37.
In our opinion, this assessment of the evidence, which gave rise to a prejudice
as regards the terrorist intent based on the analysis made by the courts in the
judgments, was decisive in the ruling on the terrorist nature of the offenses. Both in
this regard, and when ruling on the participation of the two accused as perpetrators of
the said offenses, the domestic court developed a reasoning that contains an
assessment that delegitimizes the indigenous claims and associates them with planned
actions carried out by means of violent and illegitimate acts, presuming a terrorist
intent and establishing a relationship between the Mapuche origin of the accused, and
the legal definition of the conduct. In addition, when the court ruled, in the fifteenth
considerandum, on the participation of the two accused as perpetrators of the said
offenses, it substantiated an important part of its legal arguments by references to
contextual facts classified as of a “well-known and notorious” nature in relation to the
so-called “Mapuche conflict,” as well as to their ethnic origin and status as traditional
leaders without specifically and explicitly relating this to the acts presumably
committed by the accused, so that it made a causal nexus between the ethnic origin of
the Lonkos as Mapuche leaders and their participation in the offenses of which they
were accused.
38.
Furthermore, it is particularly noteworthy that, in the said fifteenth considerandum
analyzing the victims’ participation, the criminal court affirmed that “[it] has not been sufficiently
proved that these acts were committed by individuals from outside the Mapuche communities,”
referring in general terms to the “Mapuche problem.” The acts and the responsibility of the
accused were examined within the framework of land claims in the context of which the
[…] the actions that resulted in these wrongful acts reveal that the form, methods and strategies
used had the criminal purpose of causing a generalized state of fear in the region.
The wrongful acts referred to above are inserted in a process of recovery of lands of the Mapuche
people, that has been carried out by acts of violence, without respecting the institutional framework
and the laws in force, resorting to previously planned acts of violence, coordinated and prepared by
radicalized groups that seek to create a climate of insecurity, instability and fear in different sectors
of Regions XIII and IX. These actions can be summarized by excessive demands that violent groups
make of owners and landholders, warning them of the different consequences they will face if they
do not accede to the groups’ demands. Many of these threats have materialized in the form of
assaults, robberies, theft, arson, vandalism and land occupation, which have affected individuals
and also the property of various landowners and logging activities in this part of the country.
The objective sought is to instill in the population a justified fear of falling victim to similar attacks
and, thereby, to oblige the owners to desist from exploiting their properties and, ultimately, force
them abandon these properties. The feeling of insecurity and unease that these attacks cause has
led to a reduction in the availability of labor and an increase in its cost, an increase in costs and
loans both for hiring machinery for exploiting the properties and in the cost of policies to insure the
land, installations, and crops. It is increasingly frequent to see workers, machinery, vehicles and
operations in the different properties with police protection to safeguard operations, all of which
affects rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
The above emerges, although not necessarily with the same characteristics, from the corroborative
testimony of [twelve deponents], who stated that they had been direct victims or were aware of
threats and attacks on individuals or property perpetrated by individuals belonging to the Mapuche
ethnic group; witnesses who stated in different ways the feeling of fear that these acts caused. [The
foregoing is related to …] information that has not been disproved and that is contained in section
C, pages 10 and 11, of the March 10, 2002, edition of the newspaper El Mercurio, on the number of
conflicts caused by Mapuche groups by terrorist acts; online publications of La Tercera, La Segunda
El Mercurio published on March 26, 1999, December 15, 2001, March 15 and June 15, 2002,
respectively, and three tables taken from the web page of the Chile’s Foreign Investment
Committee, divided into sectors and by regions, based on the political and administrative division of
the country, which allow comparisons to be made between dollars invested in the other regions and
in the Ninth, and shows that private investment in the region has decreased.
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