when this Thursday night fell, officials of the Special Police Investigation Brigade (Bipe) of the PDI detected in the Pocuno sector, in Cañete, Biobío Region, one of the most wanted subjects of the South Macrozone.
It was Federico Gerónimo Astete Catrileo (35), one of the leaders of the Mapuche Lavkenche (RML) resistance, that in August 2022 he headed the incendiary attack on the historic Molino Grollmusin Contulmo, who left seriously injured the owner of the property, Carlos Grolmus Thiele (81), who suffered the amputation of one leg after receiving a bullet impact, and three other people injured.
Astete had been linked to a series of acts of violence in the southern part of the region for seven years.
His finding was achieved, he explains to The third Sub -prefect Marcelo Contreras, head (s) of the South Macrozone Prefecture, through different research techniques, which allowed “its detection and routine, specifically the schedule in which it would come to spend the night.”
Analyzing their family networks, researchers were able to reach the site in which their parents live. After being sighted, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Biobío achieved the search warrants, in addition to coordination with the Navy to provide security coverage to what was expected to be an operational complex.
This Thursday, an intense rain fell on Cañete, which was accompanied by wind, which allowed the PDI to surpise the house in which Astete was, who had three arrest warrants.
When it was already surrounded, Astete detected the presence of the police. No weapons and in complete solitude opened a window on the second floor of the house And, as in the December operation last year, in which six members of the RML were arrested -among them their partner -tried to escape. However, he fell from the top to the mud and was quickly arrested, without opposing any resistance.
The leader?
“The most relevant to me is the sense that we as young people interact with our lonkos, because today I see the future of the people sadly.”
Thus, Federico Astete argued in a video broadcast on social networks in which he highlighted the need to preserve the Mapuche culture.
The 35 -year -old man was a member of the Juan Segundo Marileo community, in the Pocuno sector. However, it has had steps for the capital.
There is no certainty of the reasons for your residence in the Metropolitan Region, But there is evidence that during that period he had clashes with justice. In addition to the three arrest orders that existed against him, he records a history of quarrels, injuries and even an imputation for sexual abuse.
In the opinion of the researchers, although he is syndicated as a leader of the organization, he would not be the only one. This Friday, the sub -prefect said that “Let’s understand that it is an organization with a more horizontal chief than verticalwhich allows, as I say, to point out that he is a relevant person within the organization. ”
Astete has always been linked to rural violence, with a wide criminal record of that.
The first arrest warrant consists of May 24, 2017, when PDI officials carried out a search to stop a group of subjects that two years before had made a incendiary attack and fired against a forest entrepreneur.
The police were looking for, among them Carlos Astete already Federico Astetein addition to another accused. Unlike his brother, On that occasion Federico managed to escapetime later his brother Carlos was sentenced to six years in jail.
The second arrest warrant is prior to the attack on the Grollmus, which was the third.
To Christián Grollmusas a family this Friday was “a very important day because justice is done through this capture, now the judicial processes come, but it is another that somehow is also a tribute to my dad, who died looking for justice and now they grab this this subject who is a criminal.”
RML
Although the first record of Astete in a incendiary attack is 2017, since 2020 the RML began to award different incendiary attacks in the area. Contreras explains that the organization commits “various crimes against people and property, affecting real estate already related to forest and aggregate items.”
The weapons used in the attack on the grollmus mill, according to researchers, have also been able to be linked to twenty attacks.
In December last year, and within the framework of the investigation by the incendiary attack in El Molino, The PDI achieved the arrest of six members of the organizationhowever, and like 2017, Nor could Astete be found.
For the sub -prefect, there have been “significant investigative advances that have allowed during 2024 and 2025 to arrest a significant number of its members.”
Although there are already 17 RML members arrested, in the opinion of the researchers, it cannot be assured that the band is disjointed. But affected, Even more with the recent arrest of one of the leaders.
According to the figures of the researchers, in 2022 15 attacks related to the RML were perpetrated, while in 2023 there were four and in 2025 only one, specifically the burning of two cabins in Contulmo on April 7, made by which the Government complained by anti -terrorism law. During this period the state of constitutional exception in the area has been in force.
