A cameraman lost an eye during an attack on a team …

A cameraman for the Chilean public television channel TVN lost an eye and suffered a concussion following a shooting in the southern municipality of Arauco., where the Mapuche community claims ancestral lands. The TVN crew was driving on a rural road in Arauco last night when they were shot dead which left cameraman Esteban Sánchez with serious injuries to the face and chest, and an arm injury to journalist Iván Núñez. The Chilean government and state media both reported complaints about the attack.

“Unfortunately, an eye flare is confirmed and, as such, the patient lost sight” of the right eyeThe medical director of the Clínico del Sur hospital, Francisco Henríquez, spoke about Sánchez. Clarified that the cameraman “arrived speaking and in good neurological condition” despite having suffered “a brain contusion”, according to the newspaper The third. As long as his partner Núñez was stable and under observation in a common room.

TVN said in a statement that “it will take the corresponding actions by persecuting its perpetrators through a criminal complaint and collaborating as much as possible in the investigation.” For its part the head of Macrozone Sud, Pablo Urquízar, announced the opening of legal proceedings “for attempted murder and infringement of freedom of expression”.

The journalists attacked were in Arauco on Saturday for talks with Mapuche leaders., the largest ethnic group in the country that has a long conflict with the Chilean state over a centuries-old demand for land they consider their ancestral right and which has been ceded to private parties, mainly companies forest.