indigenous people, its leaders and organizations, were involved in numerous demands, demonstrations, and social protests seeking attention to and settlement of their claims, relating above all to the recovery of their ancestral lands, and to respect for the use and enjoyment of these lands and their natural resources.76 80. The social protest in the area increased because, towards the end of the twentieth century, permission had been granted for increased exploitation by forestry companies and the construction of development projects on some of the lands that the Mapuche communities considered part of their traditional lands.77 As a result, “[c]ommunal lands have gradually been getting smaller and have been cut off in the middle of private properties, [affecting] access to the woods, and thus to the Mapuche people’s traditional means of sustenance.”78 In addition, the construction of “major development projects” in the first decade of the twenty-first century, such as hydroelectric projects and highways, has given rise to “a number of social conflicts […] in connection with the impact on the human rights of indigenous people.”79 The construction of the Ralco hydroelectric plant in the province of Bío Bío, Region VIII, had a special impact on the indigenous communities and aroused their particular opposition because thousands of hectares of land would be flooded and the communities moved.80 81. In the context of this social protest, the level of unrest in these regions increased. Apart from the social movements and other types of pressure such as the occupation of disputed land, additional actions and violent acts occurred which were classified as “serious,” such as the occupation of land that was not the object of any ongoing legal claim, the setting of fires to forest plantations, crops, buildings, and the owners’ homes, the destruction of equipment, machinery and fences, or the blocking of communication routes and clashes with the police.81 It 76 Cf. Report of the Historical Truth and New Deal Commission, Volume III, Tome II, Chapter II: Territorio y Tierras Mapuche (file of helpful evidence presented by the State, folios 999 and 1000); affidavit prepared on May 24, 2013, by witness Luis Rodríguez-Piñero Royo (file of statements of the presumed victims, witnesses and expert witnesses, folios 337338); acquittal issued on November 9, 2004, by the Second Chamber of the Temuco Oral Criminal Trial Court (file of annexes to the FIDH motions and arguments brief, annex 50, folio 1839 and 1840); written statement made on May 27, 2013, by expert witness Rodolfo Stavenhagen (file of statements of the presumed victims, witnesses and expert witnesses, folio 697); Milla Seguel, Eduardo, “Los mapuche ante la justicia. La criminalización de la protesta indígena en Chile”, Chile, Santiago. LOM Ediciones, 2007, p. 145 (file of annexes to the CEJIL motions and arguments brief, annex D5, folios 32863288); UN Doc. A/HRC/25/59/Add.2, 14 April 2014, Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson, Addendum, Mission to Chile, paras. 27 and 49 (merits file, tome V, folios 2566 to 2587), and 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, folio 260). 77 Cf. 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: follow-up to the recommendations made by the previous Special Rapporteur (file of annexes to the Merits Report 176/10, annex 12, folio 437), and affidavit prepared on May 24, 2013, by witness Luis Rodríguez-Piñero Royo (file of statements of presumed victims, witnesses and expert witnesses, folio 338). 78 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, para. 22 (file of annexes to the Merits Report 176/10, annex 5, folio 255). 79 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, para. 22 (file of annexes to the Merits Report 176/10, annex 5, folio 255); Report of the Historical Truth and New Deal Commission, Volume III, Tome II, Chapter II, p. 950 and 951 (file of helpful evidence presented by the State, folios 999 and 1000), and affidavit prepared on May 24, 2013, by witness Luis RodríguezPiñero Royo (file of statements of presumed victims, witnesses and expert witnesses, folios 337 to 339). 80 Cf. Affidavit prepared on May 24, 2013, by witness Luis Rodríguez-Piñero Royo (file of statements of presumed victims, witnesses and expert witnesses, folio 338, and Report of the Historical Truth and New Deal Commission, Volume III, Tome II, Chapter II, pp. 950 and 951 (file of helpful evidence presented by the State, folios 999 and 1000). 81 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 26