Mapuches protest construction of new airport in La Araucanía

TEMUCO.- Some 50 Mapuche Indians belonging to the communities just outside of an area where authorities are planning to build a new air terminal in the Municipality of Freire (in the 9th Region) held a peaceful protest this morning to express their disapproval of the extensive 2.6 million UF project.

The land that has been chosen, which will be bid on tomorrow, consists of approximately 500 hectares of 12 non-Mapuche properties located one kilometer east of Route 5 and 20 kilometers to the south of Temuco.

Nevertheless, the Mapuche communities living on the land have protested against the project, arguing that the grounds are sacred and saying they have not been respected by the government.

The new airport, which will replace the current Maquehue aerodrome, will have a landing strip 2,440 meters long and 45 meters wide. In light of future operational requirements for planes, the strip could reach a final length of 3,200 meters.

The airport will be housed in a 2-level 4,990 square meter facility. The timeline for the project establishes a period of 2 years of construction before the passenger terminal will become operational in 2012.