A human rights group says the shooting of Ernesto Llaitul, 26, the son of a Mapuche leader, would exacerbate the complex situation in the region.
The son of a leader of the Mapuche people of Chile has been gunned down by police in the troubled province of Araucanía, local media reported, which could deal a blow to attempts to improve relations between the state and the Indigenous Peoples.
Friday’s shooting, believed to have taken place during a clash between police and suspected logging company intruders, is likely to fuel tensions in the region.
Indigenous peoples have claimed for decades that their land was illegally requisitioned by agricultural and forestry companies acting with the complicity of the state.
The victim was Ernesto Llaitul, 26, according to media citing the Chilean prosecutor’s office. He was the son of Hector Llaitul, a Mapuche leader described as a spokesperson for the militant group Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco.
Ernesto Llaitul was also identified as the victim in a Twitter statement from Mijael Carbone Queipul, the leader of another local group, the Mapuche Territorial Alliance.
Chilean police declined to comment, while the prosecutor did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters news agency.
The Chilean Institute for Human Rights said the shooting would “further exacerbate the complex situation in the region”, calling for a “swift, thorough and transparent investigation”.
The incident took place around 5:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. GMT) at the Santa Ana-Tres Palos farm in Carahue, 55 km (35 miles) west of the regional capital Temuco, according to reports.
Police said a group of hooded individuals arrived at the farm and shot an employee, triggering an armed police operation, according to local news station Mega.
In 2018, Camilo Catrillanca, 24, grandson of a local indigenous leader, was shot in the head during a police operation in a rural community near the town of Ercilla, triggering protests in the nationwide. Seven police officers were convicted for this shooting.
Last week, 155 Chilean citizens drafting a new constitution for the country elected a Mapuche scholar, Elisa Loncon, to lead them – a significant turnaround since indigenous peoples are not recognized in the constitution adopted during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Claudio Nash, professor of law at the University of Chile, said that if Llaitul’s death was confirmed, it would be “a blow to the dialogue between the Mapuche nation and the Chilean state which was initiated by the constitutional process. “.
