Violence incidents decrease, but La Araucanía concentrates 78% of attacks on forestry contractors

A singular contrast exists between the statistics managed by the Association of Forestry Contractors and the Public Ministry together with the Government. While the Prosecutor's Office corroborates that rural violence incidents continue to decrease in the region for the fourth consecutive year, forestry contractors warn that La Araucanía concentrated 78% of all arson attacks recorded at forestry operations throughout the southern macro-zone.

In his public address, regional prosecutor Roberto Garrido explained that in 2025, a total of 226 complaints related to rural violence incidents in the Araucanía region were investigated.

This figure is 6% lower than the total complaints filed in 2024 (242), and 77% lower than the year with the most complaints: 2021 with 978.

Arson attacks, according to the Prosecutor's Office, decreased from 219 in 2023 to 93 in 2024, reaching a total of 64 throughout the entire year 2025.

"This decrease is in no way an endpoint, much less a reason for complacency. It is a fragile advance that demands maintaining and deepening the efforts of all state agencies," stated regional prosecutor Roberto Garrido.

FORESTRY CONTRACTORS

The positive statistics managed by the Prosecutor's Office and valued by the government contrast with those managed by the Association of Forestry Contractors (Acoforag).

Acoforag's data indicates that in 2025, forestry service provider companies were targets of 27 arson attacks between the Biobío and Los Lagos regions. Of those 27 total attacks, 21 were recorded in the Araucanía region, meaning 78% of the total against them.

"That figure shows that something is happening in Araucanía, something needs adjusting because the number of incidents has remained. The violence persists and remains embedded in a sector of the region," says René Muñoz, manager of the Association of Forestry Contractors.

Other data from Acoforag indicates that the commune of Collipulli concentrated the highest number of attacks against companies at forestry operations in the entire southern macro-zone, with 7 attacks in 2025, surpassing Carahue, which recorded 5 cases in 2024.

Acoforag reports that in all attacks occurring in the southern macro-zone during 2025, 74 machines and/or forestry equipment were burned, valued at over 9 billion pesos.

From Acoforag, they indicated that while the total figures may show a downward trend, the problem is far from solved, and for this reason, they urged the government to maintain coordination to provide security to all those working in forestry operations in rural areas.

Source:Austral de Temuco