Mapuche Land Defender, Hector Llaitul, Arrested Under the Chilean Interior State Security Law

Boric Fires Minister and Journalist Threatened by Police for Interviewing CAM Leadership

Temuco, WALLMAPU (aka Chile)—Mapuche Land Defender and Spokesperson for the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (Arauco Malleco Communities in Conflict – CAM), Hector Llaitul, was arrested yesterday afternoon near his home by Special Force police officers, charged under the Chilean Interior State Security Law for alleged arson, theft of wood, among others accusations. According to El Mostrador, Llaitul was transferred to the Manquehue Aerial Base, in the nearby city of Temuco, later being transferred to the Special Police Forces’ Miraflores Health Centre to “treat physical injuries.”(1) 

During the trial early Thursday, Defense Attorney Rodrigo Roman accused the Court of improper due process, as the presiding judge in the hearing also issued the arrest warrant, requesting the judge’s disqualification. (2)  The request was denied and Hector was placed in pre-trial detention as of today.(3)

Boric: Progressive Politics or Persecution?

Meanwhile, Mapuche territory continues to be under a State of Emergency, with military and special police operations deployed throughout Wallmapu—extended several times by congress, with the blessing of the Executive branch under the Boric government at the end of June. (4) 

In a rapid escalation of events, today, the Boric government also fired Social Development Minister, Jeanette Vega, for having one of her advisers speak with Hector Llaitul earlier this month. (5) At the same time, independent Journalist Boris van der Spek, who had interviewed Llaitul just a few weeks prior, today reported police intimidation upon returning to Chile from a brief trip to the Netherlands. 

“[I]n Holland, I received a call from my girlfriend’s family, saying that the Special Investigations Unit (PDI) had asked for me… I tried to reach them through the phone, but they refused to answer why they had contacted me.  Upon my return, I read the news about Llaitul’s detention and the PDI has asked me for a statement. When I arrived in Santiago, the PDI took my passport and left for some time without any explanation. During [Llaitul’] hearing today, the prosecution also mentioned me by name. I have never received any official solicitation to testify by Chilean authorities and consider this a violation of freedom of expression, especially in having the police visit my home and family over what is clearly journalism,” van der Speck stated in a Tweet. (6)

In recent weeks, the CAM spokesperson has reiterated the focus of the organization is to engage Mapuche Land Back struggle through direct struggle with capitalists interests under the Chilean State, having recently been interviewed at length by van der Speck of Chile Today News in conjunction with Werken Noticias (7). Within the interviews, Hector asserts the necessity of the Mapuche Nation’s right to autonomy and territory, and that said struggle must directly confront the capitalist interests by corporate entities and that of the state within occupied lands through revolutionary means. The arrest comes just weeks before the September 4th plebiscite vote on the proposed Draft Chilean Constitution, which recognizes the Mapuche People as part of a Chilean Plurinational State—a position that has been heavily criticized by autonomist sectors of the Mapuche movement, including the CAM. 

“But we insist, it is not our responsibility to call for approval or rejection [of the Draft Chilean Constitution], since we were never part of this process [as a Nation]…. [I]t is because [THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION] IS NOT OURS, it is not part of our culture or of the principles, nor forms that our futakevje kuifi yem (Ancestors) bequeathed to us and we have already made that clear on several occasions… As an anti-capitalist and revolutionary Mapuche organization we will continue in the resistance and reconstruction of our Nation people,” the CAM reiterated in a public statement on August 8th. (8)

The CAM has called for solidarity with Hector Llaitul and other Mapuche Political Prisoners, as the tension and militarization increases in Wallmapu. In a statement on Llaitul’s arrest, the CAM reiterates: 

“The arrest of our peñi and lamgen (Brothers and Sisters) is, without a doubt, a turning point for the revolutionary autonomist Mapuche movement, which sharply confronts this colonial State and its policy of forced integration. Either we really struggle for the Mapuche Nation’s reconstruction or give into speech and pressure to receive crumbs offered by the State.”

News in Development

WCCC Toronto 

1. https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2022/08/24/hector-llaitul-es-detenido-en-canete-por-delitos-contra-ley-de-seguridad-del-estado/
2. https://upjobsnews.com/hearing-against-hector-llaitul-defense-accuses-judge-of-inability-and-asks-to-declare-detention-illegal-national-more-latest-news-here/
3. https://upjobsnews.com/hearing-against-hector-llaitul-defense-accuses-judge-of-inability-and-asks-to-declare-detention-illegal-national-more-latest-news-here/
4. https://nationworldnews.com/boric-calls-for-extension-of-state-of-emergency-in-southern-chile/
5. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-25/chile-s-president-fires-minister-accused-of-contacting-extremist
6. https://twitter.com/BorisvanderSpek/status/1562836448411168769/photo/1 
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FthLAa7hY-w&t=5s 
8. https://infowerken.com/?p=329
9. https://infowerken.com/?p=347