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News > Chile

Chile: Children Office Asks Protection for a Mapuche Girl

  • Police officers carry out an operation in Mapuche communities, Araucania, Chile, Jan. 7, 2021.

    Police officers carry out an operation in Mapuche communities, Araucania, Chile, Jan. 7, 2021. | Photo: EFE

Published 15 January 2021
Opinion

A 17-year-old Mapuche Indigenous girl was threatened by a police officer during an operation in the Temucuicui community on January 7.

Chile's Children Defense Office (CDO) President Patricia Muñoz Friday submitted a protection appeal on behalf of a 17-year-old Mapuche girl who was a victim of death threats from a police officer during an operation in the Ercilla community on January 7.

RELATED: 

Violence Grows High in Chile's Araucania Region

The denunciation against the officer came after witnesses' testimonies were collected by the CDO, one of which is an audiotape recording the violent threats against the victim identified as A.B.L.C. 

Communist Party lawmaker Carmen Hertz pointed out that the aggression is "an expression of the criminal activity that the government has repeatedly promoted over the years against the Mapuche communities." 

"It is an act of intimidation that is not bearable, not only for the Mapuche people but also for this society," she added.

Over 850 Investigation Police (PDI) officers carried out the unprecedented anti-drug operation which left one policeman dead and ten people injured in the Mapuche community of Temucuicui. 

The operation took place on the same day the Court handed down the final sentence on the case of Camilo Catrillanca, who was a 24-year-old Mapuche boy murdered by police agents in 2018. The operations also saw the illegal detention of Catrillanca's mother, wife, and daughter.

Encouraged by Indigenous leaders Juan Catrillanca and Victor Queipul, an "urgent conversation" among Mapuche communities will take place on January 18 and 19 to denounce police brutality against Indigenous people.

"It was a situation of chaos, absolute racism, and tremendous hatred on the part of the police towards our people...there were children who had to hide in the canals, in the wells to take refuge because it was the only way to save themselves," Mapuche spokesman Jorge Huenchullan said.

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