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One Week Before Peace Commission Report, Mapuche Demand "Minimum Necessities"

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Facing the difficulties experienced by the Peace and Understanding Commission in reaching agreements, as revealed by its own members and reflected in two delays of the final report's submission to President Gabriel Boric, Mapuche leaders are outlining the "minimum necessities" they expect the proposal to include, which will be revealed next week.

Among their priorities, they demand the establishment of "a roadmap," the proposal of "a political rather than technical agreement," the creation of "a timeline to meet objectives," and the provision of "follow-up on measures to be implemented."

Domingo Namuncura (PPD), an academic and former director of the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (Conadi), who addressed the issue in extensive meetings with Indigenous representatives in Santiago and Biobío in December and January, warns that "generally, there is great discouragement with the state's Indigenous policies, because commitments have not been fulfilled and because there has been no clear program—everything hinges on what the Peace and Understanding Commission's report will say."

He also notes that he has observed "a widespread impression that this body's proposal may fall short of expectations and initial hopes."

Namuncura recalled that the commission's central mission was to draft a proposal on land claims, "but in its work, it opened up to hearing other issues and will also make proposals on other matters, which are important but not the focus of its task." In his view, the essential point is that "the commission's proposals must lead to special laws to implement the recommendations; otherwise, everything will remain mere expressions of goodwill."

Hugo Alcamán, president of the Corporation of Mapuche Professionals, believes the commission "must deliver a political proposal, a roadmap, a state commitment to the Mapuche people to resolve the conflict that has persisted due to countless broken promises."

He adds that there must be "a body to monitor the proposals to ensure they materialize, because what will be proposed is a state policy."

Carlos Llancaqueo, president of the Intercultural Corporation Aitué, argues that "the minimum necessity is to achieve cross-cutting agreements that, beyond political prisms, consider what is good for the country and, especially, to bring peace to the southern macrozone—meaning that the agreements and measures taken prioritize reconciliation." He also emphasizes that "the commission must be able to ground the high expectations that have been generated."

Richard Caifal, director of the Indigenous Policy Center Rakizuam, believes that "the report should be minimalist, as great effort has been made to draft a document covering many issues, but I think general guidelines should be set, leaving other bodies to translate them into more concrete and technical measures."

Source:El Mercurio