37 years old, married, employee, forcibly disappeared on September 12, 1973, in Santa Bárbara, Bío-Bío province. RUBIO LLANCAO, JUAN DE DIOS: 38 years old, small-scale farmer, forcibly disappeared on September 12, 1973, in Santa Bárbara, Bío-Bío province.

RUBIO LLANCAO, JULIO ALBERTO: 36 years old, farmer, forcibly disappeared on September 12, 1973, in Santa Bárbara, Bío-Bío province. TRANAMIL PEREIRA, JOSE MARIA: 47 years old, married, farmer, forcibly disappeared on September 12, 1973, in Santa Bárbara, Bío-Bío province.

These four individuals were leaders of their respective Pehuenche communities located in the Alto Bío-Bío zone: José Guillermo Purrán Treca, of the community of Juan de Dios Rubio Llancao and his brother Julio Alberto Rubio Llancao, of the Cauñicú community; and José María Tranamil Pereira, chief (cacique) of the Trapa-Trapa community.

They were detained that day by Carabineros officers from the town of Santa Bárbara and have remained disappeared ever since. According to statements from family members and witnesses, all of them were summoned by a Bando (official military decree), and as a result, they presented themselves to the local police authorities, remaining detained at the Santa Bárbara Carabineros unit.

As they did not return to their homes, their relatives went to search for them at that facility, without obtaining any information regarding their whereabouts. In the case of José Guillermo Purrán, his relatives were informed that he had been transferred to the Los Angeles Regiment, a facility where his arrest was initially acknowledged but subsequently denied.

Regarding José María Tranamil, five days after his detention, Carabineros appeared in the Trapa-Trapa community and arrested his son, who was 17 years old at the time. They took him on foot to Santa Bárbara and threatened him, telling him that the same thing would happen to him as to his father if he did not hand over the weapons that were in his possession.

The young man was detained for a week in Santa Bárbara before regaining his freedom. Since the day of their detentions, these four indigenous leaders have been disappeared. According to information received by this Corporation, all of them were executed at the Quilaco bridge over the Bío-Bío river, at the entrance to Santa Bárbara.

Considering the evidence gathered and the investigation conducted, due to the collective nature of the situation and the repeated occurrence of similar cases in the zone, the Superior Council reached the conviction that the disappearance and probable death of these four people is the responsibility of the State agents who detained them.

For this reason, it declared José Guillermo Purrán Treca, Juan de Dios Rubio Llancao, Julio Alberto Rubio Llancao, and José María Tranamil Pereira to be victims of human rights violations.

Source: Corporation Report

A completely irregular situation is occurring in the commune of Curacautín, in La Araucanía, specifically at the Collico school, where the municipality maintains a criminal convicted of crimes against humanity as director.

The individual is Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán, a civilian convicted for his participation in the disappearance of 28 peasants in Santa Bárbara and Quilaco, in the foothills of the Biobío, between September and December 1973.

Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán is the name of the criminal convicted of crimes against humanity who works as the teacher in charge of the rural Collico school in Curacautín. The offender was convicted, along with four Carabineros and nine civilians, as the perpetrator of the kidnapping and disappearance of 28 peasants in Quilaco and Santa Bárbara, in what constitutes one of the most brutal crimes of the dictatorship.

Burgos Belauzarán was sentenced to four years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional practice for the duration of the sentence, but he currently appears as the teacher in charge of the rural Collico school, with a salary of more than $2 million.

He has held the position since at least 2016. Due to the gravity of this situation, not only because of its illegality but because of what a conviction for crimes against humanity entails, SUMMARY contact was made with both the DAEM (Municipal Education Administration Department) of Curacautín and the Regional Ministerial Secretariat (Seremi) of Education in La Araucanía, from where they avoided assuming responsibility and announced that the situation is in the hands of a legal team "to reach a resolution." From the municipal education department, they indicated that "the Supreme Court has not yet informed us, and during the current collection of background information, the disqualification emerged, and that is why the information was sent to the lawyers. I had no idea; I have been in the position for almost a year and I am not from Curacautín either." Patricio Aguilera, director of the DAEM, noted that this rural school is currently in recess, but Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán appears to be earning a salary, as of March 2023, of more than $2 million. In this regard, Aguilera replied that "he is on medical leave and the leave is paid by the Isapre (health insurance). We have now sent the background information to the legal advisors when we received the certificate of disqualification; we immediately referred it to our lawyers." When asked, the Seremi of Education of La Araucanía, María Isabel Mariñanco, about the reason for the continued employment of a human rights violator as the person in charge of a school, she limited herself to blaming the employer, avoiding any reference to possible measures. "In the administrative scope of the management of educational establishments, personnel hiring is under the responsibility of the employer, which in this case corresponds to the municipality. As the Ministry of Education, we call on municipalities and the local public education service, in their capacity as employers, to provide greater rigor to the processes of reviewing the background of those who work in educational establishments." For now, the criminal convicted of crimes against humanity, Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán, is on medical leave and, according to the DAEM, they are "waiting" for the legal team's review to finalize his dismissal; for the time being, he continues to appear as the teacher in charge of the Collico school. Below, we describe the events in which Burgos Belauzarán participated directly as a perpetrator, committed in Santa Bárbara and Quilaco between September and December 1973: The judicial investigation establishes in detail the various criminal episodes carried out by the uniformed officers and civilian executors of true extermination raids. Thus, on September 13, 1973, a group of civilians and Carabineros, all armed with firearms and traveling in motorized vehicles, arrived at the home of Cristino Humberto Cid Fuentealba, located on the El Rodal plot, on the outskirts of Quilaco, proceeding to detain him in the presence of his relatives, and then taking him away on foot to an unknown destination, making him disappear to this date. On September 14, 1973, Juan de Dios Fuentes Lizama and Juan Francisco Fuentes Lizama were kidnapped from their home located in a hut on the Corcovado estate, on the road to Villacura, in the commune of Santa Bárbara, by Carabineros and civilians, and their fate remains unknown to this date. On September 16, 1973, Juan de Dios Rubio Llancao and Julio Alberto Rubio Llancao were detained and transferred to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, under the command of the Unit Chief, the then-Lieutenant Planté Aravena Sáez. The same day, Guillermo Purrán Treca went to the indicated police unit seeking protection because he could not return to his home, as he had missed the bus and the start of the curfew was approaching, but they left him there as a detainee. At night, these three peasants, plus José María Tranamil Pereira who had also been detained, were taken out of the police facility and transported to the Quilaco bridge where the Carabineros riddled them with bullets; since that date, all news regarding the four peasants has been unknown. On September 16, 1973, Sebastián Hernaldo Campos Díaz presented himself voluntarily to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, as he had been previously summoned, and remained detained; to this date, there is no news of his whereabouts. At noon on September 17, 1973, Elba Burgos Sáez was detained by Carabineros on a public street in the city of Santa Bárbara, was put into a pickup truck, and taken to an unknown destination; since that date, all news of her whereabouts or existence has been unknown. On the afternoon of September 17, 1973, José Rafael Zúñiga Aceldine, José Secundino Zúñiga Aceldine, and José Gilberto Araneda Riquelme went voluntarily to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, complying with a summons that, through a third party, the Carabineros of the aforementioned police unit had made to them, being entered into said facility as detainees; since that date, all news regarding their whereabouts or fate has been unknown. In the commune of Quilaco, in the early hours of September 20, 1973, a group of Carabineros and civilians arrived at the home of José Felidor Pinto Pinto, a leader of the Campo Lindo peasant settlement, located on the old Huinquén estate, whom they detained, taking him from his house to an unknown destination in vehicles, from which moment there was never any news of his fate, his trail disappearing to this date. In the morning hours of September 20, 1973, in the commune of Santa Bárbara, the group of executioners arrived at the 'El Huachi' estate, located 8 kilometers from that commune, and detained José Domingo Godoy Acuña, Julio César Godoy Godoy, and Desiderio Aguilera Solís, transporting them to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station, from where they were taken out during the night to an unknown destination and have not been seen again or had their whereabouts known to this date. Around noon that day, the same group headed to the Loncopangue village and also to the vicinity of the Rañiguel estate in the same sector, proceeding to detain Luis Alberto Cid Cid, Luis Bastías Sandoval, and Raimundo Salazar Muñoz, who were loaded onto a truck from the Quilaco Municipality driven by José Feliciano Gutiérrez Ortiz, known as 'El Chamo', to then be taken along the public road that leads to Quilaco to a path that leads to the confluence of the Bío Bío and Quilmes rivers, where they were taken off the vehicle and, guarded by their captors, were led walking to the banks of the indicated watercourses, at which moment their captors allegedly fired at them with firearms, their bodies falling into the channel of the mentioned rivers, their real whereabouts remaining unknown to this date. Also that same day, in the afternoon, the local resident Segundo Marcial Soto Quijón was detained in Quilaco by a group made up of Carabineros and civilians, a date from which they made him disappear. In the commune of Santa Bárbara, at approximately 14:00 hours on the same day, September 20, the criminal group detained José Nazario Godoy Acuña in the Los Junquillos sector, who was subsequently transferred to the Santa Bárbara Carabineros Station. Around 22:30 hours on September 20, 1973, in the commune of Santa Bárbara, they arrived at the home of Manuel Salamanca Mella, located on Avenida La Feria without number in Santa Bárbara, where they detained him in the presence of his relatives, to then take him to the Carabineros Station. On the same date, the same group went to the boarding house located at Calle Rosas N° 343 in the commune of Santa Bárbara, where they detained José Mariano Godoy Acuña, who was transferred to the Station where they were seen for the last time, without having been seen again or having any news of their whereabouts to this date. On the night of September 20, 1973, the same armed group of Carabineros and civilians arrived at the home of Miguel Cuevas Pincheira located at Calle Rosas N° 371 in Santa Bárbara and detained him, in the presence of his relatives, spouse, and children, taking him out of his house and transporting him to an unknown place without having been seen again or having any news of his whereabouts to this date. On September 23, 1973, in the early hours of the morning, the group of executioners broke into the La Palma smallholding, in the commune of Santa Bárbara, to kidnap the peasants Sergio D’Apollonio Petermann, 48 years of age, and his son Carlos Jacinto D’Apollonio Zapata, 22 years of age, from their home. They transported Carlos Jacinto to the bridge that connects the communes of Santa Bárbara and Quilaco, over the Bío Bío river, where they placed him on one of the railings and fired at him with firearms, thus falling into the riverbed. However, the current dragged his body to one of the banks where, on the morning of the following day, his body was found by relatives and acquaintances. They took the corpse to his home and proceeded to hold a wake to then give him a burial, but in the afternoon of that day, the same individuals who had kidnapped him the night before broke in to steal the young man's body and took it away to make it disappear to the present. On the morning of November 3, 1973, at approximately 11:00 hrs., the group of Carabineros and civilians arrived at Plot N° 112 of the Piñiquihue sector of the commune of Quilaco, where they detained José Roberto Molina Quezada, took him out of his house, and took him away in a vehicle to an unknown destination, a moment from which there was never any news or knowledge of his whereabouts. On the night of Saturday, November 3, they arrived at the home of Gabriel José Viveros Flores located on the outskirts of Loncopangue, proceeding to detain him in the presence of his relatives, taking him out of his house and taking him away to an unknown destination. Around 16:00 hours on November 7, 1973, in circumstances where Aliro Segundo Oporto Durán, 17 years of age, was in a house located in the Raleo sector of the town of Alto Bío Bío, Carabineros personnel arrived to detain him, but the young man ran in the direction of the Bío Bío river, being pursued by the police, one of whom shot him, managing to apprehend him, a moment from which all news of his whereabouts or existence is unknown. by Juan Contreras Jara

Source: resumen.cl, May 10, 2023

Date: 05-10-2023

Supreme Court convicted retired Carabineros and civilians for kidnappings in Biobío in 1973 (EXCERPT)

The Second Chamber overturned the appealed sentence ex officio in the part that considered the civilians as accomplices to the crimes and, in a replacement sentence, convicted them as perpetrators, for having had direct participation in the detentions and kidnappings.

The Supreme Court accepted the appeals for cassation on the merits filed and issued a final sentence in the investigation into the qualified kidnappings of José Domingo Godoy Acuña, Julio Godoy Godoy, Desiderio Aguilera Solís, José Nazario Godoy Acuña, Manuel Salamanca Mella, José Mariano Godoy Acuña, Miguel Cuevas Pincheira, Sebastián Hernaldo Campos Díaz, José Rafael Zúñiga Aceldine, José Secundino Zúñiga Aceldine, José Gilberto Araneda Riquelme, Juan de Dios Rubio Llancao, Julio Rubio Llancao, José María Tranamil Pereira, José Guillermo Purrán Treca, Elba Burgos Sáez, Juan de Dios Fuentes Lizama, Juan Francisco Fuentes Lizama, Sergio D´Apollonio Petermann and Aliro Oporto Durán; and of Cristino Humberto Cid Fuentealba, José Felidor Pinto Pinto, Luis Alberto Cid Cid, Luis Alberto Bastías Sandoval, Raimundo Salazar Muñoz, Gabriel José Viveros Flores, Segundo Marcial Soto Quijón and José Roberto Molina Quezada. Illicit acts perpetrated in the communes of Santa Bárbara and Quilaco, respectively, between September and December 1973. In a split decision (case file 24.143-2019), the Second Chamber of the highest court – composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, and minister María Teresa Letelier – overturned the appealed sentence, issued by the Court of Appeals of Concepción, ex officio in the part that considered the civilians as accomplices to the crimes and, in a replacement sentence, convicted them as perpetrators, for having had direct participation in the detentions and kidnappings. In the final sentence, the following were convicted as perpetrators of the crimes: Planté Euclide Aravena Sáez to a sentence of 14 years of imprisonment; Héctor Isaías Echeverría Beltrán and José Heraldo Pulgar Riquelme must serve 11 years of imprisonment; Carlos Santiago Sepúlveda Rivera and Exequiel del Carmen Celedón Barrera, 10 years and one day; Sergio Amado Fuentes Valenzuela, Luis Enrique Ricardo Antonio Barrueto Bartning, and Manuel Darío Barrueto Bartning to 6 years of imprisonment; while Jorge Denis Domínguez Larenas, Jorge Eduardo Valdivia Dames, and José Roberto Valdivia Dames must serve 5 years and one day of imprisonment. Finally, the convicted Eugenio Villa Urrutia, Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán, and José Feliciano Gutiérrez Ortiz were sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release for the same period. "That, in relation to the denounced defect, it should be kept in mind that to analyze the degree of participation that – among others – corresponded to the accused Luis Barrueto Bartning, Manuel Barrueto Bartning, and Sergio Fuentes Valenzuela, in the crimes of qualified kidnapping of Manuel Salamanca, José Domingo Godoy Acuña, José Nazario Godoy Acuña, and José Mariano Godoy Acuña; and to the defendant Jorge Domínguez Larenas in the crime of qualified kidnapping of Sergio D’Apollonio Petermann, the second-instance sentence, in its 57th foundation, referred to the functional theory of the act and analyzed the requirements of co-perpetration, after which it concluded in reasoning 59° that the conduct of all the civilians who intervened in the events could only be considered as complicity," the ruling states. (EXCERPT)

Source: latribuna.cl 10/22/2022

Date: 10-22-2022

Court of Appeals of Concepción issued conviction for dictatorship crimes in Santa Bárbara and Quilaco

The visiting minister of the Court of Appeals of Concepción, Raquel Lermanda, issued a first-instance sentence in the investigation into the kidnappings of 29 people, which occurred in the towns of Quilaco and Santa Bárbara, Bío Bío Region, between September and November 1973.

The magistrate issued a conviction against the people who participated in the qualified kidnappings of José Rafael Zúñiga Aceldini, José Secundino Zúñiga Aceldini, José Gilberto Araneda, Juan de Dios Rubio Llancao, Julio Rubio Llancao, José María Tranamil Pereira, JOSE GUILLERMO PURRAN TRECA, José Domingo Godoy Acuña, Julio César Godoy Godoy, Desiderio Aguilera Solís, José Nazario Godoy Acuña, Manuel Salamanca Mella, José Mariano Godoy Acuña, Miguel Cuevas Pincheira, Juan de Dios Fuentes Lizama, Juan Francisco Fuentes Lizama, Elba Burgos Sáez, Sebastián Hernaldo Campos Díaz, Aliro Oporto Durán, Sergio D’Apollonio Petermann (all of them occurring in Santa Bárbara); and of Cristino Humberto Cid Fuentealba, José Félido Pinto, Luis Alberto Cid, Luis Alberto Bastas Sandoval, Raimundo Salazar Muñoz, Gabriel José Viveros Flores, Segundo Marcial Soto Quejón and José Roberto Molina Quezada (occurring in Quilaco). The determined sentences are as follows: Planté Aravena Saez: 14 years. José Jaime Godoy Godoy: 11 years. Héctor Isaías Echeverría Beltrán: 11 years. Jorge Domínguez Larenas: 10 years and one day. José Heraldo Pulgar Riquelme: 11 years. Sergio Amado Fuentes Valenzuela: 10 years and one day. Jorge Eduardo Valdivia Dames: 10 years and one day. José Roberto Valdivia Dames: 10 years and one day. Luis Enrique Ricardo Antonio Barrueto Bartnning: 10 years and one day. Manuel Darío Barrueto Bartnning: 10 years and one day. José Segundo Ruiz Prado: 5 years and one day of imprisonment. Eugenio Villa Urrutia: 10 years and one day. José Eleodoro Burgos Sandoval: 12 years. Juan Carlos Burgos Belauzarán: 10 years and one day. Carlos Antonio Sepúlveda Rivera: 11 years. José Feliciano Gutiérrez Ortiz: 10 years and one day. Exequiel del Carmen Celedón Rivera: 10 years and one day. Sergio Alejandro Pino Cabeza: Acquitted. In the civil aspect, the claims filed were accepted, determining that the Treasury must pay various sums to the victims' relatives for the moral damage caused by the kidnapping of their relatives. In addition, the convicted must assume payment of various amounts for the same event. It should be mentioned that in the year 2011, Minister Carlos Aldana had issued a conviction for the same events; however, the sentence was annulled by the Court of Appeals of Concepción, so Minister Lermanda assumed the case as a non-disqualified minister.

Source: angelino.cl 5/10/2013

Date: 05-10-2013

Valuable film record in the high mountain range of the Biobío region. Documentary Pewenches: A rescue of historical memory and ways of life

"Pewenches" is a film narrative recorded in the high mountain range of the Biobío region, where a place is revealed where nature expresses itself in all its splendor, where the cultural landscape grants a personal identity to its ancestral inhabitants, and where the tributaries of the rivers that irrigate and make the fruits of the Pewen give birth each year detach from the sky.

The audiovisual work, made by Juan Benítez Paz, records the selective work of various Mapuche communities of the Queuco valley, who show and narrate the best of themselves, in their daily activities, as well as those who have sought beyond their borders the way to transform their reality.

There are several stories that are intertwined in this work: the story of Manuel Vita Gallina, a colihue artisan, who tells of the ups and downs of his trade and the memory of the place with its first inhabitants; also the story of Julio Purrán Treca -the boatman of Callaqui- belonging to a family with a long tradition of boatmen, since his father and grandfather dedicated themselves to the same trade, and who unfortunately passed away a few months ago, so this is his last record.

The Pewenche tenor José Miguel Pellao is another of the characters portrayed in the Alto Biobío, and he refers to the loss of cultural identity and delivers a message to the youth. And the octogenarian Pewenche from Callaqui, Clementina Treca, who performs a song in Chedungún to explain the mythical settlement of the first Pewenche who settled toward Chile from Argentina.

Finally, the story of the forcibly disappeared JOSE GUILLERMO PURRAN TRECA is told, in one of the cases of human rights violations that occurred in the Alto Biobío. The emotional testimony is narrated by his daughter -Francisca Purrán Milla- and the neighbor who was detained with him, René Beltrán.

It should be noted that "Pewenches" is the second film record of the Mapuche communities of the Biobío region made by Juan Benítez Paz, with the production of the CEPAS Foundation and the support of the 2% Culture fund of the Regional Government of the Biobío.

The first, "Lafkenches," provided a look at the coastal Mapuche communities of Tirúa, in the Arauco province, and together they seek to contribute to the rescue of our roots, the appreciation of the original peoples, and therefore, of the territorial identity of the south of the Biobío.

Source: Elciudadano.com (no date)

Wallmapu: Historical and present defense of a source of life, the Bío-Bío. (excerpt)

Water or "ko," in the Mapudungun language, is one of the fundamental components in Mapuche spirituality. For this reason, Fernanda Castro Purran is one of the young women who has assumed the responsibility of defending the river, who points out that the current struggle is due to the example of the women in the territory.

Inspiration and collective memory Fernanda Castro Purran is a young Mapuche Pewenche, 30 years old, who was born and raised in the Callaqui community, in the Alto Bío Bío. When she was a girl, her grandmother used to weave witro —known as slingshots— and every time she made them, she had a lot of anger.

She would tell her granddaughter that it was "for the kids." At that time, Fernanda's cousins were going to demonstrate against the projects. "I was a girl when they started to protest against Pangue, which was the first project that arrived," she remembers.

Fernanda is a teacher and is dedicated to conducting programs and cultural exchanges with young people from different territories of the world in the international NGO "Ríos to Rivers," an organization founded to train and educate the community in the care of rivers in the world.

In addition, together with Yoana Benítez Necul, she founded the female rafting team Pewenche Malen Leubü (girls of the river). From her grandmother, Rosa Milla, she learned Mapuche spirituality and the way to care for nature.

Since she has had consciousness, her family has been facing extractivist projects that have been located in the territory. "She would take me to the river and talk to it, but she said that it had to be done in Mapudungun, because otherwise it was very difficult to connect with the water," she remembers.

Fernanda Castro Purran's grandfather, José Guillermo Purrán Treca, of the Callaqui community, was a forcibly disappeared victim of the military dictatorship in 1973. He was a leader and recognized at the territorial level.

Fernanda did not know him, and the only photograph she had of him burned when her aunt's house caught fire. According to the story told to them by a lamngen (brother in the Mapudungun language) of the community who was with her grandfather, they were on their way to Ralco from Santa Bárbara when they were detained, taken to the police station, and released.

Later, when they were walking, a group of soldiers passed by and asked who they were. They took them, tied their feet and arms, and loaded them onto a truck; what the person who survived remembers is that they were standing on the Quilaco Bridge where the Bío Bío river passes, near Santa Bárbara, and they shot them. "The lamngen says that he played dead, they kicked him, and he managed to endure, and they shot my grandfather in the leg and threw him from the bridge into the Bío Bío river with his arms tied.

Every time a body has been found, we are on alert; we always have hope. My eldest aunt is already over 60 years old and she still demonstrates; she leads the search for justice. I forgot his face a little, but the oral memory of the family persists; what my family remembers of him, they transmit," she says.

Her grandfather was not a member of any political party. "In those years, they were fighting for a Mapuche school and my grandfather led the process; in his house, meetings were held, people from many places always arrived. He led the process and they persecuted him for being Mapuche and a leader of social causes," indicates Fernanda Castro.

Source: cctt.cl 4/21/22 (excerpt)

Fernanda Castro Purran, the Mapuche Pewenche defender for free rivers (excerpt)

Fernanda Castro Purran comes from the Callaqui community in the Alto Biobío in southern Chile. It is Pewenche territory, that is, "people of the pewen" or araucaria, a sacred tree for the Mapuche People.

There is the Biobío river, one of the most voluminous in Chile, which is interrupted by three mega hydroelectric plants: Pangue in 1996, Ralco in 2004, and Angostura in 2014. Today it is being intervened again, but the slogan of Fernanda and many inhabitants who oppose new projects is "for free rivers." The young Mapuche woman, together with indigenous and environmentalist communities, maintains that the fourth plant that is being built, called Rucalhue, by the transnational China Three Gorges Corporation, will increase the serious and irreversible impacts on biodiversity.

The company defines its project as "clean and renewable" and already has its Environmental Qualification Resolution approved, but for the defenders of the Biobío river basin, dams are not clean energy.

Her aunt, María Purran Milla, comments that Fernanda was enthusiastic in her studies, independent, and sociable from a young age. "She alone started to move many people; she has fought in defense of the environment.

I think that the strength she has, she inherited from my dad, because he was a great fighter who always defended our ancestors, his community. Feña has gone to other countries to tell what is happening here; I feel proud of my niece, because you have to take care of the rivers," she says.

María is the eldest of her siblings; she was 14 years old when her father, JOSE GUILLERMO PURRAN TRECA, was forcibly disappeared, a victim of the military dictatorship in 1973 of Augusto Pinochet. He was a leader and recognized at the territorial level; he traveled to different communities on horseback, recovered land for other families. "My dad, for speaking out, for being a Mapuche who defended the environment, they killed him.

To this day we do not have justice, like many people in the territory; that hurts, it marks you for life. It is a cursed memory that we have. My dad was not a terrorist; he died fighting," points out María. (excerpt)

Source: climatetrackerlatam.org 3/26/2022

Date: 03-26-2022