Son of Chilean indigenous leader killed by police in turbulent province-Media By Reuters

Ashlyn Lane

Santiago (Reuters)-According to local media reports, the son of the Chilean Mapuche leader was shot by police on Friday in the turbulent Araucanía province, which could be a blow to efforts to improve the country’s relations with indigenous peoples .

According to reports, the shooting took place during a confrontation between the police and a suspected intruder from a forestry company, which may increase tensions in the area. For decades, the indigenous people have claimed that their territories were illegally expropriated by agricultural and forestry companies conspiring with the state.

According to media quoted reports from the Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office, the victim was 26-year-old Ernesto Llaitul. He is the son of Hector Letour, a Mapuche leader, described as a spokesperson for the militant group Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco.

Another local group, the leader of the Mapuche Territorial Union, Mijael Carbone Queipul, issued a statement on Twitter saying that Ernesto Llaitul had also been identified as the victim.

Chilean police declined to comment, and prosecutors did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

The Chilean Institute of Human Rights stated that the shooting would “further aggravate the complex situation in the region” and called for “rapid, in-depth and transparent investigations”.

According to reports, the incident occurred at around 5:30 pm (2130 GMT) at the Santa Ana-Tres Palos Farm in Carahue, 55 kilometers (35 miles) west of the regional capital of Temuco.

According to local news station Mega, the police said that a group of people wearing headscarves arrived at the farm and opened fire on an employee, prompting armed police to take action.

In 2018, 24-year-old Camilo Catrillanca, the grandson of a local indigenous leader, was shot in the head in a police operation in a rural community near the town of El Sila, triggering a national Protests. Seven police officers were convicted of shooting.

Last week, the 155 Chilean citizens who drafted a new constitution for the country elected Mapuche scholar Elisa Loncon to lead them. This is a major shift because in the constitution adopted during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet No recognition of indigenous peoples.

Claudio Nash, a professor of law at the University of Chile, said that if Le Tour’s death is confirmed, it will be a “serious blow to the dialogue between the Mapuche nation and the Chilean state initiated through the constitutional procedure”.