Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be displaced from the land where you have lived for generations? The rights and territories of the Mapuche people, an ethnic group living from south-central Chile to southern Argentina, have been threatened. As shown in the figure below, the Mapuche have been forced to move from their traditional homelands. All of it has been taken away by the Argentine and Chilean governments with great impunity. In addition to taking away their land, both governments are not protecting their rights, which should be protected. Let us look at the current situation of the Mapuche people.

World Encyclopedia andStratfor Prepared with reference to data from

History of the Mapuche People and Invasion

The Mapuche are an indigenous American tribe living from south-central Chile to southern Argentina. They speak their own language, Mapuche, which means "people of the land (Che)" in Mapuche.Chile StatisticsAccording to the "Mapuche" report, Mapuche has a population of 604,349, or 4% of Chile's total population. On the Argentine side, approximately 300,000 people live in the Andes. Since ancient times, they have made their living from agriculture and livestock, but in recent years, more and more of them live in urban areas and many of them work in educational institutions. In addition, many Mapuche women living in urban areas work as domestic servants.traditionThey worship nature through their musical performances. They are also famous for their metalwork, which is used as accessories such as the headdress shown in the photo below. Only a few people wear traditional costumes in their daily lives, and many of them wear them only on special occasions such as weddings.

Mapuche women and children in traditional dress (Photo: Ministerio Bienes Nacionales/WikimediaCommons) [CC BY 2.0]. )

Before the current state was built, the Mapuche peopleTwo invasionsThey have defended their lands from the The first was the Inca Empire around the 15th century, and the second was Spanish colonizers. The Spanish settlers were forced to recognize the Mapuche's right to self-determination in the 17th century Treaty of Curin. However, at the end of the 19th century, Argentina and Chile began invading their lands for their own agricultural interests. The Mapuche people were divided in half by Argentina and Chile, and ruled by each. Discrimination by the government against the Mapuche people was not only through military violence, but also through many blockages from political, economic, and social rights. They were unilaterally expropriated of their resources and land, and evicted from the lands where their ancestors had lived. They were forced to work on sugar cane plantations and in the army in the Tucuman region of Argentina, and were prohibited from teaching or using the Mapuche language in schools. Today, Argentine and Chilean governments target Mapuche lands because of the abundant natural resources they possess. According to the United States Department of Energy, the second largest in the world.shale gasThe fertile land where the Mapuche people are believed to sleep is coveted by real estate companies, oil companies, and mining companies both domestically and internationally. In both countries, the land and rights of the Mapuche people are being violated by the government and foreign companies.

Conflict in Argentina

The repression of the Mapuche by the Argentine government began, as noted above, in the late 19th century; between 1878 and 1885, the Argentine government carried out a program ironically named "Conquest of the Desert." In reality, those lands were not deserts, for they were fertile and rich. This campaign led to the15,000 peopleThe Mapuche people were expelled from the land where they lived. This was the first government repression of the Mapuche in Patagonia, and it was carried out in reliance on aid from the British, who were increasing their economic influence in the South American country by helping it gain independence from Spain. In Article 75, Section 17 of the 20th century Argentine Constitution, indigenous peoples are guaranteed "common ownership of the lands they have traditionally occupied. In the 1990s, however, President Carlos Menem embarked on a neoliberal review of the Argentine economy, promoting the privatization of government services and property. He encouraged investors and companies around the world to purchase inexpensive and fertile Patagonian land. Many investors purchased Patagonian land at this time, and before long the land of the Mapuche people became the private property of others, forcing many Mapuche people to leave their land.

In the increasingly privatized lands of Argentina, the company with the most private land is Benetton, a global fashion company. Its private lands are.Approximately 890,000 hectaresThe range of Uses range from cultivation of livestock and raw materials for clothing to prospecting for coal resources, extraction of fossil fuels, and timber harvesting. Clashes between the Mapuche and the government have occurred frequently on land owned by Benetton. Last January, Argentine federal security forces attacked Mapuche people. Benetton, however, is on the case,I was unknowingly involved."The company has taken the position that it is not a party to this project.

Protesters on private property in Benetton: Chubu Argentina (Photo: Prensa Obrera/ Wikimedia Commons) [CC BY 4.0].)

Argentina is strongly involved in violating the rights of indigenous peoples and ignoring established laws. In a recent development, the Argentine government is attempting to enact a law that would further violate Mapuche rights. The business land law under discussion in Rio Negro Province would allow the provincial government to expropriate Mapuche land for use in the mining industry, the oil industry, the tourism industry, or real estate. According to this law, the governmentApproximately 2.03 million hectaress land without regard to the environment and the rights of the Mapuche people to live there. The government's actions are in violation of the Constitution.

Repression in Chile

Chilean repression of the Mapuche began in 1861 with the campaign to suppress Araucanía. This was a brutal act of aggression by the Chilean military that ended with the surrender of Mapuche in 1881. Tens of thousands of people were killed and the Mapuche people10 million hectaresThe land that was there is now only 500,000 hectares. The Chilean government has also ignored the rights of the Mapuche people andCoal Mine Hydrogen Compound Industryand oil extraction industries are being encouraged by the government. In areas suitable for drilling coal mine compounds, the government has been suppressing the Mapuche and many Mapuche have been expelled. Mapuche people have been protesting against this by blocking roads, destroying equipment used for drilling, and demonstrating.

March: Angol Chile (Photo: Carpintero Libre/Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0].)

However, the Chilean government is suppressing these protests by law. That law was enacted in 1984 under the military regime.anti-terrorism lawin the United States. According to this anti-terrorism law, witnesses do not have to reveal their identities and can be given longer sentences than necessary or extremely severe punishments. In other words, by treating the Mapuche people's protests against the government as "terrorism," the law allows for heavier-than-usual penalties to be imposed on Mapuche people in trials that are not impartial. Mapuche activists who have been prosecuted and convicted without clear evidence are on hunger strike. The state system itself is also hurting the Mapuche people. Chile's 1981 Water Law privatized the right to use water, not the state. This means that water use concessions are freely bought and sold, with values determined in the economic market. Severe water shortages and pollution are a problem due to the lack of rules governing pollution considerations and the fact that there is no need to use or buy and sell water in consideration of the amount of water in the rivers.Water usage rights and interestsis left to the market, mining companies and other capital-rich organizations buy up all the water, and the right to use safe water is not guaranteed to the people living in the area, including the Mapuche people.

Resistance of the Mapuche People

In November 2017, the Mapuche people of Argentina and Chile began working together to protect their interests. Mapuche crossing into Argentina and Chile is the first near the border where the two countries meet.Coalition demonstration marchThe company announced that it would hold a The aim was to assert Mapuche rights and demand the release of fellow political prisoners. A month later, in December 2017, Moira Millán, an executive of a Chilean Mapuche organization, and Ingrid Coejero Montecino, an executive of an Argentine Mapuche organization, announced that in their daily lives there is repression against the Mapuche people and that to defend their rights Chileans and Argentines The people areunityHe argued that it should be done. He accused both governments of severely punishing Mapuche claims against the government in order to serve the interests of foreign-owned companies in the Patagonia region, and with the support of the mainstream media, of blowing that the government's repression of the Mapuche is a bluff and that the Mapuche are committing unilateral acts of violence. Arson by the Mapuche is reportedly rampant in many places; in August 2017, a truck of a timber company in southern Chile that had clashed with the Mapuche over land for over a year29 unitswere burned to the ground. Chilean authorities have arrested and prosecuted Mapuche activists for the arson, claiming that they were responsible for therepudiationand are on hunger strike to assert their innocence.

Pope Francis visiting Chile (Photo: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile/Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0].)

Toward the End of Conflict

In June 2017, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet was accused of repressing the rights of the Mapuche.apologydid. This has the positive aspect of being the first apology by a government, but no substantive policy has yet been realized.January 2018Rome - Pope FrancisIn March 2018, for the first time, there were two Mapuche women in the Chilean Congress, both of whom were warmly welcomed by the Congress,President Sebastiansaid in his speech that he wants to put an end to the long-standing conflict. I guess the movement toward a peaceful resolution has begun, albeit gradually. We hope that the government's words of reconciliation and the international community's interest will not be temporary.

Patagonia, Argentina in autumn (Photo: Justin Vidamo/Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 ])

Writer: Satoko Tanaka

Graphic: Hinako Hosokawa