MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
UN calls on Chile to stop using anti-terrorism law against indigenous Mapuches
A United Nations investigator on Tuesday urged Chile’s government to stop using an anti-terrorism law against Mapuche Indians who are fighting to recover their ancestral land. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesOne can only agree, and hope that the UN pulls their pants all the way up and applies the same Justice to the Middle East.
Jul 31st, 2013 - 06:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0I know very little about the current situation of the Mapuches in Chile but I know, because I read articles and listened plenty of interviews on TV, that in East side of the Andes the Mapuches people don't recognize Argentina as their country.
Jul 31st, 2013 - 08:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0So, it's quite hard to find a solution while a minority have plenty of claims but doesn't recognize the authority. This is even worse when they receive plenty of subsidies from provinces or the National Government. Because this situation causes the anger of the people, the citizens, that are those who pay their taxes.
Quite different is the situation of the QOM people that they accept Argentina as their country but for some miserable political reasons CFK doesn't want to meet them to directly listen their problems and needs.
In addition, I would say that in Chile violence must be stopped by both sides. The Goverment has the obligation to stop violence and assure fair judicial actions. The Mapuche people have the obligation to act peacefully and with responsability as honest citizens.
In Buenos Aires, a couple of years ago, a Mapuche bombing destroyed the central offices of LAN in Buenos AIres downtown. As it was midnight nobody was killed but it was clearly a dangerous terrorist action.
@1 Oh, I agree. And then Israel can use laws against rioting, assault, aggravated assault, criminal activity, hate crime, murder (actual and attempted), racism, insurrection, against the so-called (and non-existent) “palestinians”.
Jul 31st, 2013 - 08:05 am - Link - Report abuse 0If the ignorant UN special “non investigator” decided to do his work fairly he will a different conclusión.....
Jul 31st, 2013 - 09:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0It´s needed to explain that the violence from the mapuches it´s not from the whole mapuche origin, the most of them are well integrated citiziens wich are proud to be Chilean and living here along the whole country.
The violence come from some gangs held by extremely left groups (the so called NGO, Chilean & foreign ones) that even don´´t recognize the Chilean State also and have declared the violence as “the” way to recover the land supposed to be their own from the present legal ownres, what meants hard attacks against farms housing & barns, forestry installations & trucks, liner coaches, public & privates offices, courts & police stations, etc., with result of killed old farmers, agricultural workers, buses passengers and regular citiziens with no conection injured because the use of bombing, firearms, slingshots (extremely dangerous), fire barricades, wood sticks & fist punches, normaly undercover by the presence of women & children to avoid the hard response it deserve and to be showed as “the” victims when they really are the victimizers and provoking the unrest that the tv news show us .....To this behaviour the Gvt. compeled to act to return the normality and to protect the inhabitants of the zone using the metods clearly estabilshed by the laws to do so, that includes the use of the pólice forcé & prosecution of those involved into the extreme violence form those mapuche gangs that are affected by the anti.terrorism law.....because they are expecting to cause terror sensation whitin the region and the country as a whole....no other explanation can be reached to this behaviour.....
If they stop the use of violence as a way to get their expectations, it will be no necessary to act under the anti-terrorism laws from the Gvt.....but it´s known that the final goals for those groups are to keep the unrest as long as they can for personal reasosns...
I think Mr Emmerson needed more than 2 weeks in the country. He hasn't done anything other than state the obvious.
Jul 31st, 2013 - 10:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0“the situation is volatile” - no sh*t!
Some Mapuche groups are engaged in terrorist activities and therefore the hard response is required. However we do need a more sophisticated response to make progress on their demands and isolate the violent groups from those that otherwise identify with the cause.
One thing many foreigners don't understand is that 70% of Chileans have indigenous ancestry. If you were to analyse the DNA of the Mapuche terrorists and the Carabineros who they fire at you would find that they are of similar ethnic ancestry.
Chile and the Mapuche nation are inextricably intertwined.
2 pgerman (#)
Jul 31st, 2013 - 11:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0Jul 31st, 2013 - 08:03 am
“... the Mapuches people don't recognize Argentina as their country...”
This is NOT true, pgerman, the majority of Mapuches in Neuquén, Río Negro, and Chubut are as Argentine as you or I!!!!!!
Those that seem to abjure Argentine nationality are the Confederación Mapuche, which is a leftist organization which is not supported by the majority of the Mapuche people, but IS supported by a lot of European (and principally Scandinavian) NGOs. This organization is allied to the MIR in Chile and FARC in Colombia which are the terrorist organization supporting the tiny violent minority of Mapuche terrorists in Chile!!!!!!!
Simon68,
Jul 31st, 2013 - 01:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You might be right so let me correct myself. Some Mapuche people don't recognize Argentina as their country. The percetage or portion of those who don't recognize is not well known since not a single poll has already been done about this matter.
In additon, Mapuche people are originally from some areas (very small ones) of Neuquen. The ones of Rio Negro or Chubut must have been iether from other etnias called generally “mapuches” or true Mapuche people who moved to other provinces of Argentina.
Mr. Emmerson:
Jul 31st, 2013 - 02:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You ought to know that where there is terrorism, anti-terrorist laws are needed! On top of that, where there are killers killing innocent people, the death penalty is a necessary tranquilizer. This, busy politicians in far-away Santiago have yet to understand.
Ignorant troublemakers like you, please keep out of Chilean Araucania.
Elementary, my dear Emmerson,
Philippe
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