ALF makes its debut in Chile

15th March 2007
http://www.arkangelweb.org

The Animal Liberation Front made its debut this week in Temuco, capital of the 9th adminstrative region (north to south) of Chile.

A communiqué posted on a Spanish animal rights website on 14th March stated that 4 meat shops and a shop selling birds were targeted. According to the communiqué, the fronts of all of the shops were damaged and one of the meat shops had its windows damaged. Window and door locks were also glued shut.

The activists called the attacks "completely successful" and their communiqué stated, "We want every fighter to know that the struggle is also taking place at the ends of the earth."

There were no reports of the attacks in the Chilean media and it is unknown how police are treating these new actions.

Chile has several small grassroots and large national animal rights organisations, including Animanaturalis (http://www.animanaturalis.org/index.php), which campaigns in many Spanish-speaking countries including Spain, and Derechos Animales (http://www.derechos-animales.com/), a group based in Santiago.

While the national groups carry on some of the well-known international campaigns such as vegan outreach, protesting the Canadian seal slaughter, and the Chinese dog and cat fur trade, smaller groups tend to focus on animal abuse at the community level, such as the rampant abuse of dogs that activists say is "common in Latin America." Underground animal rights activism has thus far been rare in Latin American countries.