Despite a persistent rain, yesterday afternoon various social organisations grouped together in the Espacio Día a día por Julia Chuñil (Day by Day for Julia Chuñil) demonstrated outside the headquarters of four branches of the Chilean state to protest their silence six months after the disappearance of this Mapuche community leader and activist from the commune of Máfil, in the south of the country.
Until then, Julia, aged 72, was president of the Putreguel Community and lived within 900 hectares of native forest, caring for species sacred to the Mapuche people. The mainstream media has also remained silent on this case. That is precisely why we, as an alternative and community media outlet, wanted to be part of this call to action.
This area is in conflict with the forestry industry that dominates lands that were once owned by the Mapuche people, whose extractive practices have led to the loss of biodiversity (forests, fauna and flora) due to the monoculture of pine and eucalyptus (both fast-growing and commercially valuable exotic species). The recent extension of the official declaration of a state of emergency in the southern macrozone, which criminalises community organisation in the prevention of acts of ‘terrorism’ of dubious origin, certainly does not encourage participation or dialogue, and benefits the forestry companies and their practices.
With slogans such as “Let them say, let them say, let them say who was: whether the police or the forestry industry!”, the protesters denounced the collusion between the forestry industry (and by extension, the extractive companies that have had almost complete freedom to dispose of the country’s natural resources) and the state authorities since practically the days of the Pinochet military regime, which the social democratic governments of the Concertación por la Democracia did nothing to mitigate. On the contrary, according to several groups, the agreement of the Commission for Peace and Understanding, which seeks to open a dialogue towards the resolution of this long-standing conflict and was presented a few days ago by President Boric, is no more than a ‘farce’ with no real representation of the Mapuche people due to the lack of territorial participation.
The Walk began timely in front of CONADI (National Indigenous Development Corporation), accusing this entity of inaction and lack of transparency in the purchase of land from forestry companies and its transfer to Mapuche communities. In the words of activist Lucía Sepúlveda: “CONADI has not said a word, and it is clearly involved. It is an actor that denied land to the Mapuche people and gave it away for free to the large landowner Juan Carlos Morstadt, who is the one who threatened Julia. That is why we are passing by CONADI so that it assumes its part of responsibility and answers for its omissions.”
Then the demonstrator proceeded to the headquarters of the National Prosecutor’s Office, Ángel Valencia, due to its inconsistent handling of the case (with four prosecutors appointed to date) and lack of transparency (including leaks to the media to harm the Chuñil family).
Afterwards, they went to the Supreme Court and the former National Congress, which are located across from each other, to denounce the judicial and media silence surrounding the case.
Lucio Cuenca, director of OLCA (Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts), pointed out that ‘the case of Julia Chuñil joins other unresolved cases, such as those of Macarena Valdés, Emilia Bau, Pablo Marchant and Camilo Catrillanca, and is aggravated by the presence of former military personnel in private detachments of forestry companies that act with a repressive logic inherited from the dictatorship.’
Finally, it ended at the Plaza de la Constitución, in front of the Palacio de la Moneda (seat of the executive branch), to demand that the State truly seek out and punish those responsible. There, Juana Aguilera, from the Ethical Committee Against Torture, said through a loudspeaker, ‘We demand that the National Prosecutor’s Office conduct a thorough, meticulous investigation, free of racism and classism, to clarify once and for all where Julia Chuñil is. There cannot be one justice for the poor and another for the rich. Julia had rights, and all of them were violated.’
