Chile’s Regions VIII and IX (infra paras. 81 and 106 to 151), as a result of which they were
convicted as perpetrators of offenses that were categorized as terrorism (infra paras. 116 to
118, 126, 128, 146 and 151) in application of Law 18,314 – known as the “Counter-terrorism
Act” – that “[d]efines acts of terrorism and establishes the corresponding punishments.” None
of the acts for which they were tried (relating to setting fire to a wooded property, threat of
arson, and setting fire to a private company’s truck) affected anyone’s physical integrity or life.
B)
Context
1.
The Mapuche indigenous people
75.
Socially, the Mapuche indigenous people is organized in communities called Lof
composed of family groups, assembled in different territorial areas.68 Geographically, the
Mapuche are concentrated in the south of the country, especially in Regions VIII (Biobío), IX
(Araucanía) and X (Los Lagos, from which the province of Valdivia was separated in 2007 in
order to form the actual Region XIV of Los Ríos),69 and a sizeable contingent also lives in the
metropolitan area of Santiago. Nowadays, Region VIII (Biobío) is divided into the provinces of
Arauco, Biobío, Concepción and Ñuble and the capital is Concepción; and Region IX (Araucanía)
is divided into the provinces of Cautín and Malleco and the capital is Temuco. According to data
from the 2002 census,70 it was considered that 4.6% of the total population of Chile belonged to
an ethnic group and, of this percentage, 87.31% (or slightly more than 4% of the total
population) corresponded to the Mapuche indigenous people.71
76.
At the time of the events, the socio-economic situation of the Mapuche was below the
national average and also below that of Chile’s non-indigenous population, with a poverty level
that was also revealed by difficulties in access to services such as education and health care.72
68
Cf. UN Doc. E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.3, 17 November 2003, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, submitted in accordance with Commission
resolution 2003/56, Addendum, Mission to Chile (file of annexes to the Merits Report 176/10, annex 5, folios 250 and 252 to
254), and Report of the Historical Truth and New Deal Commission, Volume III, Tome II, Chapter II, p. 717 (file of helpful
evidence presented by the State on July 10, August 16, September 17, 23 and 27, 17, and October 23, 2013, folio 766).
69
Region VIII: Biobío (provinces of Arauco, Biobío, Concepción and Ñuble; capital: Concepción); Region IX: Araucanía
(provinces of Cautín and Malleco; capital: Temuco); Region X: Los Lagos (provinces of Chiloé, Llanquihue, Osorno and
Palena; capital: Puerto Montt). Up until October 2, 2007, Region X: Los Lagos also included the province of Valdivia, which
was segregated to form the actual Region XIV: Los Ríos.
70
Cf. National Institute of Statistics (INE), XVII National Population and Housing Census carried out in April 2002,
“Síntesis de Resultados,” Santiago of Chile, March 2003, p. 23. Available at: http://www.ine.cl/cd2002/sintesiscensal.pdf.
71
Data from the 2012 census reveal a strong increase (approximately 150%) in the number of persons who
consider themselves of indigenous origin. 11.1% of Chileans over 5 years of age (1,714,677) consider that they are
part of one of the 11 ethnic groups included on the questionnaire, and most of these (84.11%, in other words,
approximately 1,442,215) stated that they are Mapuche. At the present time, this information does not appear on the
official page of the National Institute of Statistics (http://www.censo.cl/), which includes a “public statement”
indicating that “since March 27, 2014, […] it has proceeded to disable access to information from the 2012 Population
and Housing Census,” because, owing to certain questions that had been raised, it had decided to carry out a
“technical audit of the census database.”
72
Cf. UN Doc. E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.3, 17 November 2003, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, submitted in accordance with Commission
resolution 2003/56, Addendum, Mission to Chile (file of annexes to the Merits Report 176/10, annex 5, folios 247 and 248);
UN Doc. A/HRC/12/34/ Add.6, 5 October 2009, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and
fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, James Anaya, Addendum, The situation of indigenous peoples in Chile: followup to the recommendations made by the previous Special Rapporteur, paras. 7 and 8 (file of annexes to the Merits Report
176/10, annex 12, folios 429 and 430), and Report of the Constitutional, Legislative and Justice Committee on the Senate’s
mandate “regarding the Mapuche conflict in relation to public order and security in certain regions,” Bulletin No. S-680-12,
July 9, 2003, p. 144 (file of annexes to the Merits Report 176/10, annex 4, folio 226).
24