Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco (CAM), a militant indigenous group, has called for increased acts of sabotage against the salmon farming industry.
The group, which seeks to secure an autonomous state for indigenous people in the Araucania region of Chile, released in a statement following the arrest of its leader Héctor Llaitul over alleged violations of the country’s security law. In it, CAM called for indigenous communities to “continue with the resistance and sabotage mainly against the forestry, hydroelectric, mining and salmon industries.”
The Chilean government “once again puts its administration at the service of the oligarchies and economic conglomerates that have their interests placed in our ancestral Mapuche territory,” CAM declared.
Responding to the detention of its leader, CAM declared that “We cannot be intimidated by this government that has kneeled before businessmen,” urging supporters to “fight for the Mapuche national reconstruction.”
In May, the Chamber of Deputies of Chile voted to approve a resolution requesting the Chilean government declare CAM as an “illegal terrorist organisation.” As it stands, the Chilean government has not done that yet.
The salmon sector has previously been targeted by militant groups in Chile. In July 2021, trucks transporting salmon were attacked and set on fire, with Chile’s salmon council responding by stating that “violence will never be the way to resolve differences and we call on institutional channels to address them.”
Back in 2020, drivers working within the country’s salmon industry held a strike to raise concerns about their risk of increased violence due to the threats from militant indigenous groups.
