Chile: Church protection needs more than just security training

As BioBio-Chile reported on 11 October 2017, the Chilean police have initiated a training course for basic security measures to be taken in protecting Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in the region of La Araucania. The course will be repeated in the 22 municipalities of Cautin. This measure is in response to the frequent incendiary attacks on churches in the region. Rossana Ramirez, working for World Watch Research, comments: "As a preventive measure, this training is a good idea. However, the root problem for the attacks is clearly not going to be solved by such measures. The Mapuche groups behind the attacks, especially the most radical ones such as Mapuche Resistance and Weichan Auka Mapu, seem to be beyond all State control. Where alleged Mapuche attackers have been tried under Chile"s heavy-handed anti-terrorist laws, such trials have reaped much criticism - also internationally (as reported by TelesurTV on 27 September 2017). If no progress is made in discussing the Mapuche demands for political autonomy, Christian communities inside and outside of the Mapuche communities will continue to live under the threat of attack. This lack of progress could also spark a political crisis just weeks before the end of the current president's government term."