"Disappearance of Mapuche indigenous leader Julia Chuñir Catricura", 27 November 2024

...On 8 November 2024, Mapuche indigenous leader Julia Chuñir Catricura disappeared from Huichaco, on the border between the Máfil and Los Lagos communes, in Chile’s Los Rios region. She was last seen by a friend when leaving her home for a walk to the nearby Lafrir estate.

Julia Chuñir Catricura is a Mapuche woman human rights defender and President of the indigenous community of Putreguel of the Máfil commune, in the Los Rios region, Chile. She is well-known in her community for her work in the defence of the Mapuche territory in face of attempts from external actors to appropriate the community’s lands for private use.

On 8 November 2024, Julia Chuñir Catricura left her house to go to the Lafrir estate where she keeps her farm animals. Since then, her whereabouts are unknown...

According to the family of the Mapuche leader, some days prior to her disappearance, Julia Chuñir Catricura had received threats from private actors to leave the land. Those private actors seek to take ownership of the land of an indigenous community where the defender was, with their authorization. The woman defender has refused ceding the territory since it was bought by the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI) and cannot be used by any person that is not of indigenous descent. Julia Chuñir Catricura’s family also reported that she had received previous threats coming also from landowners in the region due to her work in defence of indigenous lands...