El Ciudadano
Original article: Patrimonio ancestral mapuche debajo del cemento: Comunidad fue despojada del 97% de sus tierras por el crecimiento urbano de Temuco
Juan Currín Community: Stripped of 97% of Their Territory Amidst Urban Development with No Justice or Basic Services
The Nüxam Participation and Territorial Development organization alerted the public about the dire situation facing the Indigenous Juan Currín Community, located between the Pedro de Valdivia and Fundo El Carmen areas in the heart of modern Temuco.
The collective warns that urban growth has not only fragmented this ancestral territory but has also created an exclusionary space supported by institutional silence and legal inaction.
According to the historical and legal review presented by the NGO, the community has endured a staggering 97% reduction of its original land as per its 1885 Title of Merced. What was once a dignified space for 52 families has been reduced to mere fragments, surrounded by urban encroachment that, as noted by Nüxam, suffocates the mental health and spirituality of its inhabitants.
The organization denounces a «legal limbo» that violates fundamental human rights. Integrated into the urban radius through successive regulatory plans, the community is burdened with land contributions as if it were commercial property—disregarding the exemptions provided by Law 19.253—while basic services like formal sewage are denied due to the retained «rural characteristics».
This systemic neglect, according to Nüxam, creates a true architecture of exclusion. As the city expands westward, sacred sites like the menoco (wetland) and the ceremonial ruka struggle against being buried under asphalt. The loss of a sacred wetland, the collective emphasizes, is not just an Indigenous issue, but an environmental sustainability crisis for all of Temuco.
In June 2025, the local municipality provided leases for community centers in Villa Caupolicán. While Nüxam appreciates this gesture of governance, they deem it insufficient considering the magnitude of territorial loss. «The mental health of a community cannot be restored by a land use contract; it is healed through the recognition of sovereignty over its own history,» the organization stresses.
The NGO highlights the CONADI resolution from September 2025, which recognizes the applicability of territorial restitution as a beacon of hope, though it requires firm political will that transcends current party lines. Nüxam urges authorities to stop treating the «Juan Currín case» as an administrative file and instead approach it as an ethical imperative.
As Temuco’s history marks 150 years, the collective concludes that building a modern city does not mean forgetting those who originally inhabited the land. Addressing the exclusion of the Juan Currín Community is not a favor or a service; it is a necessary act of justice for coexistence in southern Chile.
Read the full publication at the following Nüxam link:
*OPINION | Juan Currín Community: The Historical Debt Temuco Must No Longer Hide Under Concrete*
View the infographic shared by Nüxam
La entrada Mapuche Ancestral Heritage Lost to Urban Expansion: Community Stripped of 97% of Land in Temuco se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.
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