Killing of Camilo Catrillanca

Camilo Marcelo Catrillanca Marín (13 September 1994 – 14 November 2018) was a Mapuche farmer from the Temucuicui community in Ercilla, in Chile's Araucanía Region. He was the grandson of former Mapuche chief Juan Catrillanca and son of Marcelo Catrillanca, president of the "Ignacio Queipul Millanao" Mapuche community. Catrillanca had been a student movement leader at the Liceo de Pailahueque, involved in efforts to reclaim Mapuche lands, and in 2011 led a 13-day protest by high school students in Ercilla that ended with an agreement to create an intercultural high school and increase scholarships. At the time of his death he had a six-year-old daughter and his wife was pregnant.

On 14 November 2018, Catrillanca was shot in the back of the neck while riding a tractor with a 15-year-old companion in Temucuicui. The shooting occurred during an operation by the "Tactical Reaction Group," a unit of the Carabineros' Special Police Operations Group known in the press as the "Jungle Commando." Police said they suspected Catrillanca of involvement in the theft of three teachers' cars from the Santa Rosa School of Ancapi Ñancucheo. The teenage witness, identified only by the initials MACP, was arrested along with three others; his detention was later ruled illegal and he was released. MACP alleged he had been severely beaten by police during his arrest, and Chile's National Institute of Human Rights announced a criminal complaint over his alleged torture.

Conflicting accounts emerged: police and government officials said Catrillanca was involved in the vehicle theft, while the Temucuicui community said the "Jungle Commando" entered the area firing without provocation. The mayor of La Araucanía, Luis Mayol, said on 14 November that Catrillanca "had a history of receiving stolen vehicles." Congresswoman Pamela Jiles later published records showing no criminal record, while Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick said Catrillanca had a police record for an October 2018 arrest on suspicion of receiving stolen property, but no conviction.

Carabineros initially claimed the shooting was not recorded, but the government later said footage existed and had been destroyed by police. Four officers were dismissed and two high-ranking officers resigned, as did Mayol. In December 2018, two police videos surfaced showing Catrillanca was unarmed, contradicting earlier official statements. President Sebastián Piñera subsequently forced the resignation of national police chief Hermes Soto and ten other police commanders.

The killing triggered protests in Santiago and other cities, with opposition leaders and rights groups calling for the dismantling of Jungle Commando units and Chadwick's resignation. Amnesty International called the killing "outrageous and alarming." Interior Minister Chadwick and his undersecretary Rodrigo Ubilla were summoned before Congress and the state attorney general. Jungle Commando leader Manuel Valdivieso resigned after being accused of ordering others to lie about the incident. Carlos Alarcón, identified as the main suspect in the shooting, testified that Valdivieso and a lawyer had pressured him and others to falsely claim Catrillanca had attacked them with firearms and that no body camera footage existed.