Kast Government Escalates Historical Tensions with Indigenous Peoples by Cutting $7.634 Million from CONADI Land Fund

The government led by José Kast has taken a decisive step that strains the historically fragile relationship between the state and indigenous communities. Through a decree signed by Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz, the 2026 budget has been amended, resulting in a reduction of $32.721 million from the Ministry of Social Development and Family. Among these cuts is a particularly sensitive issue: $7.634 million less for CONADI, specifically targeting the Indigenous Land and Water Fund.

This is not a minor adjustment. It is no longer merely a warning in a budget annex or a future indication of potentially sidelined programs. This time, the cut to the CONADI Land Fund has transformed from a political threat to a concrete administrative decision.

This is a significant reduction. The Indigenous Land and Water Fund is one of the few tools available to the state to address a long-standing territorial demand, albeit often belatedly. Therefore, this budgetary blow cannot be dismissed as a simple accounting exercise: it strikes at a historical wound that remains open.

Key Data on the Budget Cuts

The finance decree modifies the current 2026 budget of the Ministry of Social Development and Family. The total reduction amounts to $32.721 million.

CONADI: $7.634 million cut.
Affected item: Indigenous Land and Water Fund.
Impact of the cut to CONADI: approximately 23% of the total adjustment applied to Social Development.
National Service for Specialized Protection of Children and Adolescents: $12.748 million cut.
National Youth Institute: $3.859 million cut.
Undersecretariat for Childhood: $3.359 million cut.
National Disability Service: $1.135 million cut.
FOSIS: $750 million cut.
National Service for the Elderly: $318 million cut.

In translation: the cuts affect not just one institution but sensitive areas of social policy. In the case of CONADI, it directly impacts a mechanism tied to the territorial demands of indigenous peoples.

A Historical Debt That Cannot Be Captured in an Excel Spreadsheet

To grasp the severity of the cut, we must step away from the cold language of budgeting. For centuries, the Mapuche people have endured land dispossession, fragmentation, abuse, violence, and physical, political, and cultural extermination. This history did not end with the military occupation of Mapuche territory or the forced reduction of communities. Its consequences are still evident in poverty, territorial fragmentation, criminalization, and the absence of effective state responses.

Simply put: when a community demands land, it is not asking for a favor. It is demanding an answer to a historical harm for which the state itself bears responsibility. When the state cuts the funding intended to address this demand, it is not merely “tidying the budget”: it is shrinking one of the few institutional avenues available to manage an unresolved conflict.

This is the core political issue of Quiroz’s decree. If the state reduces the means to repair, purchase, return, or facilitate access to land, the demand does not disappear. What vanishes is part of the institutional capacity to confront it. When institutional pathways close, the result is often increased tension, frustration, and a wider rift between the state and indigenous peoples.

Cuts to the CONADI Land Fund Undermine an Institutional Solution

The Indigenous Land and Water Fund plays a crucial role because it directly connects to territorial demands. It is not a mere decorative program or a minor line item within the public sector. It is a tool that allows for financing mechanisms for accessing land and addressing issues resulting from a history marked by land titles, reductions, land loss, and unmet promises.

Consequently, the cut to the CONADI Land Fund carries deeper implications than just numbers. The $7.634 million reduction translates to less capacity to respond to communities that have been waiting for solutions for years, sometimes generations. It also sends a political message: at a time when the relationship between the state and indigenous peoples requires more dialogue, more reparations, and more willingness, the government opts to wield the budgetary scissors.

This move occurs amid existing concerns about how the Treasury has been framing the Land Fund in its budgetary definitions. Initial discussions indicated potential future sidelining, and this subsequent layer reveals something more severe: a redundant cut now decreed on the current budget.

Reduced Resources, Increased Tension with Indigenous Peoples

The government may present these moves as fiscal adjustments. However, every budget reflects priorities. When resources for the Indigenous Land and Water Fund are cut, the message is clear: the state is retreating in an area where it has never fully delivered.

This does not mean that this decree creates the historical conflict between the state and indigenous peoples. That conflict stems from centuries of dispossession, violence, territorial fragmentation, and unfulfilled promises. Yet, it can be said that Kast’s government is reigniting tensions by weakening an institutional tool meant to find solutions.

To put it simply: if the issue is a historical debt that continues to burn, cutting the Land Fund doesn’t help put out the fire. Instead, it throws more gasoline on a relationship that requires reparation, dialogue, and concrete solutions, not less funding.

Decree Document

Below is the decree with which the Ministry of Finance modified the current 2026 budget, resulting in a $32.721 million cut to the Ministry of Social Development and Family. Among the affected items, as noted, is a particularly sensitive area: $7.634 million less for CONADI, specifically for the Indigenous Land and Water Fund.

Cuts to the Ministry of Social Development 2026 by lahuanche

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