Comments on: The Mapuche Struggle for Autonomy

By: COHA Staff

COHA Staff — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:07:20 +0000

The present article has been republished in the Santiago Times at http://www.santiagotimes.cl/santiagotimes/index.p... OperaMundi http://operamundi.net/colunas_ver.php?idConteudo=... and Mercopress http://en.mercopress.com/2009/09/18/the-mapuche-s...

By: Sigrid

Sigrid — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:31:33 +0000

As probably you know, on Sept. 15 of 2009, the ILO Convention 169 is working in Chile. Even some people hoped this Convention could improve the indigenous condition, the government and the right people are doing some “norms” for its application. These regulations are facing to limit and cut the real power of this Convention. Unfortunately, the chilean public opinion is highly influenced by the traditional media which are in hands of the same corporations that have a lot of economic interest at the indigenous land. Therefore, we are struggling not only with the government, but also with the common chilean citizen and the biggest corporations, in fact, one of the richest men in chile, is now the most probably future president, that for us is really nefarious.

By: charles janssen

charles janssen — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:34:11 +0000

Chile needs to get rid of its reservation regarding indian people. This easier said than done due to the past conflics with Bolivia and Peru in the North and the Mapuche warriors in the South. Of course there is an element of racism involved, at both sides. Moreover, the shape of the country and the spread of its population makes Chile vulnerable for internal and external attacks on its national unity. Much wisdom is required to prevent escalation.
The USA, probably regarding Colombia and Chile as its closest Latin American allies should act with restraint in order to omit further escalation between Southamerican nations.