Alleged Mapuche-related violence in Chile.
Early on Monday morning, five trucks and a van were ambushed and set on fire in the Pidima sector, La Araucanía, Chile.
Three of the trucks were transporting salmon and another was without cargo. The drivers of the trucks were forced to get out by armed men. The vehicles were then set on fire.
Three people were injured and had to be transferred to medical facilities.
Security camera footage captured and reported on by BioBioChile shows that a considerable amount of people were involved in the arson attack.
🔴🔥Camiones de empresa de Puerto Montt sufrieron ataque incendiario en la Araucanía. El hecho ocurrió en el sector Pidima, comuna de Ercilla. Uno de los conductores recibió un balazo en una mano. pic.twitter.com/flDqzST249
— APRA ARAUCANíA (@aprachile) July 12, 2021
The attack is believed to have been carried out by the Mapuche Resistance Group Malleco. Araucanía is the heartland of the indigenous Mapuche people.
The Mapuche political organisation carries out various sabotage actions by which some sectors have granted them a terrorist group. Founded in 1998 CAM sometimes uses violent actions to achieve its political project, which is the claim, recovery and independence of its ancestral territories of the Mapuche people over the jurisdiction of the State of Chile.
Groups claiming to represent the interests of Chile’s Mapuche people have attacked salmon farming sites.
- Read more: Guns and fish: Salmon industry signs up with large union to address Mapuche-related violence
The unions Salmon Council and Salmon farmers of Magallanes sent a joint statement to SalmonBusiness that rejected the violence.
“We strongly reject and condemn the attacks that have taken place in recent days in the Araucanía Region. We very much regret the insecurity to which families and people working or transiting the area are exposed to. We express our solidarity with the victims of the attacks and hope that progress will be made towards a national agreement that will allow us to join forces in order to defeat this wave of terrorist attacks in southern Chile.”
