Forestry contractors accuse exclusion after Security Minister's visit to the Southern Macrozone

We learned through regional press about the visit to the Biobío and La Araucanía regions on June 11 by Security Minister Mr. Martín Arrau, who held informational meetings with the Police, Armed Forces, agricultural unions, and victims of terrorism in both regions.

It is unacceptable that our guild, the most affected guild in this conflict for over 29 years, was not considered in any of these instances. Therefore, we deem it necessary to firmly remind the minister of the following:

1. Since 1997, and with particular severity from 2014 onward, forestry contractors have been direct victims of terrorist violence in the southern macrozone, from Biobío to the Los Lagos Region.

2. This violence has so far caused the destruction of 1,850 forestry equipment and trucks in 527 terrorist arson attacks, resulting in human, economic, and productive damage that the country cannot continue to normalize.

3. During this period, we must also deeply lament the murder of five forestry workers, victims of violence that demands clear, firm, and urgent responses from the State.

We had well-founded hopes that the current government would begin to reverse or amend, once and for all, the State's condition of abandonment toward forestry workers and contractors. However, this did not start that way.

On the contrary, we once again observe with concern the abandonment by central authorities, reflected this time in the exclusion of those of us who have directly suffered the violence expressed in terrorist attacks in the south of the country.

We demand to be heard and considered in any serious instance that seeks to decisively address the insecurity affecting the southern macrozone.

Association of Forestry Contractors A.G.

Concepción, June 15, 2026