Key Court Ruling Does Little To Ease Tensions Between Chile’s Mapuches And President Piñera

Demonstrators continue to lament Chile's treatment of Mapuche prisoners (credit - todosnuestrosmuertos/flickr)

A key court ruling concerning many of the protagonists in last year’s harrowing hunger strike has turned renewed attention to the Chilean government’s complicated – and at times contradictory – handling of the so-called “Mapuche conflict.” The Mapuche, Chile’s largest indigenous group, are thought to number some 800,000.