The Rebel Democracy; A Look into the Relationship between the Mapuche People and the Chilean State

Abstract

Leaving behind dictatorial regimes, many Latin American countries move forward democratic regimes. According to international agencies and developed countries, this is remarkable progress and a step toward the implementation of inclusive polities. In the particular case of Chile the economic prosperity is an advantage that strengthens the country in the new millennium. The government is effectively fighting poverty; the atrocities committed under the Pinochet era are no longer denied, and the living standard of large portions of people have critically increased, giving to Chile the image of a good student among the messy class of Latin America. In this context social protests carried on in several countries contrast to Chile's signing of free-trade agreements with different developed countries. This viewpoint tends to overlook, nonetheless, one of the gravest and most ancient political and legal problems: the (unfriendly) relationship that the Chilean State has historically had with its native populations. Since the early years as an independent nation Chile has carried on a controversial and ambiguous relationship with the indigenous peoples that inhabited the country's land. At some times, an explicit hostility has taken place; at some others an effort to get closer. The current situation is particularly problematic. The return to democracy, in the late 1980's, generated legitimate and grounded expectations in the indigenous that the wave of democratization would entail a new type of relationship with the State.