MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile: Presidential envoy refuses to sign “Summit for Peace” minute

The Summit's final declaration will be delivered to President Boric

The envoy of Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font refused to sign the minutes of Wednesday's “Summit for Peace” in Temuco, where 28 of the 32 mayors in La Araucanía discussed the current situation and the need to end local violence.

Delegates to the meeting, held at the initiative of La Araucanía Governor Luciano Rivas, came up with a series of strategies to solve the security and development crisis, which were to be presented to the national Government through a document, which Presidential envoy Raúl Allard did not sign.

The mayors reviewed the demands of the Mapuche people, who seek full ownership of what they claim are their ancestral lands. No representative of the native people had been invited to the Summit.

On the other hand, Boric excused himself from participating and sent Allard to represent him.

“We have participated, we came here on behalf of President Boric and we value this meeting, but it will have its own way with the signature that they define. No, I am not going to sign, because we value the meeting, but we are going to have other meetings among all authorities,” Allard explained. Rivas regretted his decision but said he respected the different expressions of democracy.

“I regret that he did not sign, but well, it is also part of democracy and I think it is also important to respect the spaces. Here there is an elected Governor who can convene and hold meetings, that is also what decentralization is all about”, said Rivas.