GIUSEPPE SANTAGUIDA
Weichán - The struggle of the Mapuche people in southern Chile

The Mapuche have resisted invasions for centuries: first the Inca Empire, unable to expand south of the Biobío River; then the Spanish, who met some of the fiercest resistance in the Americas. After independence, Chile and Argentina ended Mapuche autonomy through the “Pacification of Araucania” and the “Conquest of the Desert,” confining survivors to tiny territories. Since then, the Mapuche have struggled to have their cultural, territorial, and economic rights recognized. In Chile, many ancestral lands are now owned by companies that replaced native forests with pine and eucalyptus monocultures, causing droughts, fires, and the loss of spiritual forces tied to the land. Territorial claims therefore often include environmental concerns. Today, Wallmapu is marked by tensions between communities and industry, with law enforcement frequently using excessive violence. Militarization and a state of “excepción de emergencia” have made evictions, repression, and arrests commonplace.

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