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UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000767 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PTER SCUL SOCI CI
SUBJECT: WHAT WE GOT HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE: 
CHILE'S INDIGENOUS ISSUE 
 
REF: SANTIAGO 733 
 
------ 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Photos of burned out farms and menacing masked 
gunmen, as well as strings of editorials bemoaning the GOC's 
failure to resolve the "Mapuche conflict," signal the recent 
return to the headlines of Chile's long-simmering "indigenous 
issue."  Unlike in neighboring Peru and Bolivia, Chile's 
native indigenous are a relatively small five percent of 
overall population and Chilean governments - indeed Chilean 
society - have largely ignored indigenous demands to right 
perceived historical wrongs.  Since the return to democracy 
in 1990, however, successive left-leaning Concertacion 
governments have made some effort to recognize indigenous 
culture and address their demands, typically through the 
restoration of "stolen lands," but also improved education 
and access to economic opportunity.  Moderate indigenous 
leaders worry the "dialogue" with the GOC on these issues is 
a one-way conversation, with GOC programs imposed without 
sufficient input from affected communities.  Extremists are 
convinced the GOC is paying lip service only and resort to 
violence to press demands.  Indigenous leaders also differ 
with the GOC aim to build a "multicultural" Chile, preferring 
to establish an "inter-cultural" society.  U.S. experience 
with its own native populations - the good and the bad - is 
viewed with interest and offers an avenue for U.S.-Chile 
cooperation.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) E/Pol Counselor August 18-20 visited Chile's Eighth 
and Ninth regions, spending most of his time in Temuco, 
capital of the latter, a region known also as "La Aracaunia," 
the historical land of the Mapuche indigenous peoples, 
Chile's largest native population.  The Mapuche resisted 
Spanish colonization - indeed they were never subjugated - 
and even after Chilean independence from Spain in 1810, 
maintained effective sovereignty over their lands (south of 
the Bio-Bio river) until 1880.  Over the past one hundred and 
thirty years, Mapuche integration into the larger Chilean 
society has been halting at best, beset by first overt and 
then latent discrimination, by loss of ancestral lands, by 
poverty and lack of educational opportunity, and by its by 
own proud reluctance to assimilate fully.  In the 1960's, the 
GOC made some efforts at land reform, a process reversed by 
the Pinochet dictatorship.  When democracy was restored, the 
center-left Concertaction government of Patricio Alwyn 
renewed a commitment to integrating Chile's indigenous people 
(these include, inter alia, the Aymara in Chile's northern 
desert and the Rapa Nui on Easter Island).  Since then, 
successive Concertacion governments have proposed various 
programs to further this process, the most recent being the 
"Re-Conocer" (reaquaint) initiative launched by President 
Bachelet (reftel). 
 
--------------------- 
A Lack of Opportunity 
--------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Joined by Alvaro Marifil, national director of the 
Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI), E/Pol 
Counselor met with a group of Mapuche leaders in a 
traditional "Ruka" (tribal home) located in the rural 
indigenous community of Antonio Alki, 15 kilometers outside 
Temuco.  Lautero Llehue, the group's spokesman, said the 
community's poverty was linked to inequitable land 
distribution ("a family cannot survive on one hectare"), poor 
infrastructure (the road in from Temuco was unpaved and 
muddy), and lack of government investment in the region.  A 
young leader added he believed the GOC was well-intentiond, 
but "not listening."  The government, he said, arrives with a 
program - such as provision of young plants or seeds for 
growing - but then fails to ensure adequate irrigation.  The 
crop fails, poverty continues, resources are wasted.  If the 
GOC consulted with us, it would have a better understanding 
of community needs.  Another participant noted that the 
bureacracy had to be more flexible.  On the land issue, for 
example, the notion of individual "ownership" was alien to 
Mapuche culture.  Family groups or entire communities 
occupied land tracts, a concept not in keeping with Western 
views on legal title.  (Note:  The Mapuche are also 
 
characterized by a diffuse leadership.  A key difference 
between Chilean and Mapuche cultures is that the latter lacks 
a hierarchical structure.  There is no single Mapuche leader 
or parliament who can make binding decisions on the "Mapuche 
nation.")  E/Pol Counselor noted that public participation in 
government rule-making - as on environmental issues - is now 
common practice in the U.S.  We need a similar system here, 
the group agreed, where community inputs would lead to more 
effective, less wasteful government decision-making. 
 
------------------- 
A Spike in Violence 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Dominating E/Pol Counselor's conversations with the 
Intendenta (regional governor-equivalent, appointed by the 
GOC), the Mayor, the local bishop, and NGO's, was news of an 
attack August 17 against a land-owner, whose house had been 
burned down by unidentified persons.  The man's property had 
been repeatedly targeted by assailants, who claim that his - 
and many other tracts of land (including those owned by 
multinational forestry interests) - had been stolen from the 
Mapuche.  Such actions have been common since circa 2000, 
when the Coordinadora Aracaunia Mapuche (CAM) was founded. 
The CAM is a radical, left-wing group that purports to 
represent Mapuche interests.  According to press reports, as 
well as Temuco interlocutors, most of the CAM leadership has 
been identified or jailed by GOC security forces. 
Nonetheless, the CAM remains active and claimed 
responsibility for the August 17 incident.  GOC officials 
have expressed concern that the CAM may have ties to groups 
such as the FARC and the ETA. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The attacks were uniformly condemned by all, 
although two NGO representatives added "but look at the 
context in which the acts take place."  All agreed as well 
that the CAM represents only a tiny minority of Mapuche, if 
that.  Several observed that the CAM may not even be all that 
interested in Mapuche land claims, using it as a pretext for 
more generalized complaints against globalization and the 
state writ large.  Nonetheless, the CAM is using the issue to 
draw younger, disaffected (and poor) Mapuche into radical 
action.  The uptick in attacks has also generated 
considerable editorial commentary over the GOC's failure 
"again" to adequately address the Mapuche conflict, including 
from the public security standpoint, a charge on which the 
Bachelet adminstration is neuralgic, fearing it looks weak. 
 
------------------- 
A Clash of Cultures 
------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Bishop Manuel Camilo was one of several 
interlocutors who argued that cultural misunderstanding was 
the driving force behind the indigenous conflict.  Chile's 
native people in the north, for example, are perplexed by the 
Western concept of below ground ownership of mining rights. 
But these are clearly a valuable resource that are not being 
exploited by the Aymari.  The same holds true for water 
rights.  The Mayor of Temuco, Francisco Huenchumila, himself 
of Mapuche descent, argued for a cultural shift on the part 
of the majority society, with recognition of Chile's 
multicultural reality.  Huenchumilla insisted that the 
Mapuche also had to demand power - to include return of land 
but also political representation in parliament and 
government.  A recognition of Mapuche culture and "right to 
power" would lead to greater investment in the region, 
helping raise standards of living. 
 
¶7. (SBU) At the Universidad de la Frontera's respected 
Indigenous Institute, Director Alejendro Hererra took the 
"cultural clash" theme a step further.  Hererra was highly 
critical of Concertacion's "neglect" of indigenous affairs 
charging that "only (first Concertacion president) Alwyn took 
a sincere interest;" subsequent administrations put people in 
charge of indigenous affairs who had no knowledge of the 
issue "or had not even met an indigenous person."   Hererra 
also claimed that perhaps only 5-6 percent of funds marked 
for indigenous affairs reached intended recipients, with the 
rest lost to administrative costs and corruption.  His 
strongest criticism was, however, aimed at the key concept in 
the Bachelet's "Re-Conocer" program - promoting a 
 
multicultural Chile.  Mapuche (and other indigenous 
populations) argue for an "inter-cultural" society.  This 
requires first an acknowledgement by the majority society 
that indigenous culture and society was damaged (beginning in 
1492) and that recompense is due.  Once that step is taken, 
the "construction" of an inter-cultural society can begin. 
Hererra allowed that recompense would necessarily fall short 
of indigenous claims ("we can't go back to how things were") 
but the process would allow a relationship that recognizes 
and accepts differences "amongst equals." 
 
-------------------- 
Education the Answer 
-------------------- 
 
¶8. (U)  Several interlocutors said poverty sprang from a lack 
of land and, to a lesser degree, discrimination in access to 
opportunity.  But all were in agreement that a "miserable" 
educational system was the key factor in maintaining the 
cycle of poverty.  Huenchumilla and Hererra both noted that 
so-called GOC "scholarships" for indigenous provided a 
stipend of CHP 40,000/month (USD 80.00) living expenses.  The 
GOC had to invest much more heavily in real scholarships for 
indigenous youth, including sending them abroad.  But it was 
also critical to build infrastructure and better prepare 
teachers working in indigenous regions.  Bishop Camilo noted 
that Mapuche excelled in school when given the opportunity. 
 
----------------------- 
The American Experience 
----------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) E/Pol Counselor repeatedly offered that the U.S.'s 
more than 200-years-long-relationship with its own native 
American population - the negative and the positive - could 
provide a useful base of knowledge from which Chile could 
draw.  The U.S. experience included both federal and state 
level interaction with native populations.  Juan Jorge 
Faundez of the Fundacion Instituto Indigena (an NGO 
associated with the Catholic Church) suggested that U.S. 
tribes with expertise in sustainable development could be one 
area for exchange.  Hererra and Jaime Lopez of the Public 
Defenders' office both thought that U.S. tribal experience 
with autonomous court systems would be another.  Herrara 
suggested as well that exchanges with the Menomonee tribe in 
Wisconsin, with its experience in management of forest/timber 
resources would be useful (much of Mapuche land is heavily 
forested).  Other U.S. experience not linked specifically to 
indigenous issues - such as encouraging public participation 
in law/rule-making - would also be welcome.  So, too, would 
efforts by indigenous groups in the U.S. to develop 
non-traditional industries such as, but not limited to, the 
gaming industry. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) At first glance, much of the conflict in the Ninth 
Region seems to reflect the realities of the still ongoing 
shift of populations from rural to urban areas.  The 
complaints aired in Antonio Alka - lack of opportunity, 
children that can't be kept down on the farm - can be heard 
as well in many small Nebraska towns.  But in the end, Paul 
Newman's iconic lament rings true.  The Chilean majority 
population views the "Mapuche conflict" as a security issue, 
or perhaps an economic problem that can be addressed 
(reluctantly) with money.  It is certainly not a recognition 
of legitimate, deeply rooted grievances, much less of a 
legitimately equivalent culture.  Indeed, the fact that all 
indigenous are lumped together, in many minds, as "Mapuche" 
suggests the level of incomprehension of cultures speaking 
past each other.  Majority Chileans would like nothing better 
than for the "Mapuche" to assimilate.  And the Mapuche, with 
their long history of resisting integration, are not likely 
to do so.  The tale is not all bleak, however.  Most 
indigenous want to talk out their grievances; to sit and 
dialogue in Mapuche culture, for example, is sometimes as 
important as the solution.  The USG might be able to 
faciliate a conversation in which Chile's indigenous voices 
can be heard by the majority Chilean society.  End comment. 
SIMONS