By Reuters TV
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Arsonists burned more than a dozen trucks late on Wednesday during an attack on a factory in Chiles Araucania, authorities said, in a region long convulsed by simmering conflict between the indigenous Mapuche and the Chilean government.
Local police said at least 14 trucks had been burned, as well as some heavy machinery. A group that says it fights for indigenous rights, Weichan Auka Mapu, claimed credit for the attack, Hector Bravo of Chiles investigative police told reporters.
Images on local television showed flames engulfing the vehicles and enormous plumes of smoke as emergency workers sought to control the fire.
About 1.7 million Mapuche live in Chile, mainly in Araucania, a rugged, forested zone of snow-capped volcanoes 400 miles south of the nation’s capital city of Santiago. The region has a relatively high poverty rate.
Indigenous activists say their lands are increasingly threatened by agriculture, forestry and other industries, and blame the state for failing to uphold their historical rights.
The conflict in the Araucania region has spiked in recent weeks, aggravated by increasing economic angst caused by lockdown measures designed to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Interior Minister Victor Perez said the group was clearly well organized and that the attack was pre-meditated.
“There is no doubt that a group that organizes an attack like this … has resources,” Perez told reporters.
Last weekend, around 50 people were arrested, authorities said, after clashes and fires broke out near the region’s municipal headquarters. Mapuche protesters had been demonstrating in support of community members who have been incarcerated and on hunger strike.
(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Fabian Cambero and Dave Sherwood; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
