Center for World Indigenous Studies

Pascual Pichun Collonao, a twenty-seven year old journalism student, is serving five years in a Chilean prison for burning a logging truck. Along with the seventy other Mapuche political prisoners incarcerated under Chile’s anti-terrorism law, Collonao is part of the indigenous movement for Mapuche self-determination under international law. As the Special Rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Council observed, the draconian terrorism laws used against indigenous activists are a direct violation of treaties, conventions and declarations to which Chile is signatory.

Apparently, the North American timber companies carry more weight with the government of Chile when it comes to the indigenous territory of Mapuche.