Canada: Two Arson Attacks on Logging Trucks in the Province of Arauco

Two arson attacks were car­ried out ear­ly Thurs­day morn­ing at var­i­ous points in the Arau­ca­nia Region.

May 17th, 2015

The first took place in at the Mari­posas Estate, locat­ed on High­way CH181that con­nects the town­ships of Cura­cautín with Vic­to­ria, in the Province of Mal­le­co.

Accord­ing to police reports, the unknown sus­pects entered the area and lit fire to a shed that con­tained log­ging equip­ment.

Guards con­front­ed the sus­pects, which gave way to shots being fired, although police assert there were no injuries report­ed.

Due to the inci­dent a trac­tor, as well as an exca­va­tor, were com­plete­ly destroyed.

Log­ging trucks and Look-Out Posts Dam­aged in Min­in­co

Mean­while, the oth­er inci­dent took place in an area of Min­in­co, on High­way 5 South, at the north­ern exit of the Arau­ca­nia Region.

It was there that three log­ging trucks and a pedes­tri­an look­out post were burnt down, and police are inves­ti­gat­ing on the scene.

Close to 20 armed hood­ed sus­pects forced out the truck dri­vers to com­plete the attack, and the fire reached the near­by look-out post, accord­ing to wit­ness­es.

Dur­ing the morn­ing hours, the Provin­cial Pros­e­cu­tor, Luis Espinoza, stat­ed that they would work with inves­ti­ga­tors and local police to search for clues in con­nec­tion to two oth­er sim­i­lar inci­dents in the town­ships of Cara­cautín and Vic­to­ria.

“The attacks were simul­ta­ne­ous, which pro­voked the arson of three trucks and a look-out pedes­tri­an post. It was a coor­di­nat­ed attack, divid­ing them­selves between the trucks, and intim­i­dat­ing the dri­vers with long and short firearms,” alleged the pros­e­cu­tor.

The local Gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the Arau­ca­nia Region, Mario Gon­za­lez, stat­ed that there would be charges against those respon­si­ble for the inci­dents.

“We are inves­ti­gat­ing the inci­dents with the arson of these trucks and the look-out posts to come up with pos­si­ble charges,” stat­ed the rep­re­sen­ta­tive.

“Every­one rejects these actions that do not favour the devel­op­ment of the region,” added Gon­za­lez.

In the area, pam­phlets relat­ed to the Mapuche land con­flict were found, stat­ing the free­dom of [Mapuche Polit­i­cal Pris­on­er] Patri­cio Queip­ul.

from Women’s Coor­di­nat­ing Com­mit­tee for a Free Wallma­pu

Source: Radio Coop­er­a­ti­va