NACLA Report on the Americas

ISSN: 1071-4839 (Print) 2471-2620 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rnac20

Chile’s Mapuches Organize Against Nafta

Rosamel Millaman

To cite this article: Rosamel Millaman (1996) Chile’s Mapuches Organize Against Nafta, NACLA
Report on the Americas, 29:5, 30-31, DOI: 10.1080/10714839.1996.11725757

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10714839.1996.11725757

Published online: 31 May 2016.

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Download by: [Athabasca University] Date: 21 June 2016, At: 01:39

 REPORT ON INDIGENOUS
Agrarian Development Law without any sort of nation-
al debate.
The response of the indigenous movement was imme-
diate. Before the bill was signed into law by the Presi-
dent, CONAIE, along with the National Ecuadorian
Federation of Campesino and Indigenous Organizations
(FENOC-I), and the Evangelical Federation of
Indigenous Ecuadorians (EFIE), convened an emer-
gency assembly in June to prepare for a national "Mobi-
lization for Life" in protest. The mobilization's central
objective was the repeal of the Agrarian Development
Law, though its leaders also called for a halt to unre-
strained oil exploration in the Oriente and to the perse-
cution of indigenous leaders. Over 3,500 indigenous
communities representing
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all of Ecuador's indigenous
nationalities participated in
the mobilization. Regional
federations representing
communities from the high-
The indigenous lands and coastal areas
joined with groups repre-
movement's senting lowland communi-
central demand ties in the Amazon. Campe-
sino groups, small farmers,
is the reform of trade unions, popular orga-
the Constitution nizations and other progres-
sive groups joined the mobi-
to recognize lization. An impressive array
of international human
Ecuador as a rights and environmental
groups offered their support
plurinational
as well.
state. After its attempts to quell
the mobilization by violent
means failed, the government finally agreed to negotiate
the terms of the law with the indigenous organizations.
The Catholic Church mediated the negotiations.
Delegates from the Indigenous Initiative for Peace, an
organization founded by Nobel laureate Rigoberta
Menchd, and the Costa Rica-based Inter-American
Institute for Human Rights, helped monitor the process.
A commission was established to debate proposed
reforms to the Agrarian Development Law. The indige-
nous organizations demanded that the negotiation
process be broadcast without interruption on the radio
to ensure both the transparency of the dialogue and the
government's serious consideration of the indigenous
proposals. The radio broadcast also helped stamp out
rumors propagated by some sectors of government that
"the indigenous leaders sold out" and that "the leaders
are tricking the people, they haven't even read the
4
law."
The negotiation process was extremely difficult for
the indigenous movement, which had the weaker hand.
MOVEMENTS
Chile's Mapuches Organize Against
ndigenous organizations in Chile, especially those
representing the Mapuche nation, have been
mobilizing against government plans to enter into
the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA). The Council of All Lands, a Mapuche
nationalist organization, has called the treaty "a
new form of colonial and neocolonial expansion-
ism" that fundamentally undermines Mapuche
self-determination. Mapuche organizations char-
acterize NAFTA as the "third invasion of Mapuche
territory"-after the Conquest in the late sixteenth
century and the Chilean Army's incursions in the
latter half of the nineteenth century, which effec-
tively ended Mapuche autonomy.
The Mapuches are the largest indigenous group
in Chile. About one million Mapuches live in Chile,
comprising 10% of the population. (Other ethnic
groups, including the Aymaras, Quechuas,
Kawashkar and Yamanas, represent less than 1%
of the population.) The center-south region of
Chile, known as the "Frontier" or "Araucania," is
the historic center of Mapuche culture. Depressed
living conditions have led to a diaspora, however.
An estimated 400,000 Mapuches-almost half the
Mapuche population-now live in the capital city
of Santiago. Even though the Mapuches are a
minority within Chilean society, they are spear-
heading the opposition to NAFTA in Chile.
Mapuche opposition to NAFTA has its roots in
the historic forms of resistance adopted by Chilean
indigenous peoples. The Mapuche Cultural Center
was founded in 1979 to oppose Pinochet's plans to
divide Mapuche reservations. Political differences
led to a splintering of the group in 1980, giving rise
to a number of Mapuche organizations, including
the Council of All Lands, Admapu, Nehuen Mapu
and Choin Folil Che. Their common stance of oppo-
sition to NAFTA has helped unify the diverse
Mapuche organizations. It has also led them to
seek out allies among other sectors of Chilean soci-
ety that oppose NAFTA, including campesinos,
agriculturalists, urban grassroots groups, students
and artisans. These different sectors have come
together in the Coordinating Committee for Fair
Development and Commerce of Araucania. While
its focus is economic issues, the Committee has
become a social and political reference point for
anti-NAFTA organizing in the region.
The Mapuche organizations have organized tra-
ditional protest marches against NAFTA in the city
of Temuco, the urban heart of Araucania. They
Rosamel Millaman is a doctoral candidate in anthropologyat
the GraduateCenter of the City University of New York. He was
a Mapuche leader from 1976 to 1986, and currently teaches at
Lehman College. Translated from the Spanish by NACLA.
NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS
 REPORT ON INDIGENOUS MOVEMENTS

NAFTA BY ROSAMEL MILLAMAN

have also been developing Malleco, where the U.S.-

more innovative strategies. based Simpson Papers
Last December, Chile's indige- Company has claimed owner-
nous organizations partici- ship of over 500 acres of
pated in a national meeting Mapuche land. 2
organized by the Foundation Other government plans to
of Indigenous Development, "modernize" Chile have seri-
a Santiago-based non-gov- ously harmed the land-the
ernmental organization. foundation of Mapuche cul-
They are now preparing a ture. The Frei government has
national indigenous congress begun to build a highway
to strategize about how to along the Pacific coast,
organize protest against destroying dozens of commu-
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NAFTA and thwart Chile's nities and Mapuche reserva-

participation in both NAFTA tions in the provinces of
and Mercosur, a regional Arauco, Cautin and Valdivia in
common market comprised the process. The government
of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay also plans to construct a road
and Paraguay. A Mapuche community lead•eraddressesa gathering in linking the Pan-American
The Mapuche groups are Temuco. Highway, which runs north to
also calling for a broader dialogue over the meaning south along the Chilean coast, to the eastern side of
of NAFTA for Chile. At the regional level, they have the city of Temuco. This would destroy seven indige-
demanded that indigenous organizations be included nous reservations and affect thousands of Mapuche
in local forums that are debating Chile's participation landowners.
in NAFTA. At the national level, they have urged the Mapuche organizations fear that Chile's participa-
current government of Eduardo Frei to initiate a tion in NAFTA will further open the door for transna-
nationwide debate about the treaty. They have also tional companies to extract the country's natural
sought to mobilize support from international allies resources, like timber and water, with no considera-
with whom they worked during the continent-wide tion of the social and environmental consequences.
Quincentenary campaigns. Mapuche leaders have There is also growing concern that Mapuche labor
toured the United States to speak about the negative will be exploited. Low levels of education and train-
impact that NAFTA would have on their communities, ing among the Mapuches, coupled with ethnic dis-
and they plan to meet with Democratic Senators later crimination, have made them highly vulnerable.
this year in Washington to discuss their opposition to National and transnational companies, for example,
the treaty. increasingly rely on Mapuche labor, which is grossly
underpaid. The Mapuches fear that under NAFTA,
The Mapuches believe that NAFTA will strengthen transnational corporations will set up new manufac-
the neoliberal model-imposed during the turing industries in Araucania which will exploit the
Pinochet dictatorship and continued under democra- local labor force without bringing any real benefits
tic rule-that has been so devastating for their peo- to the area.
ple. The Chilean government's drive to impose mar- Mapuche anti-NAFTA organizing is not just a rejec-
ket-oriented production has encouraged Mapuche tion of an economic system. It is also a protest
assimilation and undermined traditional indigenous against the cultural and ecological implications of
economies, based on reciprocity and subsistence the treaty. Most importantly, NAFTA threatens the
agriculture. realization of a long-term Mapuche objective-
The government's neoliberal policies have caused regional and economic autonomy. The Mapuches
environmental damage with repercussions for may be a small minority of the Chilean population,
Mapuche communities. For example, the six hydro- but their voice on NAFTA-and other issues of
electric dams constructed on the Bio Bio River under national importance-is increasingly being heard, U
the Aylwin administration (1990-94) flooded more 1. "Presas del Bio-Bio: la base para desaparici6n de los
than 1,250 acres of Mapuche land and forced more Mapuches y para la destruccion del ecosistema," Africa
than 600 families to migrate.' Neoliberalism also Amrrica Latina, Cuadernos, No. 11, 1993.
threatens the integrity of Mapuche territories. The 2. Aukin, No. 25, Official newspaper of Aukin Walmapu Ngulam
Frei government's reforestation policy allows (Temuco), October, 1995.
3. Diane Haughney and Pedro Mariman, "Acerca del desarrollo
transnational corporations to fraudulently acquire y la di-spora Mapuche," Documentos Krma-Liwen (Temuco),
Mapuche reservation land. Such was the case in March, 1994.
31
Vol XXIX,
Vol No 5
XXIX, No 5 MARC•HIAPRIL 1996
MAO4APR1L 1996 31