Alberto Curamil (born c. 1974) is a Chilean and

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

indigenous leader from the

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Temuco; other important cities ...

. He was awarded the

Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists. History Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...

in 2019, for his efforts to protect the Cautín River from hydroelectric development projects. In 2018, he was arrested and jailed for 15 months for armed robbery but was later acquitted of all charges and released in December 2019. In April 2021, he sustained injuries after a confrontation with police which led to him being hit with riot shotgun pellets. He holds the position of

lonco A lonko or lonco (from Mapudungun ''longko'', literally "head"), is a chief of several Mapuche communities. These were often ulmen, the wealthier men in the lof. In wartime, lonkos of the various local rehue or the larger aillarehue would gather ...

, a chief of several communities.

References

20th-century Mapuche people 21st-century Mapuche people Lonkos Indigenous activists of South America Chilean activists Chilean environmentalists Indigenous peoples of South America and the environment People from Araucanía Region Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Goldman Environmental Prize awardees {{environmentalist-stub