Our government’s obligation is to turn the tide, although this cannot be resolved overnight, the President added before leaving for his first state visit to Argentina.
Boric assured Argentine media that he will continue “the path of dialogue” on the situation of violence in the so-called southern macro-zone, the latest incident of which has led to the fire of 16 houses in the central Biobío region.
“To those who believe that violence is the way to solve something, I tell them they are wrong,” he added of the treatment of these communities, which include Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos.
Tackling this problem “is immensely complex and perhaps one of the most intricate challenges we face as a state,” the President acknowledged.
The ruler recognized that the Mapuche people is a political conflict that stems from public order. “The violence in the area is not three weeks old, it dates back to 1860,” he said.
According to Boric, it would be naïve to seek a solution to the dispute with a declaration of goodwill.
“We must go all ways,” he argued, including “coordination between Chile and Argentina to seek solutions and face it peacefully,” but — he stressed — “respecting territorial sovereignty.”
The president’s statements followed those of the president’s delegate to the Biobío region, Daniela Dresdner, who also called for dialogue in the face of Friday’s attack that burned 15 houses.
“We believe this is the solution. That doesn’t stop us from filing lawsuits in the cases we deem necessary,” the official added of the ambush of about 40 hooded men near the town of Contulmo.
The state must provide security, but also social investment, the official stressed, while the executive analyzed possible measures to deal with the situation this Sunday.
The first official response after the attack was to review the victims’ current situation “to give them a quick solution to their needs,” the interior minister said in a statement.
jha/apb