Chile judge: 18 years for Mapuche in arson deaths

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A Mapuche indigenous leader was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Friday for the arson murders of an elderly couple who died defending their property from hooded trespassers.

Celestino Cordova Transito, 27, was the only suspect arrested in the attack that killed Werner Luchsinger and his wife Vivian MacKay. The crime prompted a national debate about Chile’s struggle to manage violent disputes over ancestral indigenous lands.