In an announcement posted on CONADI’s (the Chilean Indigenous development corporation) website on Wednesday, February 8th, it was announced that families of the Mapuche community of Huemal Curin de Loncoche received land from the government. Speciically, just under 85 hectares (210 acres) of farmland was given to families from the community. The total investment cost approximately US$ 575,000 and should allow the community to farm and raise animals.
In a ceremony that was attended by Mapuche leaders and community members, the land was officially given to the community. Carlos Moraga Curin, the community’s President, summed up the mood of the day: “I feel very happy and proud to be receiving these lands, because here will live my daughters and my grandchildren.”
According to the Alcalde of Loncoche (Loncoche is the comuna within which the Mapuche community lives), this is the fifth land transfer to a Mapuche community living in the comuna within the past 14 months. This is significant, again according to the Alcalde, because despite having more than 130 Mapuche communities in the area, prior to 2011 there had been no lands returned to any of the communities.
