El Ciudadano
Original article: “No aceptaremos que se utilice la infancia”: Temucuicui denuncia montaje comunicacional tras operativo de Carabineros y Fiscalía
The Temucuicui Autonomous Community reported on May 6 a violent raid conducted in the early hours by police and prosecutors, alleging violations of rights, criminalization of Mapuche families, and a manipulated narrative presenting the operation as a police «success.»
The complaint highlights two central issues: the exposure of individuals who needed special protection, including a 4-year-old child, elderly adults, a pregnant woman, and Mapuche families, and the alleged mixing of operations carried out in Temucuicui and the urban area of Ercilla to publicly display a more significant police crackdown.
Government officials, including Security Minister Trinidad Steinert, defended the operation, claiming that «the results are successful.» This statement sheds light on the contrasting narratives: while the government framed the operation as efficiently executed, Temucuicui accused authorities of exposing children, affecting the elderly, and allegedly intertwining different operations to enhance the narrative of a successful crackdown.
Moreover, in their statement, the community asserted that police and prosecutors “depicted a 4-year-old child as one of those detained during the massive raid in Temucuicui.”
This lies at the heart of the accusation. It does not state that a 4-year-old child was arrested or legally implicated in the operation, but highlights the equally serious issue: Temucuicui claims that Mapuche children were exposed and utilized in the public narrative of a raid presented as a «success.» The simple question that police, prosecutors, and the public ministry must answer is: what was that child doing in the middle of a pre-dawn operation, how were their rights protected, and why did their presence become part of the community’s complaint?
Explaining the Temucuicui Autonomous Community’s Complaint
Police «Success» Narrative: Minister Trinidad Steinert claimed that «the results are successful» following the operation. In contrast, Temucuicui reported rights violations and a manipulated narrative.
Exposure of Mapuche Children: The community alleges that a 4-year-old child was used in the operation’s communication narrative. The focus is not on asserting that the child was arrested or legally implicated but on demanding clarification on the protective measures taken to uphold their rights.
Vulnerable People Affected: According to the statement, the operation also reportedly affected a pregnant woman, a minor, a homeowner with her young child, and a couple of elderly adults.
Elderly Mapuche Adults: Temucuicui reported that one is terminally ill due to liver damage and that the other suffers from senile dementia. Both reportedly only speak Mapudungun and may not have understood what was happening during the operation.
Accusation of Mixing Operations: The community maintains that the drugs displayed in the media pertained to a parallel operation in the urban area of Ercilla and were presented as part of the operation in Temucuicui.
What Happened in Court: Of the five individuals detained, only one was placed in preventive detention. The other four received less severe cautionary measures, according to information from the control of detention in Collipulli.
Demand for Human Rights: Temucuicui held the State accountable for the physical and psychological integrity of affected minors and elderly individuals, and called for the intervention of human rights observers and the Children’s Advocate.
The Underlying Issue: While the government celebrated the operation as successful, the community accuses it of exploiting the vulnerability of Mapuche families to reinforce a narrative of criminalization.
Temucuicui Alleges Manipulation of Communication and Exploitation of Childhood
«We will not accept that childhood and the vulnerability of our people are used for false communication campaigns by police institutions, claiming a success by mixing two different operations,» stated the Temucuicui Autonomous Community.
This statement is significant. The community accuses not only police violence but also a communication operation: using images, figures, procedures, and vulnerable individuals to construct a narrative of control over Mapuche territory.
In simple terms: the complaint from Temucuicui encompasses not only what occurred during the raid but also how it was subsequently portrayed. The community contends that police and prosecutors orchestrated the operation’s communication to install an image of police triumph, while among those affected were a small child, elderly adults, a pregnant woman, and families that do not fit the criminal profile publicly attempted to create.
Elderly Adults, Pregnant Woman, and Vulnerable Individuals
According to the statement, among those detained or affected by the operation are a couple of elderly adults, a pregnant woman, a minor, and a homeowner with her 4-year-old child.
Regarding the elderly couple, Temucuicui clarified: «The man is terminally ill due to liver damage, and the woman suffers from senile dementia, both of whom only speak Mapudungun.»
It added: «When the police seized them from their homes, they did not understand anything that was happening.»
This point is crucial. The community alleges that the operation was not only violent but impacted individuals requiring special protection: elderly adults, a pregnant woman, a young child, and Mapuche people who speak only Mapudungun. Nonetheless, the police account sought to place them within a narrative of «subjects of criminal interest.»
The evident question is: if the State enters a Mapuche community at dawn, what protocols are in place when there are children, elderly adults, sick individuals, or Mapudungun speakers? Who guarantees that they understand what is happening? Who safeguards their physical and psychological integrity?
Temucuicui, Ercilla, and the Accusation of Mixing Operations
Another central element of the statement is the allegation of information manipulation. Temucuicui claims that the drugs shown in the media were part of a parallel operation conducted in the urban area of Ercilla and not directly connected to the community.
«The drugs confiscated and displayed in the media correspond to a parallel operation carried out in the urban area of Ercilla, unrelated to our community,» stated the declaration.
The community added: «Technically, this combines evidence from two different operations and presents them to the public as a single operation, supposedly occurring in the Temucuicui Autonomous Community.»
This assertion strengthens, as publicly available information regarding the operation recognizes actions involving four properties: three located in Temucuicui and one in the urban area of Ercilla. Thus, even from the official narrative, there was an operation spanning more than one territory.
The underlying question, therefore, is what was seized where, who was detained at each location, and why everything was communicated as a significant strike linked to Temucuicui. Because if the community accuses that different incidents were mixed to inflate the police narrative, the minimum standard of transparency requires clearly separating each operation, each piece of evidence, and each location.
Mapuche Childhood: A Violation That Did Not Start Today
The complaint from Temucuicui does not exist in a vacuum. Mapuche children have been exposed for years to police operations, raids, and procedures in communities where it often becomes normalized that, in any other context, would provoke immediate alarm: children growing up amid gunfire, police vehicles, checks, detentions, and official narratives treating entire communities as suspect.
Thus, when Temucuicui alleges that a 4-year-old child ended up in the narrative of a police operation, it is not a secondary detail. It represents a historical wound: the Mapuche childhood once again bearing the cost of state policy that enters territories armed, armored, and with police reports ahead of guarantees, dialogue, and rights.
This is a human rights issue, not a police spokesperson issue. If there was a child present, the focus should have been on protecting them, not allowing their presence to become caught up in a communication dispute to showcase results.
The Operation Reached the Courts
The detention review at the Collipulli Guarantee Court also tempered the initial triumphalism. Of the five individuals detained, only one was held in preventive detention: an 18-year-old charged with arson, unjustified shootings, and repeated violent robbery.
The other four defendants received less severe cautious measures. Two were placed under nightly house arrest for receiving a stolen vehicle, while the other two were charged with violations of drug laws.
This outcome does not negate the seriousness of the charges nor replace the judicial work. However, it does challenge the narrative of a «round day» that the government, police, and the public ministry tried to instill in the morning. Especially when the community itself reports impacts on vulnerable individuals, the communicational use of Mapuche childhood, and a blending of operations to inflate the narrative of police success.
Demand for Human Rights and Children’s Advocate Intervention
In light of these events, Temucuicui held the Chilean State responsible for the physical and psychological integrity of the affected individuals.
«We hold the Chilean State responsible for the physical and psychological integrity of the minors and elderly individuals affected,» the statement asserted.
They further demanded the immediate intervention of human rights observers and the Children’s Advocate to verify the irregularities of the operation.
The core of the issue is brutal: Temucuicui denounces communication manipulation not only for what occurred during the raid but also for how it attempted to transform a complex operation, involving actions at different points and vulnerable individuals affected, into a police triumph ready for media consumption.
The question isn’t only what the prosecution is investigating. The question also revolves around what the State decides to show when entering Mapuche territory, what is mixed in, what is omitted, and whom it exposes to construct a narrative of control. Because criminalizing a community is already political violence; but allowing a Mapuche child to become caught in that staged portrayal crosses a line that no government should normalize.
Document
Below, we reproduce the full statement from the Temucuicui Autonomous Community, where they denounce violations of rights and communication manipulation following the operation.
PUBLIC STATEMENT Temucuicui Autonomous Community by lahuanche
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