UN:Chile should solve land dispute with Mapuche (using an anti-terrorism law against Mapuche)
UN: Chile should solve land dispute with Mapuche
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A United Nations investigator on Tuesday called on Chile's government to stop using an anti-terrorism law against Mapuche Indians who are fighting to recover their ancestral land.
Violence from the Mapuche struggle escalated last year with a string of arson attacks, including one that killed an elderly couple. Their deaths shocked Chileans and raised questions about the inability of President Sebastian Pinera's government to meet the demands of Chile's largest indigenous group and his administration's vow to continue using tough dictatorship-era measures to curb the violence.
Ben Emmerson, the U.N. special investigator on human rights and counter-terrorism, said the situation is "volatile" in the southern regions of Araucania and Bio Bio, where most of the nearly 1 million Mapuche live.
Speaking after a two-week visit to Chile, he warned "that it could turn into a major regional conflict unless urgent action is taken to deal with the acts of violence."
He said Chilean prosecutors have enough legislation "at their disposal to investigate and punish crimes" without the need to use the terrorism law that dates from Gen. Augusto Pinochet's 1973-90 dictatorship.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/un-chile-should-calm-land-dispute-mapuche
