Lafkenche Communities Reject Racist Reforms to Law 20,249 and Call for Protection of Ancestral Rights

Original article: Declaración X Congreso Lafkenche:  “Hacemos un llamado al Estado de Chile a respetar nuestros derechos consagrados en la ley 20.249”

Quellón: X Congress Lafkenche Denounces «Racist and Corrupt» Law Reform and Urges Alertness to Defend Their Rights

During their X Congress held in Quellón on January 9-11, 2026, the communities and territories of the Lafkenche Territorial Identity issued a public declaration strongly opposing amendments to Law 20,249 (Law Lafkenche) currently being discussed in Parliament. They accused the legislative body of working «behind the backs» of Indigenous peoples in a process deemed «racist, corrupt, and colluding with extractive industries,» aiming for «a new dispossession» by attempting to strip them of their ancestral rights to the sea and coastal areas.

See also / Tenth Congress Lafkenche: Defending Law Lafkenche and ECMPO

The declaration highlights the systematic and «misinformed» rejection of requests for Marine Coastal Spaces for Indigenous Peoples (ECMPO), a tool they consider essential for democratic governance, conservation of ecosystems, and the preservation of their culture. They urgently call on the State, government, and parliament to respect their rights, mobilizing their communities to organize against the proposed changes with the firm mantra: «Law Lafkenche is untouchable.»

This significant gathering was organized by the Lafkenche Territorial Identity, hosted by the Wafo Wapi Foundation in Quellón, bringing together hundreds of participants from various territories, alongside fraternal representatives from the Chango, Diaguita, Rapa Nui, Kaweskar, and Yagán communities, with special participation from the Caiçara and Guaraní M’bya peoples of Brazil.

For complete details on their stances, the full declaration from the X Congress Lafkenche is available for review.

Watch the video post on Instagram (Identidad Lafkenche)

Declaration of the X Congress Lafkenche

Quellón, Chillwe – 2026.

From January 9-11, 2026, the communities and territories linked to the Lafkenche Territorial Identity gathered in Quellón, Futa Wapi Chillwe, for the X Congress Lafkenche. Over these three days, traditional authorities, leaders, and territorial delegates met with significant participation from territories ranging from Arauco to Palena to discuss various topics, including the current and future political context affecting the Mapuche Lafkenche communities.

WE DECLARE THE FOLLOWING:

We reject the progress of proposed amendments to Law 20,249 in Parliament, as they violate our rights, creating a new dispossession: just as we have been deprived of land, they now seek to take our sea.

In recent years, we have faced systematic rejection of requests for Marine Coastal Spaces for Indigenous Peoples (ECMPO), approached with misinformation, indifference, and racism, claiming our requests hinder the country’s economic development. However, we firmly believe this is a tool for creating inclusive democratic governance with all actors interacting in the maritime space, safeguarding resources, preserving all forms of life, and enabling development in harmony with the nature present in the sea and its coasts.

The parliament, in this racist, corrupt attempt colluding with the extractive industry, seeks to modify the law behind our backs, without even inviting us, as authors of the regulation, to discuss the issues they claim are being generated.

We call upon the political power, the State of Chile, the parliament, the current and incoming government to respect our rights enshrined in Law 20,249 and international treaties, as it recognizes and protects our customary uses through the establishment of ECMPO, which strengthen the territories, allow the Lafkenche communities to maintain their culture and way of life, revaluating our kimün and history, integrating all actors who interact with lafken and who work, inhabit, and build the culture related to the sea.

In a critical moment for our law, confronted with a modification attempt moving forward behind the territories’ backs, we urge our communities to become informed, organize, and be alert to urgently defend our law using all available means.

The Lafkenche law is untouchable; it embodies our history and safeguards our rights and traditions as the Mapuche people.

See also the ECMPO Wafo Wafi post on Instagram