Héctor Llaitul Critiques Gabriel Boric’s Role in Neofascist Offensive in Wallmapu

Original article: “El rol de Boric en la ofensiva neofascista en el Wallmapu”: Análisis de Héctor Llaitul

Héctor Llaitul on Boric’s Administration: ‘Prepared the Way for a Neofascist Offensive in Wallmapu’

In a recent opinion piece, Héctor Llaitul, the leader of the Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco (CAM), critiques President Gabriel Boric’s administration from prison regarding the state conflict in Mapuche territory. He accuses Boric of intensifying militarization, repression, and the criminalization of the Mapuche Nation, surpassing even previous governments in political prisoner numbers and the application of anti-terrorist legislation.

Llaitul argues that the current president not only betrayed his promises of dialogue but has also laid the groundwork for the far-right’s rise. By maintaining a policy of domination and favoring large capital at the expense of local communities, he warns that Boric has «secured impunity for the oppressors,» paving the way for a potential fascist escalation led by José Antonio Kast.

Below, we share the full article submitted to our newsroom:

The Role of Boric in the Neofascist Offensive in Wallmapu

By Héctor Llaitul Carrillanca

The Boric administration will be remembered as the worst in post-dictatorship history for the Mapuche Nation’s struggle. Key actions of his government include:

• Militarization of Wallmapu through aggressive States of Emergency, which were maintained throughout the 4 years of his presidency.
• The failed Peace and Understanding Agreement, deemed a farce by the communities, which faced widespread rejection across the Mapuche movement, resulting in no restitution of land.
• Modernization of the state repression apparatus, which included the acquisition of Israeli technology for police use and abuse in Wallmapu.
• Reinstatement of the National Security Doctrine, creating an ideological framework for persecution and repression, labeling the Mapuche people as the internal enemy of the Chilean state akin to the Pinochet dictatorship.
• Continuity of the criminalization of the Mapuche Cause through harsher legislation that includes cruel and repressive norms, such as the law on usurpations (anti-takings), meant to restore land to forestry companies. The Naím Retamal law, enabling police and military impunity, and enhancements to the Anti-terrorism law to target even the support networks of activists.
• Persecution and imprisonment of an unprecedented number of Mapuche community members, now totaling over 150 Political Prisoners Mapuche (PPM), who suffer degrading treatment and violations of their political and cultural rights, with documented cases of torture.
• Repression of any manifestation and movement advocating for the fundamental rights of the Mapuche Nation, especially concerning land recovery, stifling progress made towards territorial restitution for many communities through repressive policies enacted by judges, police, and prosecutors, many of whom are known for their anti-Mapuche sentiment.

Ultimately, Boric’s administration employed repression, militarization, imprisonment, torture, and various abuses against our people in an effort to reinforce the system of domination.

Moreover, he intensified neoliberal policies to an extreme degree. This includes not only measures benefiting businesses in ancestral territories but also nationally, such as ratifying TPP 11; signing free-trade agreements with the European Union, China, and the U.S.; privatizing copper to Canadian investors; and providing lithium to transnational companies where figures like Ponce Lerou, former son-in-law of Pinochet, were prioritized, contributing to the privatization of Mapuche ancestral land.

So, what did Boric, the Broad Front, the Communist Party, and the former Concertación do as a government? The answer is clear and compelling: they betrayed the Mapuche people and handed us over to the oppressive institutionality, thus allowing the perpetuation of the dominative system. Undoubtedly, they sought, with the full force of the state, to halt the struggle for nation reconstruction and the defense and recovery of our ancestral lands. They ignored our historical demands. Our fundamental struggle is against the capitalist regime that devastates and exploits our historical territory. Our fight is against the unscrupulous businessmen who destroy our itrofil mongen through their investments.

We are a Nation with a history of struggle spanning centuries against domination and invasion, and we are acutely aware of how the Chilean elites and bourgeoisie have built their power on dispossession, oppression, exploitation, and injustices against our people.

Today Boric leaves with his arrogant rhetoric, but he will be remembered as a despot who sought to use us as a battle flag and ultimately betrayed us, siding with the powerful as always.

Boric will go down in history as a sinister figure who paved the way for the far-right under Kast, ushering in a neofascist offensive that threatens a new extermination campaign against the Mapuche people. In fact, Boric has ensured impunity for oppressors within the Mapuche movement, granting free rein to forestry capital, and revealing his true reactionary and treacherous face towards the Mapuche cause.

Boric will be remembered not only for the denounced measures but for having prepared everything for the fascists, favoring the powerful and major economic groups, as his administration replicated the neoliberal model, allowing large capital to reestablish itself in Wallmapu and in contemporary Chile.

These policies, both structurally and ideologically, have created conditions for the accumulation and reproduction of large capital in the usurped territories, opposing the autonomous territorial restitution processes that our communities and resisting organizations are fighting for. This will intensify contradictions and the territorial struggle will escalate.

The Mapuche struggle will not falter in the face of a new fascist offensive. Our ancestors have already shown us the path of resistance, from our pu lonko we learned the marrichiweu  ka weuwaiñ pu peñi pu lamngen.

Freedom for the PPM CAMCHE and all imprisoned weichafe!