Mapuche women selected as chief architect of Chile’s new constitution Reuters

Ashlyn Lane

Santiago (Reuters)-On Sunday, delegates selected a woman from Chile’s majority Mapuche indigenous people to lead them in drafting the country’s new constitution. For a recognized group, this is a dramatic change.

Elisa Loncon, 58 years old, politically independent, professor at the University of San Diego, Mapuche education and language rights activist. She was selected by 96 out of 155 men and women, including 17 indigenous people, who formed the constitutional body that will draft a new text to replace Chile’s enactment during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. Of the previous Magna Carta.

Loncon raised his fist above his head to accept this position, and told her colleagues during the noisy celebration: “I pay tribute to the people of Chile, from the north to Patagonia, from the sea to the mountains, to the islands, all today. Our people,” she said.

“I thank the different alliances for their support and put their trust and dreams in the hands of the Mapuche people. They voted for the Mapuche, a woman, to change the history of this country.”

Her election represented a high point in the drama of the day, which included taking oaths and taking oaths after protests outside and inside the venue, and clashing with the police to force delays in activities.

After the demonstrations organized by independent, left-wing, and indigenous groups, problems arose. The sending of representatives to the constitutional body and other interest groups met with heavily armed police outside the former Congress building in San Diego, where a ceremony was held.

The representatives in the event then protested to the organizers about the police’s high-handed methods, drumming and yelling in the youth classical orchestra playing the national anthem.

At the request of the representative to withdraw the “repression” of the special forces police, the election court official who presided over the ceremony agreed to suspend the event until noon.

Disagreements are still brewing after Chile’s massive protests against inequality and elitism that began in October 2019 were torn apart and fueled by a fierce police response, so this dispute highlights the severity of the drafting of the new Magna Carta challenge.

The constitutional body was elected by a referendum in May and is dominated by independent and left-wing candidates, some of which are rooted in the protest movement, and a few more conservative candidates are supported by the current center-right government.

The delegates vowed to resolve topics including water rights and property rights, central bank independence, and labor practices, which prompted investors to worry about major changes in the free market system of the world’s top producers.

Before the ceremony, representatives of Aymara and Mapuche held a spiritual ceremony with singing and dancing on the downtown streets around the agency’s new headquarters and nearby hillsides.

Not recognized in the current constitution, they hope that the new text will provide their country with new cultural, political and social rights.

The committee has up to a year to agree on a general rule book, establish a committee and draft new texts.

Leandro Lima, Southern Cone analyst at Control Risks, said that given Chileans’ deep distrust of established politics, independents brought “legitimacy” to the process but lacked decision-making experience. And deep ideological disagreements may cause serious delays in the drafting of the text itself.