By Wolfgang Mayr

The Trumpisation of South America continues. After Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, Chile is now joining the US’s backyard. Chileans elected the right-wing extremist José Antonio Kast as their president. The son of a Nazi who fled Bavaria, he is politically very close to his father.

Only three countries remain defiant in the face of Trumpisation: Brazil and Colombia, with their democratically elected moderate left-wing presidents da Silva and Petro, and the Venezuelan ‘left-wing’ dictator Maduro. The US ‘peace president’ is attempting to drive Maduro out of the country using the most severe military repression. Maduro is undoubtedly a political creep, like his role model Ortega in Nicaragua.

Trump is ‘cleaning up’ his backyard in accordance with the infamous ‘Monroe Doctrine’ – South Americans have had painful experience with this – the US president wants to protect US interests in the south of the continent. In previous decades, this job was ‘handled’ by right-wing extremist military coup leaders with CIA support (see Chile, Argentina, etc.), but now declared right-wing extremists are winning democratic elections.

White Chile against Mapuche

As in Chile. Indigenous communities in Chile will be the losers of the elections, commented the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) before the presidential elections, regardless of the outcome of the presidential election. But according to the STP, an election victory for Kast will result in repression, especially for indigenous peoples.

The STP analysed the programmes of both candidates, programmes that show little consideration for indigenous concerns. Both Kast and the left-wing Jeannette Jara announced plans to increase raw material exports, push ahead with large-scale projects and protect investments from lawsuits. The STP concludes that ‘the costs of this economic model are borne primarily by indigenous communities, environmental defenders and social movements.’

The STP considers the political rise of José Antonio Kast to be particularly alarming, ‘whose rhetoric and programme are reminiscent of the military dictatorship era and combine a tough security agenda with the targeted criminalisation of indigenous activists.’

This ‘security policy’ targets the Mapuche, who are already subject to massive repression in their home regions of Biobío, Araucanía and Los Ríos, despite the former left-wing presidency. Kast’s election victory means a further setback for the Mapuche ‘question’: more militarisation, restrictions on land rights and the equating of legitimate social demands with terrorism.

The broad support for Kast comes as no surprise; for large sections of the population, democratic and human rights achievements are obviously secondary. The right-wing parties hold almost an absolute majority in parliament. Kast promised to take a hard line against migrants, most of them from Venezuela, and against migrant crime.

German responsibility?

The STP points to Germany’s responsibility and hopes that the German government will ensure that human rights and international obligations such as ILO 169 and the right of indigenous communities to free, prior and informed consent are consistently implemented in trade relations with Chile.

This will not work out, as Germany has agreed to the ‘Advanced Framework Agreement between the European Union and Chile’. The STP warns that this agreement puts economic interests above human rights. The agreement provides for the abolition of customs duties and the protection of investments through new investment protection agreements.

The STP criticises that this agreement weakens the indigenous peoples in Chile, as it does not contain any effective mechanisms for the protection of indigenous peoples: ‘It strengthens investor rights without ensuring that international obligations to protect indigenous rights are upheld.’

The right-wing extremist Kast receives ‘support’ for his policies from his father’s homeland.