Via GJEP co-founder Orin Langelle
“I took this photo on 10 October, 2024 of Lonko Juan Pichún in Temulemu, Chile. The word “Lonko” is a Mapuche name given to the community and spiritual leader. In October of 2024, I was part of a three-week investigative and human rights delegation organized by Global Justice Ecology Project to look into and document the serious repression of the Mapuche Indigenous People by the Chilean government. We also wanted to see what impacts the pine and eucalyptus monoculture plantations have on the Mapuche.”
“We traveled to many Mapuche communities to document the stories and experiences of the Mapuche who were involved in the recovery of their ancestral lands stolen by the timber company under the Pinochet dictatorship of the 1970s and 80s. In fact, Pinochet’s constitution is still in effect and now the timber company, Arauco, is a major corporation on stolen Mapuche territory. They also control the false narrative of the Mapuche as “terrorists” trying to squelch the legitimacy of the Mapuche’s attempt to recover their own lands.”
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE: https://langellephoto.org/field-notes-episode-7-struggle-for-mapuche-territory-2024/
