A group of armed men claiming to represent the interests of the local Mapuche indigenous group raided a logging station in southern Chile, setting 29 logging trucks on fire.

The attack on Monday in the Los Rios area came less than two weeks after a similar attack in which 18 logging trucks were burned.  Mapuche leaders say they doubt that very many indigenous people are actually members of the group "Weichan Auka Mapu - Mapudungun  language for "Fight of the Rebel Territory".  They suspect that non-indigenous groups with their own radical political agendas may be involved.

The trucks belonged to Sotraser, a subcontractor of Chilean forestry companies Empresas CMPC and Arauco.  The trucks were worth about US$6 Million, small compared to Chile's timber sector but a terrible burden for individual companies.

Tensions with the Mapuche date back to the 1800s, when the Chilean army marched into the south to take control of indigenous territory.  Recently, the conflict has escalated as corporations move in to log more trees.  Armed groups have responded by burning houses, churches, trucks, and forest plantations.  It also appears to be spreading, as Los Rios is further south than Araucania and Bio Bio provinces where 600,000 Mapuche people reside.