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Detained and injured: why does the Argentine state repress the Mapuche people?

Recent events in Mapuche territory in Argentina suggest a growing spiral of repression and violence towards the country's indigenous peoples. Español

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Paco Freire:SOPA via ZUMA Wire:pa images.jpg
Paco Freire:SOPA via ZUMA Wire:pa images.jpg

Image: Paco Freire/SOPA via ZUMA Wire/PA images

This article is part of Right to Protest, a partnership project with human rights organisations CELS and INCLO, with support from the ACLU, examining the power of protest and its fundamental role in democratic society. 

On Saturday 25 November 2017, Rafael Nahuel, 22, from the city of Bariloche in Río Negro province, was murdered in an ongoing territorial conflict between the Argentine state and organisations of the Mapuche people. He was killed by a 9mm bullet that entered through the gluteus and lodged in his lung.