Chilean justice decrees provisional imprisonment for Mapuche leader Héctor Llaitul

Chilean Justice has decreed this Thursday provisional prison for Mapuche leader Héctor Llaitul, a day after he was arrested as part of an investigation for his alleged commission of crimes related to timber theft, land usurpation and attacks against the State.

Judicial authorities have given the Prosecutor’s Office 30 days to complete its investigation, during which time Llaitul must remain in a penitentiary center located in the Biobío region, in the center of the country.

Llaitul was arrested in the town of Cañete, as a result of an investigation initiated in 2020 by the government of the then president, Sebastián Piñera, and continued now by the Executive of Gabriel Boric. His public statements defending the armed struggle have been key to advance his arrest.

Llaitul’s arrest has had consequences within Boric’s own government, after this Thursday the Minister of Social Development, Jeanette Vega, resigned after the dissemination of a conversation between one of her advisors, Tania Santis, which took place last May 11.