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Temuco (Chile) (AFP) – Military returned to patrol the region of La Araucanía, in southern Chile, following the order given by President Gabriel Boric after the increase in violence in the area amid land claims by Mapuche indigenous people, AFP found on Wednesday.
The military forces entered the region of La Araucanía, some 600 km south of Santiago de Chile, the capital, starting Tuesday night and this Wednesday they were visible on several routes in this area, where they were also recorded at dawn. arson attacks.
The order to once again militarize the region of La Araucanía and some towns in the neighboring region of Biobío was given on Monday by President Gabriel Boric, who had to take a step back from his initial intention of not resorting to this measure again -established by his predecessor, the conservative Sebastián Piñera- to protect the place.
Boric unsuccessfully tried to get congressional approval of an “intermediate state of emergency” that would allow him to deploy the military only in a few places.
But given the notorious increase in acts of violence and the call for an armed uprising by a radical group, the Chilean president chose to use this presidential power again, focusing military control mainly on the safety of highways and rural roads, protected by different military vehicles, including trucks and tanks.
When announcing the measure on Monday night, the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches, stated that the Government “decided to make use of all the tools of the State to provide security to our citizens.”
The deployment of the military coincides with a call by indigenous leaders to help support those whom they consider “Mapuche political prisoners”, inmates at the Temuco Penitentiary Center for various crimes, mostly arson attacks.
“The resistance is not terrorism. Freedom for the Mapuche political prisoners,” said a huge poster displayed outside the place, which was without police protection and where no incidents were recorded at the moment.
with AFP
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