Coordinator of legal taskforce allegedly makes racist remarks
Alejandro Peña, head of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Studies, was accused on Tuesday of making racist comments about Chile’s indigenous Mapuche people, leading to calls for his removal as head of a legal team in southern Chile. Peña, a former District Attorney, was chosen by the government last month to head the team of lawyers to process cases concerning Mapuche people in Chile’s volatile Araucanía region.
The accusation was leveled against Peña by former Colombian District Attorney Mario Iguarán in an interview with CNN Chile. Iguarán confirmed the claims made by Juan Pablo Buonno–Core, a former colleague of Peña's, before a Congressional investigatory committee. Buonno–Core testified that Peña had called the Mapuche people “drunk Indians who beat their wives” in a 2006 meeting with Iguarán.
Dep. Rene Saffirio of the center-left Christian Democrat (DC) party called for Peña’s removal from his role in the legal taskforce in Araucanía.
“We must ask that, at the very least, Mr. Peña is removed from the area as the coordinator for judicial and security matters in the region, since he evidently does cannot provide the necessary guarantees of the position,” Saffirio said. “The current scenario is complicated and this information could generate more violence.”
of the conflict with the Mapuche people in the Araucanía region. Cases of violent acts have tripled in Araucanía in the past year, leading to the government increasing police presence in the region.
By Angus McNeice
Source: The Santiago Times
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