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"Our Struggle Will Continue": WAM Acknowledges Members' Involvement in Murders and Drug Trafficking

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The Weichán Auka Mapu (WAM), a guerrilla organization whose name translates from Mapudungun as "Struggle of the Rebel Territory," released a video statement in which they admit fault for the involvement of some of their members in murders and drug trafficking.

In the audiovisual recording shared via email, a member first speaks in Mapudungun with a digitally distorted voice, greeting the Mapuche people and honoring their ancestors, declaring that the struggle "will continue until we reclaim our territory."

"We greet all our imprisoned Mapuche fighters who are held for political reasons. Today, we gather on this hill, defending the land to continue fighting for our territories, just as our warrior ancestors Caupolicán, Lautaro (...) and many others did. Some fell fighting to defend the land, which is why we are here today to keep advancing our cause despite all we have endured as a people," says the man in a scene filmed in a forest alongside four other WAM members.

He adds:

"That is why we are on this hill, a place of great spiritual strength, to keep advancing our form of struggle. Our fight will continue until we reclaim our territory, which is why we are here to send a greeting—a fraternal and affectionate greeting—to the Mapuche world, its fighters, and its justice-seekers in all spaces."

Later, a second member in the video reads a statement, this time in Spanish and also with a distorted voice to avoid detection.

"Since 2015, when we expressed our ideological principles with both successes and mistakes, we have shared our journey with the rebellion and the solidarity of the Chilean people," the statement says.

It adds, "In the social memory of resistance against Chile’s dictatorship, the Mapuche people hold an important place. One only needs to look at the lists of those executed and disappeared to see the names of Mapuche women and children who, like many others, gave their lives to the fight against tyranny."

"Likewise, today, non-Mapuche individuals and families (huincas) who embrace our cause and make it their own often suffer the consequences of state repression and persecution. However, the dynamics of our objectives are determined by the LOF (communities) in resistance; the structural guidelines for territorial liberation are defined by the resisting communities, the Mapuche people, and their fighters," it notes.

After this first part of the written statement, the organization acknowledges wrongdoing for crimes committed by some of its members.

"(...) Due to serious events that have occurred over time in this region, and in response to the criticisms directed at our organization, we find it necessary to clarify these undeniable facts: such as the deaths of civilians, drug trafficking, and vehicle thefts. These are actions that have tarnished the dignified confrontational struggle recently carried out by the autonomist Mapuche movement, of which we are an active part," the nearly six-minute-long audiovisual piece states.

Additionally, they declare, "As Weichán Auka Mapu, we acknowledge that individuals once linked to our organization were involved in such acts, straying from all revolutionary ethics. These actions are not and will never be part of our organizational principles."

Source:BiobioChile