TEMUCO, Chile — On a cold, rainy afternoon just a few hours before Brazil played Peru in the Copa América last week, four policemen stood guard by a set of flagpoles in the town square here. Days earlier someone had managed to take down one of the red, white and blue Chilean flags and replaced it with the traditional Mapuche flag in a peaceful but poignant protest.
The Mapuche flag, a symbol of Chile’s largest indigenous group, remained aloft for only a short time before it was discovered and replaced with the official flag. Then the guards were posted to protect it.