The escalation of violence by the Mapuche people in southern Chile and the growing number of casualties has led observers to describe 1999 as the year that could see the tensions spill over into a full-scale uprising by the indigenous people.
They compare the deteriorating situation to events in Chiapas, Mexico, where Mayan Indians sought foreign support for their struggle.
The increasing violence and presence of foreign environmentalists continue to alarm Chile's authorities. But many of the million indigenous people, forced to live on 6 per cent of their ancestral land, no longer trust the government. They believe the laws and policies of the government have been used in an attempt to assimilate them into national society with little thought for their cultures and identities
These policies had their maximum expression under the military government of Gen Pinochet between 1973 and 1989. A United Nations report in 1978 stated: "On the day of the coup, the big landowners, the military and the carabineros started a great manhunt against the Mapuches who had struggled and gained their land back." With the restoration of democracy, Chile's indigenous population have begun a series of land occupations in an effort to force international forestry companies off land they claim belongs to them. They have also prevented the completion of an important second hydroelectric dam on the broad Bio Bio river, urgently needed to relieve Chile's deepening energy crisis. Decades of anger and resentment have erupted into violence as plastic bullets and tear gas meet with rocks and petrol bombs on the tree-covered hills of southern Chile.
Representing almost 10 per cent of Chile's population the indigenous people remain the poorest of the poor. However, the Mapuche have a unique history in that they resisted the Spanish for longer than other indigenous people, only surrendering their vast territories south of the Bio-Bio river in the last century. Mired in poverty and crammed onto land too small even for subsistence farming, "as whites grow rich on stolen land" as one of their leaders put it, the Mapuche people complain that they have no alternative but to fight.
In the latest attack Mapuche threw firebombs through the windows of houses where 14 workers were resting after a day's work on the Rucananco forestry estate in the Collipulli sector. Mr Eleodoro Matte of Mininco Forestry claims his company had accumulated property losses totalling US$6 million as a result of raids allegedly made by Mapuche activists. Organisations representing indigenous people signed an agreement (Acuerdo de Nueva Imperial) in 1989 with the first post-Pinochet government. The agreement included the recognition of their existence as a distinct people within Chilean society, along with their special cultures and language. They also sought protection for the lands currently owned by them, and the recovery of those which they claim were taken from them during the Pinochet regime.
These proposals were first presented to the National Congress in 1991 but the undemocratic nature of Chile's Congress, governed by Gen Pinochet's 1980 constitution, ensured that this particular piece of legislation would remain buried within the vaults of the Senate. At the same time government policy of opening up Chile's economy to international markets resulted in further appropriation of indigenous land, water and forests by multinational companies.
In an effort to defuse the current situation President Eduardo Frei recently met the Mapuche in Santiago and announced a US$275 million package aimed at resolving many of the demands of Chile`s native people. However, the measure hasn't completely satisfied all the Mapuche.
The All-Lands Council spokesman Mr Aucan Huilcaman maintains the proposal should include more concrete reforms regarding land rights and self-determination. In addition, he says the debate should be just the beginning of dialogue leading to greater mutual respect between Chileans and Mapuche.
Last week the government appointed Mr Julio Cesar Grandon, president of the Temuco Court of Appeals, to head the investigation into the recent violent uprisings in southern Chile. Human rights organisations are concerned that Judge Cesar has the authority to invoke the Pinochet-era state security law to facilitate his investigation if he deems it necessary. This law gives judges draconian powers to isolate suspects in solitary confinement for interrogation purposes.
Eighteen Mapuche leaders are now in police custody. This week the Chamber of Deputies has been debating an amendment to the proposals for land restitution and constitutional recognition of the Mapuche people. Right-wing opposition parties continue to oppose changes to the constitution, and the National Renovation Party leader, Mr Alberto Cardemil, has denounced the amendment as "dangerous and a threat to national unity". At the same time a government spokesman has denounced the presence of members of the leftist Revolutionary Movement (MIR) within the Mapuche indigenous movement, a claim denied by indigenous supporters. It has become evident that the era of the "Nueva Imperial Agreement" has ended and a new era of conflict between the authorities and the indigenous, resembling that lived during the military regime, has begun.