The Mapuche organizations in Chile met today on Wednesday
July 19 in the city of Temuco, Mapuche Territory of Wallmapuche on the occasion
of your visit which will be held in our territory in January 2018.
We express hope for your visit to our ancestral territory,
considering that you are cognizant of an important part of our history as the Mapuche
Nation of Indigenous Peoples living under the jurisdiction of both the states
of Chile and Argentina.
We would like you, as head of the Vatican State, to become
aware of our firm desire for dialogue on the occasion of your visit to our Mapuche
Wallmapuche territory. A dialogue, which we hope to be based on the principle
and right of self-determination as Indigenous Peoples, deposing once and for
all the historical regimes of paternalism, indigenism, domestication and
colonialism that we have been subject until today.
We recall that Pope John Paul II, on the occasion of the
500th anniversary of the arrival of the Europeans in the continent of the Abya
Yala [Americas], asked for Forgiveness from the Indigenous Peoples. That
petition for forgiveness had its meaning, however, the reality of life of the
Indigenous Peoples did not change, on the contrary, the situatioin for we
Mapuche became even more aggravated and not only did the the policies of
domestication and colonialism continue in full effect, but, the institutionalized
repressive actions of the state have been deployed with greater intensity in
order to hide truth and justice for the Mapuche.
As you are aware, the facts concerning the military coercive
acts in Chile called "Pacification of the Araucania", the "German
Colonization" and in Argentinia known as "Conquest of the
Desert", constituted a crime against humanity evidenced by the forceful
taking, confiscation and occupation of Mapuche territory and resources. These
are the fundamental causes of the current tensions and controversies that presists
in the country lives in regards to the Mapuche people. In this regard, we
expect an urgent pronouncement aimed at compensation and reparations for the
damage caused to the Mapuche people, our territorial and cultural heritage, and
in this way to establish a firm and lasting peace based on truth, justice and
reparation.
On the occasion of your visit, we hope that there will be a
statement on the "Doctrine of Discovery" considering that these were
the institutional means to materialize the conquest and the dispossession of
the territories of the Indigenous Peoples.
We celebrate your Encyclical titled "Laudato Si",
referring to the climate policies of blatant depredation of the land and its
resources, that is, the depredation of our "common house." This
conception of the commons and its vital importance in terms of biodiversity
constitutes the foundation of the cultures of the Indigenous Peoples, including
the Mapuche in particular and due to its great value in the contemporary world
represents a contribution to the present ecological crisis and the future
destiny of humanity as a way to safeguard the life of all Peoples and cultures
of Mother Earth.
We formally communicate that the Mapuche have taken the
decision to act in excersize of the principle of self-determination as
Indigenous Peoples, and in this regard in the month of October 2017, a
delegation of Mapuche diplomats will travel to the Vatican to deliver a formal
and solemn communication that condenses all our expectations on your visit to
Wallmapuche and the manner of protocols via which we would to hope to dialogue.
Best regards.
Aucan Huilcaman Paillama, International Relations
Representative
Nibaldo Romero, Lonko Lonquimay
Wallmapuche, Temuco, Chile 19 July 2017
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