After the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners, Chile was even more lauded as a model democracy in region still portrayed in the media (and U.S. Cables as per Wikileaks) as run by power hungry and perhaps mentally unstable leaders.

What isn’t being covered, except in a few select outlets (namely orgs out of Chile, independent radio here in U.S. and through social media) is how the Chilean government is at this moment terrorizing two Indigenous nations.

VivirLatino has covered a little of what has been happening in the south of Chile regarding the Mapuche community (full disclosure, my elder child is Mapuche). Recently released cables have shown that while former Chilean Michele Bachelet may have been a victim of the U.S. sponsored coup/dictatorship of Pinochet, she had no qualms about reaching out to the U.S. to investigate the Mapuche as “terrorists” when they have been merely defending their lands.

From the L.A. Times:

One leaked cable, dated February 2008, tells of a meeting between U.S. Ambassador Paul Simons and Bachelet’s interior minister, Edmundo Perez Yoma, in which officials discussed the possibility that the Mapuche might be receiving aid from the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, or the FARC guerrilla army in Colombia, or even the ETA, the Basque separatist group in Spain.

The implications are powerful, for if indeed a connection was made (or rather invented) this certainly could place more U.S. anti-terror funds into Chile to suppress the Mapuche nation.

Then people question why I called Bachelet’s socialism “lite”.

The violence against the Mapuche is being replicated against the Rapa Nui people located on what is colonially known as Easter Island. In a situation that has been unfolding for the past month or so and I have been keeping track of via First Voices Indigenous Radio. Unsurprisingly, the struggle is over land, with the Rapa Nui being forced off their land in violent confrontations with National Police (Carabineros or more affectionately, pacos). Much of the conflict has been around the use of sacred land as tourist attractions to the detriment of the Rapa Nui spiritually, culturally, and economically.

Via Indian Country Today

The Rapa Nui clans began taking a stand. In 2009, they occupied the airport to bring attention to the problem of uncontrolled migration. In August 2010, the clans began peacefully reoccupying their wrongly taken lands. This occupation included a five star hotel, the “Hanga Roa,” being built by the Schiess family, a non-indigenous family, on lands belonging to a Rapa Nui clan.

Chile first reacted to the occupations by initiating dialogue between governmental representatives and Rapa Nui individuals. But instead of respecting the Rapa Nui collective rights of self-determination and self-government, Chile refused to talk with most of the legitimate representatives of the Rapa Nui clans. Instead, Chile selected who would participate at the roundtables. Even before concluding the discussions, Chilean forces violently carried out three evictions, in September, October, and on Dec. 3. While the previous evictions were carried out in a violent manner, with police forces threatening entire families, including minor children, the most recent eviction entailed extreme violence.

I will continue to keep an eye on what is happening in Chile to the best of my ability and invito a Chilenos, la Comunidad Mapuche, y la comunidad de Rapa Nui a compartir.