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Multiguild Report States That 12,700 Hectares in the Southern Macrozone Are Inaccessible to the State

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Despite completing over a thousand days under the constitutional state of emergency measure, extensive areas in the southern macrozone remain inaccessible to officials from state institutions. This is revealed in the latest Violence Report prepared by the Multiguild of La Araucanía for March.

According to the study accessed by "El Mercurio," in the La Araucanía Region alone, 12,700 hectares (equivalent to nearly 10 times the area of the Macul commune or 5.5 times the size of Santiago) have been identified where neither the police nor the military have been able to enter in recent years.

These are six zones located in the communes of Ercilla (5,200 ha), Carahue and the border with the Arauco province (3,800 ha), Lumaco (1,800 ha), Traiguén (1,300 ha), and rural areas of Lautaro (600 ha). Radicalized groups have established themselves there, occupying properties and preventing—through armed attacks—access by state officials.

For Patricio Santibáñez, president of the guild organization, this demonstrates "the need to deepen strategies to combat criminal gangs."

In response, the Multiguild proposes "expanding the constitutional state of emergency in place for three years" and evaluating the creation of a State Force to Combat Terrorism and Organized Crime, composed of elite personnel, with permanent staffing and special powers, to act in coordination with the police, Armed Forces, and prosecutors.

They add that dismantling radicalized organizations requires greater legal support for police and military, through "technical autonomy for the Ministry of Security," making it an entity independent of the political cycle, grouping police and prosecutors under professional command.

Regaining Control

Additionally, Santibáñez proposes creating a National Plan Against Terrorism and reviewing the "excessive control over the police," which limits their ability to respond to urgent incidents, he claims. He also suggests strengthening regional investment, focusing on the most affected communes, "as they have been abandoned by the State for decades."

Therefore, the Multiguild emphasizes that new laws or further diagnoses are unnecessary. "Civil and military authorities have the tools to regain control of these areas (...). We demand an immediate, sustained operation to retake control of areas outside the State, with permanent presence of specialized forces, political backing, and weekly public accountability."

For Senator Carmen Aravena (Republican Party), one of the authors of the Land Usurpation Law, the existence of these exclusion zones "where the rule of law does not operate" is a "serious sign."

The member of the Presidential Commission for Peace and Understanding adds, "We drafted this law to give the State the tools to do what is necessary." She states this requires an agreement across the political spectrum to allow the Armed Forces to enter these territories.

Frustrated Exhumation

On March 26, a police and military operation planned "for months," according to the regional prosecutor's office, aimed at exhuming the body of Arauco Malleco Coordinator (CAM) militant Pablo Marchant, was thwarted due to gunfire attacks against the team conducting the procedure. The failed operation was to take place at the Pidenco estate in Lumaco, northern La Araucanía. Following this, both the prosecutor's office and the government confirmed conditions were not met to complete the court-ordered procedure.

Deputy Miguel Mellado (RN) called it "a disgrace" that the government "kneels before CAM terrorists" and questioned the rule of law in the southern macrozone.

The Multiguild report also noted a 54% decrease in rural violence incidents compared to the same period in 2024, with a total of 635 episodes during President Gabriel Boric's administration. The document states, "the latency and brutality of groups spreading terror in the southern zone persist."

Source:El Mercurio