The Chilean Minister of the Interior apologized to Argentina after referring to the Mapuche “Wallmapu”

It all started when Chilean Interior Minister Izkia Siches, in a zoom meeting on Thursday, March 24, commented that “you can't put the scream in the sky when you talk about Wallmapu.” He referred to an ancestral Mapuche concept that includes territories of what are now Chile and Argentina.

The statement generated strong reactions on the other side of the Andes Mountains.

Through a video uploaded to twitter, former Chubut security minister Federico Massoni referred to the term “Wallmapu”, used by Chile's Interior Minister. “We demand that our national government be firm in positioning and make it clear to Chileans that there is no Wallmapu, there is the province of Chubut.”

Legislator Juan Martin, from Juntos for Change for the Province of Río Negro (RN), also commented on Minister Siches' statements on his twitter: “When Chilean officials talk about 'Wallmapu' they are legitimizing a territorial claim that affects our national sovereignty. Therefore, submit a bill to the RN legislature to demand that the Argentine Foreign Ministry formally protest and ask for explanations of the case.”

Hence, Minister Siches apologized: “I do not intend to meddle in the territory of our trans-Andean brothers at all. I want to be very clear, the term is focused on our national territory.” “And, it is not to polarize our country, but rather to look for those meeting points, to speak to our native peoples with great respect.”

I add to this that “if I have caused discomfort at the national or trans-Andean level, I ask for all the corresponding excuses, it has never been in my interest,” Siches stressed.

This public statement was referred to by the Chilean MP Karol Cariola, who in conversation with 13 Noche said that “I think it is evident that there is an excess of sensitivity to some issues on the part of some people. I say this because it causes so much trouble to say “Wallmapu” to La Araucanía (Chilean region located 720 kilometers from the capital) and to all the land linked to the recovery of the territories of the Mapuche people, considering that this is the concept of the Mapuche people. I think it's an exaggeration.”

The parliamentarian added that “if the minister wanted to apologize so as not to generate more controversy about the point, she is entitled to do so. However, it seems to me that it was absolutely unnecessary to ask for this kind of explanation or apology.”

“It seems to me that the minister or anyone in this country has every right to speak about 'Wallmapu', considering the concept that the Mapuche people themselves established in this regard,” Cariola concluded.

The parliamentarian of Rio Negro, Juan Martín reacted again on his twitter account, commenting that “one of the Chilean officials who spoke of 'Wallmapu', legitimizing a claim on Argentine territory, apologized. I feel fulfilled. With a tweet I did much more than Santiago Cafiero as chancellor,” he said.

This controversy arises in the run-up to President Gabriel Boric's first trip to the country, who determined Argentina as the first destination on his international tour. Therefore, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile said that it was never the intention of “meddling” in its sovereignty. The Chilean president's trip to Buenos Aires is scheduled to start on Sunday 3rd until Tuesday 5th April, to hold bilateral meetings.

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