Chile is the only country in South America that does not recognize Indigenous Peoples in its constitution, so it should not be a surprise that it has failed to adequately align its national legislation with international standards for the protection of their rights. One of its most evident failures has been the absence of respect for the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of Indigenous Peoples living in lithium mining and exploration areas.
We are a radio group composed of Mapuche Lafkenche from Budi, Chile, an ancestral territory located in the ninth region of the Araucanía, a Wallmapu (traditional territory of the Mapuche people). We are Indigenous farmers and subsist on raising small-scale livestock. We are adult speakers of the Mapuche language. We are an autonomous media, self-financed mainly by the communities we serve.
In the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile, the mountains turn purple at sunset, and when the sky is dark, a shooting star can be traced across the entire arc of the night sky.
In the COP 27 Indigenous Peoples Pavilion, Lesley Muñoz Rivera (Colla) will speak about how the so-called "white gold" industry affects community life and biodiversity in the Andean salt flats and wetlands, violating the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples, and making it impossible to develop subsistence economies, such as agriculture or tourism.
By Nathalie Martínez (CS Intern)
Por Nathalie Martínez (CS Intern)
Calfin Lafkenche (Mapuche) works locally, nationally, and internationally to assert Indigenous human rights. He is a part of Desarrollo Intercultural Chile, serves as the Latin America coordinator of Alianza MILPA and is the coordinator for the Indigenous Minga, a collective of Indigenous leaders across Latin America. In this interview, Lafkenche reflects on the past, present, and future of Indigenous and state healthcare collaborations in Chile.
By Alexandra Carraher-Kang
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.