Easter Island’s indigenous leaders want to sever link with Chile (The Guardian)

13 Aug Easter Island’s indigenous leaders want to sever link with Chile (The Guardian)

Prominent families would rather be considered part of Oceania, but official says territory needs mainland support

Would-be separatists resent what they say is an uncontrolled influx of tourists and settlers to Easter Island. Photograph: Guido Cozzi/Corbis

Community leaders on Easter Island have threatened to secede from Chile and transfer allegiance to Polynesian states in a row over land rights and immigration.

Prominent families from the indigenous Rapa Nui population have told the Pacific Islands Forum, an inter-governmental body, that they wish to renounce Chilean sovereignty and be considered part of Oceania rather than the Americas.

Easter Island is a remote speck in the Pacific 2,300 miles west of Chile. It was annexed by Santiago in 1888 and made a province of the Valparaiso region but is considered a special territory, not least because giant statues known as moais make it a Unesco world heritage site.

Leviante Araki, head of the Rapa Nui “parliament”, an advocacy group for indigenous people who comprise half the 5,000 population, requested secession in a letter this week to the Pacific Island Forum and Chile‘s President Sebastian Pinera. The would-be separatists resent what they say is an uncontrolled influx of tourists and settlers and accuse the government of taking over ancestral land with state offices. Protesters occupied several state-owned buildings. …Go to article.