(Bloomberg) -- The killing of a young man by police in southern Chile last week has reignited a centuries-old conflict with the country’s indigenous Mapuche population, threatening to undermine support for billionaire President Sebastian Pinera.

Militarized police shot Camilo Catrillanca through the head as he drove a tractor near the village of Ercilla following reports of a violent car theft nearby. The government later said a police officer had destroyed video evidence of the incident.

The killing came eight months after Pinera returned to power on a platform that included imposing law and order on the Araucania region that has seen a wave of arson attacks, many against forestry companies such as CMPC SA and Empresas Copec SA. The Mapuches, who didn’t lose their independence until the 1880s, are demanding greater autonomy. Pinera’s creation of a special militarized police unit, dubbed by local media as the Jungle Command, is now threatening to backfire, with Catrillanca’s death triggering protests as far away as Santiago.

"This death symbolizes the failure of the government’s plan for Araucania," said Kenneth Bunker, a Chilean political analyst and a visiting professor at Sapienza University in Rome. "Mistakes such as this one allow the opposition to come together as one against the government and that’s what’s happening right now -- the government will be in trouble."

Chile’s governing coalition of four conservative parties lacks a majority in the House of Deputies or the Senate, forcing Pinera to negotiate with center and left-wing parties if he wants to fulfill key election promises such as reforming the pensions system, improving healthcare --and bringing peace to Araucania.

Jungle Command

"Pinera’s approach to conflicts in Chile by being tough on crime has a cost," Bunker said. "The government is giving the opposition reasons to not negotiate because no one wants to talk with a government that is not popular."

Pinera’s approval rating fell to 41 percent last week, the lowest since his second term began in March, according to a weekly survey by Cadem released Monday.

Created in June, the Jungle Command is equipped with bullet-proof jackets, drones and high-tech communications systems. The group was trained in Colombia on new techniques to combat terrorism, according to a statement by the presidency.

"I hope this is a start of a new era in this beautiful region," Pinera said in June.

After Catrillanca’s death, the president tweeted that the incident was "unfortunate," while adding that police have "a duty to fight crime, and the right to defend themselves when they are attacked." Since then, more revelations of police misconduct have come to light and the United Nations, Amnesty International and Chile’s Human Rights Institute have called for a thorough investigation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Millan Lombrana in Santiago at lmillan4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Luzi Ann Javier at ljavier@bloomberg.net, ;James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Philip Sanders

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