Lof Temulemu
One of the most stigmatised Mapuche groups is the Lof Temulemu community, highly recognised for its victory recovering a large part of Chilean ancestral territory, after 15 years of community resistance against the company Mininco forest, and the Chilean State repressive policies. Lof Temulemu leaders (lonkos) whom in various regions have lead protests against the government’s counter-terrorism legislation, are continuously subject to police brutality and raids, whom are responsible for the large number of Mapuche leaders injured, killed, arbitrarily detained and physically assaulted in custody.
Mapuche communities (Mapuche Karha) fluent in their native language Mapuzungun, are the largest indigenous groups in Chile, accounting for nearly 85 per cent of the total of indigenous people and more than one million of Chile’s population. Mapuche groups are well known for their tirelessly work defending the planet's equilibrium (Nagmapu Rhelmu), land and environmental rights from destructive logging activities and hydroelectric projects that have have negatively impacted the environment including sacred rivers within the southern provinces of Chile.
The long history of police brutality against Mapuche leaders reflects the Chilean government and its judicial systems’ unwillingness to recognise Mapuche’s legitimate struggle and to rule in favour of human rights in order to end decades of impunity against Mapuche people.
One group of HRDs representing a marginalised community that continue to face difficulties are indigenous HRDs, notably from the Mapuche people, who were criminalised on several occasions on the grounds of the Chilean Anti-terrorist Act.
