Article Author:
Associated Press
Giovanna Dell'orto
Melipeuco, Chile (AP) — Fog suddenly rises from the Truful River beneath the snow-capped Llama volcano, and Victor Cullin smiled at the mottled splashes.
Curin, leader of one of his indigenous communities on the riverbanks of the Chilean Andes, said that his ngen, the owner and guardian spirit of the waterfall, would be his ngen in mid-July. I thought it meant that I approved of the visitation and prayers of the Lord. morning.
“Nature always tells me something and always answers me. and the earth does not belong to me.”
The Mapuche, Chile's largest indigenous group and more than 10% of the population, view the world as untouched. Rivers are not natural resources to be exploited, but home to spiritual powers to be worshiped.
That is why many Mapuche people in water-rich southern Chile oppose hydroelectric power plants and other projects, desecrating nature and making it essential to keep indigenous communities from getting sick. It is considered that it is taking away a lot of energy.
"Being part of nature, we cannot destroy any part of ourselves," said a machi or healer who for rituals watered his truful from his truful. said his guide Lientur Ainao.
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About 200 miles to the south, another town, Miralei Uicharaf, is in a sometimes bitter battle against a hydroelectric power plant on the Pirmaiken River, which flows from the lake through rolling meadows. is unfolding. At the foot of the Andes.
After her resistance and cultural consultations with indigenous communities, an energy company froze plans to plant vegetation on sacred riverside sites, relinquishing ownership of the land. He said he would return them to the Mapuche.
However, the battle is not over as construction of another plant continues. Just as Truful Truful, where the proposed plant is being considered, is not.
"We are both fighting for the river and at the same time in the process of territorial recovery and spiritual rebuilding," Wichalaf said as a thunderstorm hit her wooden hut. Told.
Where spirituality is intertwined with ideology is the issue of indigenous land rights, a volatile issue in Chilean politics. Some Mapuche leaders say the spirits in their dreams help them fight capitalism.
Next month, Chileans will vote on a controversial new constitution that will spotlight indigenous rights and land returns. But it is also dealing with increasing attacks on the agriculture, logging and energy industries, particularly in the Araucania region.
For most Mapuche, such violence further destabilizes the desired balance between people, the natural spaces they belong to, and the spirits that inhabit them. The first step towards that is to make non-Indigenous people understand how nature is important to the Mapuche, said Indigenous leader and mediator Andrés Antibil Alvarez.
"The world is not a booty," he said, sitting by the fireplace in Luca, a traditional building outside his home. "You must understand that this spirit of fire present here is as divine as the Christ of the Church."
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The awe of the Mapuche community members is evident when walking along rivers such as the Turhuru Turhuru River, which means 'from waterfall to waterfall' in Mapudungun.
By the river's main waterfall he said Ayenao did not ask ngen's permission to approach the water or explain the need to do so. Even family members and your animals are sick.
However, if ngen allows it, Ayenao can use the unique "energy power" of the falling water for healing purposes.
After nearly a decade of multiple environmental and cultural assessments and legal appeals, a new hydroelectric power plant located right by the falls has been temporarily blocked in court. The community hopes a final ruling will definitively stop the project. Various rights can now be better protected, such as the use of water at sources for people, said Juan José Crocco, a lawyer who specializes in water regulation. and management. However, it is unclear how the new constitution would change that or apply to hydropower projects.
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Under the leadership of Huichalaf, ten years ago a fierce battle began to stop his three such plants in the Pirmaiken River. She began to dream of Kintuantu. Kintuantu is a ngen who lives at the bend of a wide river.
"Khintuantu told me that he was dying and that I had to speak for him," Huicharaf said.
The vegetation would have raised the river up to the cliff cave where Ngen lives. The cliffs are home to Mapuche ceremonial complexes, including burial grounds, from where souls are believed to migrate via underground water, enter Pirmaiken through caves, and eventually be reborn.
Huichalaf led the capture. Private homes burned down and protesters clashed with police. Further protests and lawsuits ensued, dividing the indigenous communities around the river, and Huychalaf was imprisoned for several months. The company is working with the Chilean government to return ownership of the ceremonial site, said Maria Teresa Gonzalez, the company's manager for Chile.
The company has learned the importance of engaging indigenous communities and has done just that with another factory under construction in Pirmaiken, denouncing continued violence against workers, Gonzalez said. she said.
For Huichalaf, the battle continues.
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Truful Returning to the black volcanoes crossed by Truful, Curin defined his people's goals in more essential terms.
"What is the Mapuche world fighting for? What the Mapuche world protects, not the world of money," he said. "The Mapuche culture is very spiritual and very heartfelt. It is no coincidence that we are still here."
I sipped on it and headed back to the park's ranger post.
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