anarchy euphoria

Via Radio Kurruf

Hector Llaitul (Osorno, 1967), leader of the CAM (Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco), has not given interviews since there has been a new government in Chile. He speaks now for the newspaper of the Basque Country berria. Llaitul does not foresee any fundamental change in the policies of Gabriel Boric’s government regarding the Mapuche demands. He defends that the “reconstruction of the Mapuche nation” is incompatible with the plurinational proposal of the Chilean left: “It would never occur to us to ask to be part of the State, to be an appendix of the State”. The leader of the autonomist movement maintains that “national liberation means a total rupture with the structures of the State, be they capitalist, social-democratic or socialist”.

How will the change of government in Chile affect Wallmapu?

There will be absolutely no fundamental change. As there was none, for us, when Pinochet left. More than 30 years of pseudo-democratic governments have passed and there has been no return of territory. Boric is making a big fuss, but the extractivist policies have not stopped or even diminished. They do not have the strength, nor will they ever have the strength, to confront the system of domination that exists in this part of the Wallmapu. 90% of the economy is governed here by the forestry industry, which has usurped practically the entire property system from the Mapuche Nation people. This is a problem of structure and this could be partially transformed, only by a revolutionary government, and this one is not.

Have you had an offer from the government for dialogue?

When they officially ask us to talk about territory and autonomy for the Mapuche Nation, I will have no problem meeting with them. But since they don’t want to do that, what are we going to talk about? I prefer to continue in the process of accumulating forces.

What does it mean to continue accumulating forces?

When we started, there were only a few of us, me and a couple of other peñi (companions/comrades). Today we are thousands of armed weichafe (warriors). The CAM has weichafe, and so do other expressions of resistance, of Mapuche national liberation. LNM, the WAM, the Mapuche Lavkenche Resistance and the Malleko, in addition to those who are part of the lof (community) in resistance… It is a strategic issue, the political-military struggle is on the horizon of many expressions of resistance, and that is good for all of us who are in the process of Mapuche revolutionary struggle.

Why did this strategy spread?

Because it has allowed us to make substantive advances that existing political expressions could not offer. The political-military force of the Mapuche people recovers territory, autonomy and dignity. Of the total land recovered, 10 or 20% has been handed over by the state through purchase and sale agreements, negotiated with marketing techniques that favor big capital; the rest, 80-90%, has been recovered by us, through organization and struggle. If we are asked about the ownership documents, we neither know where they are nor do we care about them. Because we have our own codes and norms according to our history and culture.

What is your opinion of the Constituent Convention?

We do not participate, nor are we even close to it. Agreeing with the convention would imply recognizing the State, its constitution, its laws and culture. Whatever the outgoing constitution is, we cannot submit to it because it will not be ours, it can never be ours. We are fighting to be able to organize ourselves again according to our ancestral culture.

How did you experience Boric’s electoral victory?

I don’t care. Boric and Kast represented the two sides of the same coin, we already said it in a communiqué. Nothing will change, we are going to continue having a militarized State, criminalization and persecution… In security matters, they are putting in key positions the same people who organized the repression in Bachelet’s times. These are signs of the way things are going.

Don’t you think a détente is possible?

No.

How do you think the oligarchy and the big forestry companies in this area will react?

The historical oligarchy is going to defend its interests at any cost.

Paramilitary forces and ultra-rightwing white militias such as the Comando Rolando Matus will appear. The large landowners and economic forestry groups feel that the State is not going to defend them with sufficient toughness, that is why they are going to form their own militias to act outside the law.

And how do you think the government will respond?

Let’s see if Boric is determined to go after them. I have my doubts… Note that there has not even been a change of discourse. They talk about condemning violence “wherever it comes from”. How can they compare the violence of the State with ours? How can they tell us that, when we are used to suffer their violence historically? It is something I still don’t understand, some of them are supposed to have left-wing background and culture, and equate the violence of the oppressor with that of the oppressed. The revolutionary violence of the oppressed, like the Mapuche, is absolutely legitimate, it is pure dignity. I am a public spokesman, I show my face, I speak out. Because I am not ashamed, nor will I retract, to say that we exercise the necessary political violence. As long as they continue to devastate and plunder our ancestral territory, we will continue to do so. We are responsible for the sabotage and we vindicate it, but we do not attack farmers, much less the poor, nor the elderly, nor children, nor families, nor people who may suffer collateral effects of our struggle.

We have been attacking capital for a quarter of a century and in this frontal struggle we have not killed anyone, although many of our brothers and sisters have already been killed. They have even been cruelly executed, as in the case of our weichafe Toño Marchant… that is why we will never compromise with the enemy.

What will be the government’s strategy towards the Mapuche movement?

On the one hand, it will offer advantages. The usual poison, but in a Mapuche bottle. On the other hand, it will try to create a petite bourgeoisie within the Mapuche movement. But we foresee a good time of struggle. For now, we are not going to fall for their siren songs because we are ideologically prepared. They are mistaken if they think they are going to fascinate us with their proposals of multiculturalism.

CAM has been fighting for almost a quarter of a century, how do you evaluate it?

The balance is positive because there has been an awakening of our people. Before, we were all a bit afraid, insecure, ignorant… But we, in the movement, are generating action and thought, and that is transformed into a school. Today we learn and relearn. We socialize, debate… more and more people understand what reality is and how it can be changed. The Mapuche people have ceased to be a subdued, victimized people, who were a bit pitiful… Today they are a warrior people, a dignified people. And it is beautiful to see a rebellious people in resistance.

How do you feel after so many years of militancy?

I think I can go down in history as a man who did not compromise, who did not break, and did not deviate from the line. I am still a hardliner, also in terms of the way of life that I have chosen. I have always been, and will continue to be, wherever the organization requires it.

Is your family with you?

My family is with me. My children are weichafe, and I feel very proud of them.

Will there come a time when the CAM will negotiate?

For now, I see it as difficult, but we are accumulating forces to be a great organization for our people.

When we are strong enough to deal with the State, maybe. But it will be to talk about the return of the territory, or it will not be. We believe that this is the time to debate and that is why we will soon publish a book called Chem Ka Radikuam, a text that gathers our thoughts and actions.