INFORME N° 30/04 PETICIÓN 4617/02 SOLUCION AMISTOSA MERCEDES JULIA HUENTEAO BEROIZA Y OTRAS CHILE

This report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) documents a friendly settlement reached on October 17, 2003, between the State of Chile and members of the Mapuche Pehuenche people. The dispute arose from the construction of the Ralco Hydroelectric Project by the company ENDESA, which the petitioners claimed violated their rights to ancestral lands and ignored indigenous laws requiring consent for relocation.

• The dispute centered on the Ralco Hydroelectric Project, developed by Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A. (ENDESA), which led to claims that the State of Chile violated several articles of the American Convention on Human Rights. The petitioners, members of the Mapuche Pehuenche people, sought to prevent the flooding of their lands, noting that while most families in the Alto Bío Bío region consented to land swaps, the victims of this petition did not.
• The petitioners argued that the Chilean government used the Electrical Law to bypass the Indigenous Law (N° 19.253), which mandates that the relocation of indigenous populations can only occur with the consent of those affected and through land swaps authorized by the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI).
• As part of the friendly settlement, the State of Chile committed to strengthening the legal protection of indigenous peoples through two primary constitutional and international goals: pursuing a constitutional reform for the recognition of indigenous peoples in Chile and promoting the ratification of ILO Convention 169.
• The settlement includes specific territorial and administrative measures for the Alto Bío Bío sector, including the promotion of a bill to create a new commune in the region, the creation of a Board for the Indigenous Development Area (ADI) to allow community participation in development policies, and a cooperation agreement with CONAF for the administration of the Ralco National Forest Reserve.
• To prevent future large-scale projects on indigenous lands in the Alto Bío Bío, the government agreed to use Article 34 of the Indigenous Law to modify territorial planning, qualifying these lands as areas of natural or cultural heritage protection and declaring them non-buildable or restricted.
• The agreement provides specific reparations for the affected families, including the transfer of 1,200 hectares in Fundo El Porvenir, housing subsidies from the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism, 8 grace pensions, and 22 study scholarships. Additionally, the government committed to ensuring the fair trial of indigenous leader Víctor Manuel Ancalaf Llaupe and exploring humanitarian aid for his family.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2004). INFORME N° 30/04 PETICIÓN 4617/02 SOLUCION AMISTOSA MERCEDES JULIA HUENTEAO BEROIZA Y OTRAS CHILE. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Ralco_CIDH_Informe.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. INFORME N° 30/04 PETICIÓN 4617/02 SOLUCION AMISTOSA MERCEDES JULIA HUENTEAO BEROIZA Y OTRAS CHILE. 2004. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Ralco_CIDH_Informe.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=INFORME N° 30/04 PETICIÓN 4617/02 SOLUCION AMISTOSA MERCEDES JULIA HUENTEAO BEROIZA Y OTRAS CHILE |date=11 March 2004 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Ralco_CIDH_Informe.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2004informe, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{INFORME N° 30/04 PETICIÓN 4617/02 SOLUCION AMISTOSA MERCEDES JULIA HUENTEAO BEROIZA Y OTRAS CHILE}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2004}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Ralco_CIDH_Informe.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }