Mapuche Nation International Conference: Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery

Wallmapuche, Temuco, Chile January 7, 2018

CERRO ÑIELOL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

REGARDING THE VISIT OF POPE FRANCIS

TEMUCO, CHILE, JANUARY 16, 2018.

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1. On the occasion of the visit of POPE FRANCIS to the Mapuche territory, WE CONVOKE our International Conference of Indigenous Peoples on January 16, 2018.

2. From the Cerro Ñielol, the city of Temuco-Chile, the Mapuche organizations along with other organizations of Indigenous Peoples, we will dialogue and send a message to Pope Francis in order to initiate a formal process of Pardon for the Crime of Genocide against the Mapuche Peoples, and for the theft, confiscation and occupation of the Mapuche territory and its resources in the Araucanía, Neuquén, Río Negro and Chubut, as consequences of the coercive military actions denominated "Pacification of the Araucanía" and "Conquest of the Desert". We hope that said processes of pardon will be guided by the parameters and principles of Human Rights, which should include reparations and compensation policy with the Mapuche people on behalf of the Chilean, Argentine and Vatican State.

3. The Mapuche have much to dialogue with Pope Francis in his capacity as representative of the Vatican, issues which include along the continuum historical situations, the accompaniment of the Catholic Church in the coercive military actions "Conquest of the Desert" and the "Pacification of the Araucanía". These Human Rights violations which occurred in context of the historical processes of land dispossession, evangelization, and in short, colonialism and domestication that have targeted the Mapuche People and their rights with all the dire consequences of an ongoing persecution which extends to the present.

4. The Vatican has had a geopolitical relationship with the Indigenous Peoples from the very initial presence of the Hispanic imperial system in Abya Yala [the Americas] and subsequently with the application of the "Doctrine of Discovery", referring to the adoption and application of the Papal Bulls Inter Caetera (1493). This normative system which in its time, purported to give an apparent legality to the acts of conquest, of illegal seizure, confiscation and occupation of the territories of the Indigenous Peoples and in denial and violation their basic Human Rights. The consequences of the "Doctrine of Discovery" remain fully in force although the doctrine has in part been revoked for being illegal, illegitimate and contrary to the Rule of Law as a result of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), which reestablishes the right of Self Determination of Indigenous Peoples and correspondingly the rights of restitution, reparation and compensation in terms of territory, lands and resources that were taken, confiscated and occupied without the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of the Indigenous Peoples.

5. The organizations of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala [the Americas] in relation to the Doctrine of Discovery, have sustained:

“Our position is that the Vatican State, the Holy See and Your Holiness Pope Francis must take adequate measures and advance in the process of international responsibility for the role that the Catholic Church has played in the origin and as intellectual author of the criminal violations of Human Rights which continue to be normalized by the Doctrine of Discovery. We exhort Your Holiness to make public comment in repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery and in clarification of the contradictions here documented.”

V Continental Indigenous Summit (Colombia 2013)

6. From the Cerro Ñielol, in assembly as representatives of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala, we shall collectively ratify our human rights such as the Right of Self Determination, including the formation and exercise of our own systems of self-government, also, we will reaffirm the right to the restitution of usurped lands, and we will exhort all the States of the Americas and especially the States of Chile, Argentina and the Vatican State along with its Churches and congregations to repudiate and renounce their policies of colonialism and domestication of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala [Americas].

7. We will demand a call for Pardon on behalf of Pope Francis as head of the Vatican State, for the Crimes of Genocide and for complicity in the theft, confiscation and occupation of the territories and resources of the Indigenous Peoples. We will also demand a policy of Reparations and Compensation for the damage caused.

8. We call on the organizations of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala [Americas] and the Indigenous Peoples of Chile to actively participate and reaffirm each and every one of our fundamental rights and liberties and to bequeath to the future generations of the Peoples Indigenous people a commitment to our rights and our common destiny based and guided by the foundations of our culture, and the principles of our collective right of Indigenous Self Determination.

AUCAN HUILCAMAN PAILLAMA

International Relations Representative, Consejo de Todas las Tierras.
Council of All Lands, Mapuche Nation
Wallmapuche, Temuco, Chile January 7, 2018