Abstract

This paper studies the expeditious division of Mapuche communal lands, initiated by Chilean dictatorship civilian-military in 1979, and the problems that Mapuche private individual property produced, increasing the difficulties in the living conditions of the community members (poverty and migration). Likewise, this motivated the Mapuche political reorganization, and a new movement to recover usurped lands. It is proposed that the policy to ending the communities and to create a private property has been a crucial moment in the history of the Mapuche people, a community break from which their recent history begins. The article considers the previous situation in the communities, the politics and the process of division of communal lands, and its immediate consequences. Along with bibliography and regional press, it is used documentation from the communities, regional government of Araucania and Ministry of Agriculture.