SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- Héctor Llaitul, spokesperson and Mapuche leader of the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (CAM) was prosecuted by the highest Chilean authorities for inciting violence, theft of wood and attacking authority.
According to the statements of prosecutor Héctor Leiva, of the High Complexity Prosecutor’s Office, the evidence, presented by experts from the Investigative Police (PDI) before the judges of the Oral Court, demonstrate that Llaitul traveled to Cuba to acquire heavy caliber weapons. and carried out negotiations with people who brought them to Chile from Argentina, with their respective ammunition.
A series of conversations and telephone messages about obtaining weapons and ammunition in Cuba and Argentina were found on the Mapuche leader’s cell phone.
“The content of the phone shows when instructions are given for the transfer of weapons and (conversations) to make decisions about who will participate in certain events or attacks. (However) This investigation is pursuing what is said to be related to theft, usurpations and violations of the State Security Law. Regarding other infractions, the records were referred to the respective prosecutor’s offices,” declared the prosecutor.
Llaitul faces accusations of inciting and advocating violence under the State Security Law, usurpation, theft of wood and attacking authority, crimes for which he could face up to 25 years in prison, a sentence currently requested by the prosecution.
The trial, held in Temuco (680 km south of Santiago), in the La Araucanía region, is expected to last 29 days, of which seven have been completed.
The Arauco Malleco Coordinator and the Chilean State have been in confrontation for decades. The CAM criticizes the Government that although it has constitutionally recognized some rights, such as the right to culture of indigenous peoples, it opposes recognizing and guaranteeing others such as self-determination and autonomy.
The Mapuche leader has been in preventive detention since August 2022.
The CAM has carried out numerous violent actions from 1997 to the present. In the Araucanía region and other regions in southern Chile, the so-called “Mapuche conflict” has existed for decades, pitting extractive agricultural and forestry companies linked to large economic conglomerates and indigenous groups that claim their ancestral lands.
This dispute has seen an escalation of violence with arson attacks on machinery and premises, shootings with fatalities and hunger strikes by indigenous prisoners.
Follow our channel WhatsApp. Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through Telegram.
2024-03-21 19:30:36
#Chilean #Mapuche #leader #obtained #heavy #caliber #weapons #Cuba