Ranquil massacre

Ranquil massacre
Location	Alto Bío Bío, Chile
Date	June-July 1934
Deaths	477 workers and Mapuches; 6 soldiers
Victims	Chilean forestry workers and peasants; Mapuche
Perpetrators	Chilean Army and Carabineros, commanded by Arturo Alessandri Óscar Novoa Humberto Arriagada Valdivieso
Motive	repressing peasant land seizures

The Ranquil massacre (Spanish: matanza de Ránquil) was a massacre of forestry workers by the Chilean Army in the upper Bio-Bio River in 1934. The upper Bio-Bio region had recently been opened for Chilean and foreign settlers due to the occupation of the Araucania, and huge extensions of former Mapuche land were available. The workers rebelled against the lumber mill administrators, later the Chilean Army was called to restore order. 477 workers and Mapuches were killed as result. Around 500 prisoners were taken.

See also

• Social unrest in Neltume (1945-1981)
• List of massacres in Chile
• Patagonia rebelde

Sources

• Levantamiento campesino en Ranquil, Lonquimay