Boric government in Chile extends state of emergency in Araucanía and Biobío due to violence

Relatives gather in front of the Temuco prison in support of the so-called Mapuche political prisoners in Temucho, Chile, on May 18, 2022. - Military patrols resumed on Wednesday in the Araucanía region of southern Chile , as a response to the growing violence linked to the territorial claims of the Mapuche indigenous people.

(Photo by MARIO QUILODRAN/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNN Spanish) --

The Chilean Interior Minister, Izkia Siches, announced on Monday that the government of Gabriel Boric extended the current state of emergency in the so-called "southern macrozone", which includes the Araucanía region and the provinces of Arauco and Biobío, in the Biobío region.

“We consider that it is an appropriate measure, evaluating the different acts of violence that are being experienced,” Siches announced at a press conference from the Palacio de la Moneda, the seat of government.

The head of the Ministry of the Interior added that another series of measures were arranged, some "of a financial nature, to be able to more easily deploy the Armed Forces, particularly the Navy, in Arauco."

On May 17, President Boric decreed a "limited constitutional state of exception", which allowed the deployment of military forces on some roads "to allow the free movement of people and supplies" due to several acts of violence recorded in the area. .

The opposition criticized the measure after another attack with a fatal victim was recorded on May 24: a 66-year-old Mapuche worker from the cellulose company CMPC, who died after being shot in the head.

On May 28, Boric said at a press conference: "We do not forget any of the victims, all those who have lost their lives as a result of a conflict that the State has not been able to generate the conditions to solve."

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He added that “since 1997, with the first attack in Lumaco, we have been experiencing an ascending spiral of violence that has grown particularly in recent years.”