In Chile, a Mapuche activist has mysteriously disappeared under suspicious circumstances, reigniting the debate over the prosecution of the defenders of ancestral lands. Her community demands justice, while investigations proceed amidst silences and uncertainties.
On November 8th, 2024, Julia Chuñil Catricura, a 72-year-old Mapuche leader and activist, left her home with her dog, Cholito, looking for some animals, on a hill near Máfil, in the Los Ríos region, of south-central Chile. Since then, she has not been heard from.
Julia Chuñil is the President of the Putraguel indigenous community, where she came to be known for her fight for environmental rights, in particularly in protecting aproximately 900 hectares of native forest.
The defense of her community’s land led to many episodes of threats and harassment throughout the years. As reported by several local newspapers, the land, claimed by the Putraguel community, has in fact been, object of dispute with a local businessman interested in the selling of timber. The businessman is a descendant of one of the most well-known German settlers of the 19th century and is a beneficiary of the land-acquisition process under the Pinochet dictatorship.
In the report filed by her family after her disappearance, it is stated that the businessman had threatened Julia multiple times and that he had even attempted to run her over while she was on her way to the land, claiming to not have seen her on the road. He had even threatened her, saying that there would be no point in appealing to CONADI (Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena), the national agency responsible for the redistribution of land to indigenous communities in Chile, as he held a great deal of influence.
As reported in the newspapers he told her: “I have already bought them all out. You’re the only one left!”
Fast Check CL: “Yapo Julia, ya los tengo a todos comprados. Faltai tú no más”: los detalles de la querella por la desaparición de Julia Chuñil
In 2014, it was the same CONADI that recognised the Putraguel community and received their request toreclaim the ancestral lands. However, claimed lands, for which many families hold “títulos de merced” (Chilean certificates that attest the historical presence of a family or an indigenous community on a given piece of land before the expropriations), had already been assigned to a different community of Lautarian origin (from the Araucania region). Because of this, CONADI has been brought to court on charges of irregularities in its negotiations and the purchase of the land, an accusation that, however, fell through, as the office assigned to the inspection emitted a report on the case without providing proper investigation and deeming it a private dispute.
This ordeal has left the claims of Julia’s community in a legislative limbo. According to the family’s in 2018, the businessman demand to use the land for timber production, cutting down the native forest, and intsifying the threats
Since then, CONADI has assumed a rather ambivalent position.
According to Juana Aguillera, President of the Ethics against Torture Commission, “CONADI’s silence in Los Rios hasrevealed its role and responsibility in the actions or omissions behind the disappearance of Mrs. Julia Chuñil Catricura”.
So far, CONADI has only confirmed that Julia disappeared in an area belonging to a “non-native individual”.
Prior to her disappearance, her family stated that the activist had already made her friends and family aware of her situation, affirming that: “if something happens to me, you know who is behind it”. All of this is part of the background information handed over to the public prosecutor’s office for investigation, which is still confidential. The only clues known so far are the tracks of a “camioneta”, a pick-up truck, an unusual vehicle for the area of the disappearance, and some of Julia’s personal belongings (a walking stick and a pillow), found inside a small and abandoned shed about two kilometers from her house.
The search for Julia Chuñil has soon become a collective demand for justice, joined by many indigenous communities and social organisations, demanding answers and concrete measures. Julia’s case is not, in fact, the only case of activists threatened, disappeared or killed in the country. Citing only one of the most well-knows: in 2016, again in the Los Rios region, the activist Macarena Valdés, who lived in the Mapuche Newen Tranguil community, a sector threatened by the installation of a hydroelectric power plant, was found dead in her home. Macarena was one of the women who opposed the plant’s construction and to this day the cause of her death is unclear.
Throughout the first weeks, the searches didn’t yield many results. Subsequently, Julia’s family has been contacted by the environmentalist NGO “Escazú Ahora”, that provided them with volunteers specialised in searching and tried to give more visibility to the case. At the beginning of January, the INDH (Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos) has asked for further investigations on her disappearance, calling for the application of the Escazú Agreement on the protection of the Defenders of Human Rights and of the Environment, that Chile ratified in 2022.
However, the position taken by the Chilean Government on the case weigh in on the struggle of the Mapuche community, which has consistently and strenuously defended its rights to ancestral lands in Chile, often becoming a victim of violence tied to the extractive industries.
The very President, Gabriel Boric, has expressed concern over the situation, however only going as faras to give directives for more intensive searches.
More than five months have passed since the day when Julia Chuñil left her house without ever coming back, and her case still remains shrouded in silence and uncertainty. The Government and institutions are called upon to provide concrete answers. Her disappearance is yet another chapter in the long history of violence and abuse against those who defend the land and the rights of indigenous communities in Chile.
While her family and her community keep demanding justice, her name has become a collective cry that cannot be stifled.
Giuseppe
Other sources:
Peacelink: Cile: desaparecida la dirigente Mapuche Julia Chuñil
Anfibia.cl: Tras las huella de Julia Chuñil, defensora ambiental Mapuche
Telesurenglish.net: Mapuche Leader Julia Chuñil Remains Missing in Chile
Diario Uchile: ¿Quién es Julia Chuñil, la líder Mapuche de Putreguel que se encuentra desaparecida?
Front Line Defenders: Disappearance of Mapuche indigenous leader Julia Chuñir Catricura
Cau Cau Films: Documental Máfil ñi pu tukulpazugun
An Red: Julia Chuñil Catricura: la defensora ambiental Mapuche recibió amenazas antes de desaparecer
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