News

La Araucanía: Concern Over Leadership Changes Ahead of the "Red Calendar"

Sponsors

After a year in the position, General Ricardo Duarte is stepping down as head of National Defense in the area. The region has also seen changes in police and political leadership.

The second half of December, as well as January and February, make up the so-called "red calendar" of violence in La Araucanía. During this period, grain harvests take place across the region's 32 municipalities, around which crimes such as land usurpation, extortion, machinery arson, toll collection, or cargo theft occur.

The anniversaries of the deaths of community member Matías Catrileo, which occurred on January 3, 2008, and the Luchsinger Mackay couple, in the early hours of January 4, 2013, are also commemorated. Similarly, this period sees the peak of wildfires and reports of intentional fires.

Social actors in the region express concern over the coinciding renewal of military, police, and political authorities just before this critical phase.

Alongside the departure of the regional presidential delegate, José Montalva, who will run for Congress, and General Manuel Cifuentes of the Ninth Zone of Carabineros, who will assume leadership of the Border and Special Services Zone, Army General Ricardo Duarte—after a year leading National Defense in the region—will be replaced to take up the role of head of Chile’s Military Mission in the U.S. General Ricardo Moreno will succeed him, becoming the seventh person to hold the position since May 2022. This is without considering the electoral replacement of the governor and several mayors.

The president of the Multigremial of La Araucanía, Patricio Santibáñez, believes that "while changes must be made, ..."

Republican senator and member of the Peace and Understanding Commission, Carmen Gloria Aravena, also questions the timing of the changes. "While we appreciate that National Defense chiefs are now staying for a year, the timing of this handover is terrible because we are at the start of the harvest and wildfire season, and in recent weeks we’ve seen a resurgence of violence," she states.

The head of the Malleco Farmers Association and also a commissioner, Sebastián Naveillán, emphasizes that "we were always critical of the fact that, initially, National Defense chiefs only lasted three months." He adds, "We value that they now stay for a year, but we have reservations about leadership changes happening in December, right before a critical period. That’s why we’ve always argued for terms to run from March." In his view, coordination could also be affected by "the change in the presidential delegate, especially after seeing his hesitant stance on violence."

Source: subscription edition ofEl Mercurio