The ex-conventional Rosa Catrileo is the new head of the Indigenous Affairs Coordination Unit (UCAI), a position that had been vacant since March. This unit depends on the Ministry of Social Development and its main function will be -according to the ex-constituent member- “to materialize Convention 169”.
The ex-conventional member elected by the Mapuche people, Rosa Catrileoarrived on Monday at the offices of the Ministry of Social Development, to occupy the position of head of the Indigenous Affairs Coordination Unit (UCAI).
It is worth mentioning that this position had been vacant since March.
Catrileo is a lawyer from the Catholic University of Temuco and a graduate in Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples from the Citizen Observatory. Her professional experience has focused on land issues and indigenous legislation.
In the process of discussing the Regulations of the Convention, the ex-constituent member participated in the Regulations commission. Subsequently, she joined the thematic commission on the Political System, Legislative Power and Electoral System, being its coordinator; and Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Plurinationality. In May 2022, she served on the Harmonization commission.
The lawyer is the seventh conventional to reach the Government, joining Ricardo Montero, chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior; Tomás Laibe, who works within the Ministry of Finance; Constanza Schonhaut, political adviser to the cabinet of the Minister of the Interior; César Valenzuela, who works within the Undersecretary for Crime Prevention; Beatriz Sánchez, Chilean ambassador to Mexico; and Jeniffer Mella, chief of staff of the Minister of Cultures.
In conversation with BioBioChile, Catrileo referred to the role he will play and said that “The unit is in charge of materializing Convention 169 and monitoring it”adding that it will also address “the indigenous consultation”.
The ex-conventional also said that it is still in the process of installation, meetings, and I defend some aspects.
Exconventional Rosa Catrileo arrives at the Government
Regarding how he came to the position, Catrileo commented that “we were in meetings, the undersecretary (Francisca Perales, Social Services) interviewed me. They were looking for a professional-technical profile, with knowledge of indigenous law, because it is a unit that implements Convention 169 and that is why they came to me”.
When asked regarding the vacancy of the position, the lawyer said that the position “is a super technical profile, of implementation, of knowledge of indigenous rights, of work with communities, of requirements regarding the origin of the indigenous consultation.”
Catrileo also told us that he is currently “doing his thesis on structural violations of human rights, applied to the case of indigenous peoples, especially the Mapuche case. I have expertise in the matter.”
