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PoliticsChile

Chile: Indigenous leader denies son was killed by police

Farah Bahgat
July 10, 2021

Police had said they opened fire when Ernesto Llaitul and others attacked a forestry company. But Hector Llaitul could not identify the body as his son's.

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A police vehicle in Chile during nighttime protests in 2020
Police said a man was injured and another killed in the incident Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Quilodran

Reports of Chilean police killing the son of an Indigenous people's leader sparked confusion after the father did not recognize the body, local media reported Saturday. 

Chile's prosecutor's office and an Indigenous people's representative had earlier confirmed the victim's identity as Ernesto Llaitu, the son of a Mapuche leader. 

The incident came amid attempts to improve relations between the Chilean government and Indigenous communities.

Indigenous demonstrators clash with the police
Mapuche people have had tensions with the state over the repossession of their ancestral landsImage: Cristobal Saavedra Vogel/AA/picture-alliance

What we know about the shooting

Police said the man was killed after a group of men illegally entered the grounds of a forestry company, according to Radio Cooperativa. The hooded men opened fire first and wounded one of the workers, newspaper La Nacion cited the authorities as saying. This reportedly prompted the police to fire at the group.

The incident is said to have taken place at around 5:30 p.m. (2130 UTC) at the Santa Ana-Tres Palos farm in Carahue, 55 km (35 miles) west of the regional capital Temuco.

Incident will 'exacerbate' tensions

Chile's Human Rights Institute said the shooting would "further exacerbate the complex situation in the region," calling for a "prompt, deep and transparent investigation."

For decades, Indigenous people have claimed that their territory had been illegally acquired by agriculture and forestry companies, with state authorities complicit in the process.

The grandson of a local Indigenous leader was shot by a police officer in 2018, sparking nationwide outrage. A court convicted seven police officers involved in that shooting.