Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco is an extremist ethnicorganization advocated to the creation of an autonomous Mapuche state in the chilean region of Arauco, which is, they say, the revindication and recovery of former Mapuche lands. They are mostly renowned for their violent methods, often recurring to arsony and other forms of terrorism. It was founded in 1998, in Tranaquepe, Chile, and is responsible for land occupation in the zones of Tirúa, Contulmo, Cañete and Temucuicui. Protesters from radicalized Mapuche communities have used these tactics against multinational forestry corporations and private individuals backed by CAM military power as a form of exerting political pressure. Several of its members have been judged under anti-terrorist laws left from the Pinochet era because of their violent behaviors. CAM arose from the Mapuche conflict that was revitalized in the late 1990s with the rise of ecologism, and the revindication of indigenism by politicians of the Concertación. In 2013, they came into the spotlight for the assassination of Werner Luchsinger and Vivianne Mackay, which led to the imprisonment of one of their leaders, Celestino Cordova. Claiming he is a political prisioner, the organization has repeatedly called on protests and performed acts of terrorism. The land rights claimed by CAM can in many cases be traced to the Occupation of Araucanía in the 1870s and 1880s, a period during which many Chileans and foreign settlers acquired lands in Araucanía, although formal diplomatic relationships between Mapuche and Spaniard settlers were first established way back into 1641, in the :es:Parlamento_de_Quilín_|Parlamento de Quilín. Politically, their members are close to far-left movements such as Revolutionary Left Movement and the Communist Party of Chile, with the latter usually defending CAM activists on the public discussion. Latest evidence, such as their leaders being invited into Caracas and Colombian authorities investigations, has established links between the organization, the regime of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, and the FARC guerrillas. Their members have also been linked to major drug trafficking and both possession and carrying of illegal firearms.
Background
In 1996, some Mapuche communities formed the Lafkenche Territorial Coordinator. In 1998, the conflict of Traiguén arose followed by the later realization of a meeting of communities and a Guillatún. In this meeting the communities in conflict of Arauco and Lumaco participated, the Mapuche Coordinator of Santiago and the Mapuche Organization Meli Wixan Mapu of Santiago. Leaders from communities of Collipulli also joined. During this meeting, the idea of a new meeting in Tranaquepe was raised, only with the Mapuche communities in conflict. In a moment of the meeting, the idea of forming the Coordinadora that they named "Mapuche Coordinator of Communities in Conflict Arauco Malleco" arose. The first attack perpetrated by the group was the 1st of December 1997, when in the area of Lumaco, three trucks belonging to the company Forestal Arauco were intercepted by community members who would later be known as members of the CAM.This action created a new subjectivity in the Mapuche militancy, modifying its way of doing politics, detonating in a conflict against the security forces. According to historian Jorge Pinto Rodríguez, the organization is the entity that up to 2017 has led the most violent mobilization of the Mapuche people: "He has claimed the figure of the warrior or weichafe -in Mapudungun-," he said. Beyond a specific event, Pinto indicated that the beginnings of this organization are associated with a "lack of response from the State in response to the demands made to mitigate the effects of forestry, mining and hydroelectric projects in La Araucanía or Wallmapu, he explained. "They are opposed to a state that they call colonialist and capitalist, and emerge from a stage, at the end of the nineties, of indigenous protests throughout the continent, they take the flag in Chile," said Pinto.
2009 actions and controversy
On the morning of August 12 of 2009, it is alleged by Chilean officials that about 80 Mapuches entered the country estate San Sebastián, located between Collipulli and Angol, and occupied it. The occupation was made in response to their unanswered request to buy the San Sebastián estate by authorities. Sergio González Jarpa, agriculture businessman and owner of the estate, requested to the court of Angol the ouster of the occupants. Carabineros gathered special forces from Araucanía Region and flew in a GOPE unit from Santiago. The ouster begun at around 14.00. As result one young Mapuche Jaime Mendoza Collio was shot dead and one carabinero was injured in the leg. The leader of Mapuche organization Consejo de Todas las Tierras Aucán Huilcamán strongly condemned the actions of the police and called the killing an extrajudicial execution. Later on the Legal Medical Service of Chile stated that the dead Mapuche had been shot from behind in the back. Investigations by Policía de Investigaciones have shown that the Mapuche who was shot, Jaime Mendoza Collío, did not have remains of gunpowder on his hands as Carabineros had suggested. The attacks of 2009 again brought the CAM issue to the level of government. The Alianza por Chile claimed that the Concertación governments have not done enough to arrest the authors of the attacks and protect private property. On August 19, Chilean PresidentMichelle Bachelet condemned an incident between minister Edmundo Pérez Yoma and the opposition deputy Gonzalo Arenas, where Arenas threw an alleged copy of the pardon of former CAM leader Víctor Ancalaf on Pérez Yoma's face. Victor Ancalaf had served 5 years of a 10-year prison sentence for terrorist crimes, which Ancalaf vehemently denies.
