Indian Wanted for Attack on Prosecutor Arrested in Chile

SANTIAGO - Mapuche Indian leader Hector Llaitul has been arrested in the city of Osorno in connection with the attack last October on prosecutor Mario Elgueta and five police officers in Chile's southern Bio Bio region, officials said.

The 41-year-old Llaitul was "one of the most-wanted fugitives in recent times," Deputy Interior Minister Patricio Rosende said.

Investigative Police, or PDI, agents found Llaitul on Wednesday at a house in Osorno, the capital of the Los Lagos region, located some 940 kilometers (584 miles) south of Santiago, "after several months of fruitless searches," Rosende said.

Llaitul, known as "Commander Hector," is considered the military chief of the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco, or CAM, and has been linked to several attacks on farms and forestry companies in recent years.

Prosecutors allege that Llaitul planned and recruited other Indians to carry out the attack on Elgueta last October.

Eleven other Indians have been under arrest since April in connection with the attack.

Seven of the suspects were arrested in an operation on April 11 involving 130 police officers in the towns of Puerto de Choque and Cañete, located some 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of Santiago.

Jose Huenuche, Javier Navarro, Ramon Llanquileo and Luis Menares, along with brothers Norberto, Cesar and Juan Parra Leal, were detained in the operation.

Four other suspects, identified as Richard Muhuel, Segundo Ñehuen, Carlos Muñoz and Elcides Huiqueman, were already in custody for allegedly stealing wood from property owned by lumber company Mininco.

Regional prosecutor Ximena Hassi charged the 11 Indians with attempted murder and criminal conspiracy.

The suspects, who are all CAM members, will be held in prison for nine months while prosecutors complete the investigation.

On Oct. 15, the vehicles carrying Elgueta and the police officers were ambushed by hooded assailants in the strife-torn Indian-populated southern region of La Araucania.

The police officers engaged the assailants in a gunbattle that lasted about 30 minutes and managed to repel them.

Elgueta, who sustained minor wounds in his left hand and head, was investigating previous violence blamed on Mapuche Indian militants.

The five police officers all sustained minor wounds in the incident.

The CAM, the most militant of the Mapuche organizations, usually issues statements after mounting attacks against the land barons and timber companies the Indians accuse of illegally usurping their ancestral territory.

Southern Chile has been the scene of long-running land disputes between Mapuche communities and farmers and lumber firms, with the conflicts often turning violent.

Mapuche Indian activist Matias Catrileo was shot in the back during a clash with police on Jan. 3, 2008.

Catrileo was trying to occupy a ranch with several other activists in La Araucania, a region located some 670 kilometers (416 miles) south of Santiago, when police opened fire on them.

The Mapuches, Chile's largest indigenous group with slightly more than 600,000 members, demand the constitutional recognition of their tribal identity, rights and culture, as well as ownership of the lands that belonged to their ancestors. EFE