journal of Democracy, 5 (3), 1994, pp 5–17; A Brysk, ‘Democratizing civil society in Latin America’, Journal of Democracy, 11 (3), 2000, pp 151–165; and P Oxhorn, Organizing Civil Society: The Popular Sectors and the Struggle for Democracy in Chile, University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995.

3 B Loveman, Chile: The Legacy of Hispanic Capitalism, New York: Oxford University Press, 1979; and M Garreton, The Chilean Political Process, Boston, MA: Allen and Unwin, 1989.

4 Politics taking place in the apex (or cúpula) of power. Latin Americans also know this pattern as democracia de los acuerdos, variously translated as ‘consensus democracy’, ‘democracy by agreement’, or ‘pacted democracy’.

5 J Petras & F Leiva, Democracy and Poverty in Chile: The Limits to Electoral Politics, Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994; L Taylor, Citizenship, Participation, and Democracy: Changing Dynamics in Chile and Argentina, New York: St Martin's, 1998; and P Oxhorn, When Democracy Isn't All That Democratic: Social Exclusion and the Limits of the Public Sphere in Latin America, Coral Gables, FL: North–South Center, University of Miami Press, 2001.

6 A Riquelme, ‘Voting for nobody in Chile's new democracy’, nacla Report on the Americas, 32 (6), 1999, pp 31–33; and D Carruthers, ‘Environmental politics in Chile: legacies of dictatorship and democracy’, Third World Quarterly, 22 (3), 2001, pp 343–357.

7 L Degarrod, ‘Female shamanism and the Mapuche transformation into Christian Chilean farmers’, Religion, 28, 1998, pp 339–350.

8 G Muñoz Ramírez, ‘El movimiento mapuche autónomo: su lucha en vivo’, Ojarasca (Mexico City), 100, August 2005.

9 F Mallon, La sangre del copihue: la comunidad Mapuche de Nicolás Ailío y el Estado chileno 1906–2001, Santiago: Ediciones lom, 2004, p 121.

10 M Repetto, ‘Políticas indigenistas en el Cono Sur: Argentina y Chile frente a los Mapuche, siglos XIX y XX’, MA thesis, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Brasilia, 1997.

11 J Aylwin, ‘Los mapuche o esa parte de la realidad que no queremos ver’, in R Vera, J Aylwin, A Coñuecar & E Chihuailaf (eds), El despertar del pueblo mapuche: nuevos conflictos, viejas demandas, Temuco: Instituto de Estudios Indígenas, Universidad de la Frontera, 2004, pp 26–33.

12 Ad Mapu, Nehuen Mapu, Sociedad Calfulicán, Choin Folilche, Lautaro and other organizations formed out of the Mapuche Cultural Centres. See Repetto, Políticas Indigenistas en el Cono Sur.

13 Interview with Alejandro Herrera, Researcher, Instituto de Estudios Indígenas, Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco, 7 June 1999.

14 D Maybury-Lewis, Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World, New York: Viking Press, 1992.

15 Interview with Alejandro Herrera, Temuco, 7 June 1999.

16 Ibid.

17 R Quiroga Martínez, El tigre sin selva: consecuencias ambientales de la transformación económica de Chile, 1974–1993, Santiago: iep, 1994; J Collins & J Lear, Chile's Free Market Miracle: A Second Look, Oakland, CA: Food First, 1995; and M Claude, Una vez más la miseria: ¿Es Chile un país sustentable?, Santiago: Ediciones lom, 1997.

18 E Silva, ‘Democracy, market economics and environmental policy in Chile’, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, 38 (4), 1996, pp 1–34. See also Gestión ambiental del gobierno de Chile, Santiago: Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente (conama).

19 For complete accounts, see R Morales (ed), Ralco: modernidad o etnocidio en territorio mapuche, Temuco: Instituto de Estudios Indígenas, Universidad de la Frontera, 1998; D Namuncura, Ralco: ¿represa o pobreza?, Santiago: Ediciones lom, 1999; El proyecto ralco de endesa en Chile: un caso de genocidio, Santiago: Departamento de Derechos Humanos y Estudios Indígenas, Universidad de Arte y Ciencias Sociales, 2000; and M Baquedano, La batalla de Ralco: de la electricidad sucia a la electricidad verde, Santiago: Ediciones lom, 2004.

20 Interview with Christian Vives, Former Government Councillor, Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena, Santiago, 10 June 1999; and Namuncura, Ralco: ¿represa o pobreza?, p 39.

21 Interview with Domingo Namuncura, Former National Director, Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena, Santiago, 2 June 1999.

22 Ibid.

23 A Grass, ‘Las empresas forestales y el pueblo mapuche’, La Tercera (Santiago), 31 March 1999; and M Maggio, ‘El conflicto con las empresas forestales en territorio mapuche’, at www.biodiversidadla.org, 16 January 2007.

24 Maggio, ‘El conflicto con las empresas forestales en territorio mapuche’.

25 The 1984 Anti-terrorist Law (No 18.314), and the 1958 Law of Internal Security (No 12.927), which Pinochet stiffened in 1975. See B Loveman & E Lira, Arquitectura política y seguridad interior del Estado, 1811–1990, Santiago: dibam, 2000.

26 ‘Gobierno estudia extender amnistía a indígenas condenados por tomas’, Diario Austral (Temuco), 8 August 2000; and D Haughney, Neoliberal Economics, Democratic Transition, and Mapuche Demands for Rights in Chile, Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2006, p 72.

27 According to an attorney for indigenous groups, the actual number of disputed hectares was closer to 400 000. ‘Tomas de predios y tomaduras de pelo’, La Tercera, 26 April 1998.

28 ‘conadi comprará tierras a Forestal Mininco’, Diario Austral, 19 March 1999; and ‘No se ha firmado la paz’, Diario Austral, 20 March 1999.

29 ‘Lagos se comprometió con los pueblos originarios’, Diario Austral, 5 October 2000.

30 L Rohter, ‘Mapuche indians in Chile struggle to take back forests’, New York Times, 11 August 2004.

31 Estimates vary from 20 to 500, depending on the definition of ‘political prisoner’ and the legal provisions that led to individual convictions. Mapuche activists assert that the Frei and Lagos governments jailed 500 Mapuche protestors using the laws. ‘Mapuches marchan por la capital para exigir libertad de “presos politicos” de su pueblo’, La Tercera, 20 May 2006. One report found only four imprisonments during Lagos' term (in addition to those remaining in prison from Frei's term), but 210 Mapuche protestors processed under the laws. E Seguel & F Le Bonniec, ‘Movimiento mapuche y justicia Chilena en la actualidad: reflexiones acerca de la judicialización de las revindicaciones mapuche en Chile’, in J Aylwin (ed), Derechos Humanos y Pueblos Indigenas: Tendencias Internacionales y Contexto Chileno, Temuco: Instituto de Estudios Indígenas, Universidad de la Frontera, p 354. See also R Zibechi, ‘Chile: la larga resistencia mapuche’, mimeo, Americas Program, International Relations Center, Silver City, NM, 17 May 2007.

32 Maggio, ‘El conflicto con las empresas forestales en territorio mapuche’.

33 For a more complete discussion of the Chilean environmental movement, see Carruthers, ‘Environmental politics in Chile’.

34 Interview with Hernan Verscheure, Comité Nacional pro Defensa d e la Fauna y Flora (codeff), Santiago, 4 June 1998.

35 Interview with Manuel Baquedano, iep, Santiago, 28 May 1998. See also Claude, Una vez más la miseria.

36 ‘Basurales en comunidades mapuche: un conflicto latente en la region de la Araucanía’, Santiago: Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales (olca), 2004.

37 Interview with Rodrigo Garretón, gabb, Santiago, 4 June 1999.

38 ‘Chile: juicio de dirigentes mapuche acusados de asociación ilícita terrorista’, Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme (fidh), at http://www.fidh.org, 13 July 2005.

39 ‘Chile: misión internacional de derechos humanos por abusos policiales en contra de mapuche’, Amnesty International, 29 January 2007, report available at www.biodiversidadla.org.

40 Baquedano, La batalla de Ralco.

41 ‘The Pehuenche, the World Bank Group and endesa sa: violations of human rights in the Pangue and Ralco dam projects on the Bío Bío River, Chile’, Committee for Human Rights, American Anthropological Association, at www.derechos.org/nizkor, accessed March 1998.

42 Indigenous groups in Chile also include the Aymara, Colla, Quechua, Rapa Nui, Yamana and Atacameños, but the Mapuche comprise the vast majority (98%) of the indigenous population. The 2002 census counted 604 000 Mapuche (4% of the national population). See Informe del Programa de Derechos Indígenas, Santiago: Ediciones lom/Universidad de la Frontera, 2003.

43 Interview with Rodrigo Garretón, 4 June 1999.

44 Interview with Domingo Namuncura, 2 June 1999.

45 Although Mapuche leaders are careful to maintain a distance from images of armed militancy. ‘Controvertida vinculación mapuche-zapatista’, Diario Austral, 22 April 2003.

46 ‘Coordinadora Andina de organizaciones indígenas: Declaración de Cusco’, Ojarasca, 112, August 2006.

47 V Ibarra, ‘Megacentrales de Endesa desatan la guerra de Aysén’, La Tercera, 15 January 2006.

48 Interview with Rodrigo Garretón, 4 June 1999.

49 The gabb offices in Santiago were ransacked and looted in what one gabb leader suspects was a deliberate effort to silence environmental opposition. Baquedano, La batalla de Ralco, p 167. Financially devastated by the robbery, gabb leaders announced its closure.

50 Baquedano, La batalla de Ralco, p 167.

51 Interview with Rodrigo Garretón, 4 June 1999.

52 Interview with Aldisson Anguita, General Director, Consejo Regional de Los Pueblos Mapuche, Temuco, 7 June 1999.

53 Interview with Manuel Baquedano, iep, Santiago, 14 September 2006.

54 Interview with Alejandra Parra, Red de Acción Ciudadana por los Derechos Ambientales (rada), Temuco, 12 September 2006.

55 Muñoz Ramírez, ‘El movimiento mapuche autónomo: su lucha en vivo’.

56 ‘Bachelet insisterá en reconocimiento constitucional a pueblos originarios’, La Tercera, 10 November 2006.

57 ‘Presos políticos mapuche en huelga de hambre’, Ojarasca, 109, May 2006.

58 ‘Open letter to Bachelet’, Asociación National de Mujeres Rurales e Indígenas (anamuri), 23 January 2008, cited in R Zibechi, Historical Mapuche Hunger Strike Ends in Success, Americas Policy Program Special Report, Washington, DC: Center for International Policy, 26 February 2008.

59 Rohter, ‘Mapuche indians in Chile struggle to take back forests’.

60 Interview with Manuel Baquedano, 14 September 2006.

61 Interview with Alejandra Parra, 12 September 2006.

62 olca, ‘Basurales en comunidades mapuche’.

63 Interview with Ivette Pamela Lincoqueo, Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena (conadi) Liason to Indigenous Communities, Temuco, 12 September 2006.

64 Zibechi, Historical Mapuche Hunger Strike Ends in Success.

65 Aguas Araucanía, the main company involved in water treatment in Chile, has plans to construct another 17 plants in the region. See A Seguel, ‘Modelo forestal chileno y movimiento autónomo mapuche: las posiciones irreconciliables de un conflicto territorial’, at www.biodiversidadla.org, accessed 26 January 2006.

66 olca, ‘Basurales en comunidades mapuche’.

67 Several solidarity organisation websites chronicle current Mapuche land and resource conflicts. They include www.mapuexpress.net; www.redchem.entodaspartes.org; and www.azkintuwe.org.

68 R Hube, ‘Multitudinaria marcha en rechazo a relleno sanitario’, Diario Austral, 24 August 2005.

69 ‘349 reclamos llegaron a la Conama por projecto Pumalal’, Diario Austral, 11 August 2005.

70 olca, ‘Basurales en comunidades mapuche’, p 11.

71 ‘Tema mapuche y medioambiente estaran en nuevo plan regulador’, Diario Austral, 31 August 2001.

72 Interview with Alejandra Parra, 12 September 2006.

73 ‘Investigación evaluativa de impacto ambiental en territorios indígenas, informe final’, Código BIP: 20169006-0, Santiago: conadi/mideplan, January 2004.

74 Interview with anonymous national conadi official involved in the report, Temuco, 12 September 2006.

75 Interview with Ivette Pamela Lincoqueo, 12 September 2006.