Fire season is tearing through the Global South, including on both sides of the Andes mountains in South America.
Why write a poem about this?
I write under the pen name Cael Lawenu. I chose “wenu” from Mapudungun, the language of the Mapuche people living in the Southern Cone. I chose the word to be a quiet nod to “wenu mapu“ (meaning the land above / sky-land), and because it carries the same root, “mapu,” that lives inside the word Mapuche itself: mapu (land) + che (people). I’m half-Chilean, and I have ~16% Southern Andean genetics via my mother’s ancestry.
I wrote this poem because my heart hurts to see what is happening to this beautiful region and to help others know how they can help.
The Catastrophe
Over the last two decades, Patagonia’s fire seasons have taken hundreds of lives, alongside the loss of homes, watersheds, and old-growth forests.
In Chile now, “mega-fires” in Biobío and Ñuble have killed 19–20 people, displaced thousands, and burned between ~25,000 and 38,000 hectares, with hundreds of homes destroyed and many fires still active.
In Argentina’s Patagonia, major fronts in Chubut have burned roughly 12,000 hectares in the Andean region, threatening towns and infrastructure. Local reporting also describes dozens of homes lost and a larger, season-to-date toll across multiple fronts.
It’s not only forests that are burning; trust is too, fanned by whispers of why this is happening.
Officials point to drought, wind, and suspected arson. In parallel, a louder political narrative has tried to tie “terrorism” and “arson” together with Mapuche identity—as justification for harsh control measures.
Underneath this, another story brews of deregulation, budget cuts, land speculation, and a “fire-sale” logic that turns catastrophe into land transfer.
In Argentina, fire emulates the chainsaw: President Milei’s austerity has hollowed out the national fire system.
When prevention is starved, disaster becomes policy by omission.
Here’s the poem; scroll below to know how you can help.
Fire-sold Lands
The Patagonia is burning, hundreds killed. Fire-sold lands turned over to billionaires’ hands. Indigenous peoples blamed as arsonists? Terrorists?
Strip-searched mothers guns, trained as children cry An elder’s bruised wrists, ribs— proof
The name of a people matters. Mapuche— ”People of the Land” Not of the dollar, not of the State.
Civil disobedience met, again with fire and fury for taking a stand. Where greedy projects brew, blatant lies and violence ensue
The name of a land matters. Patagonia— “Land of the Bigfeet” bare soles touching earth now swallowed by Argentina— “made of Silver”
Colonialism’s broken heritage now breaks wills As silver rivers run with mud— and native blood.
How to Help
If you can, donate toward relief, toward the people doing the dangerous work, and toward communities who keep getting blamed for surviving.
Some donation pages list a bank “alias” (a short handle used for domestic transfers in Chile/Argentina). If you’re donating from outside the country, an alias alone often won’t work—use a card/PayPal/official donation link when available, or look for full international wire details (SWIFT/bank/account) before sending.
CHILE (fire relief / displaced families)
TECHO-Chile (campaign page linked from Chilevisión)
Desafío Levantemos Chile (official site)
Hogar de Cristo (donation portal linked from Chilevisión)
ARGENTINA (Patagonia/Chubut relief + responders)
Fundación Sí (Chubut fires page; they also list the transfer alias “DONAFUNDACIONSI”)
Fundación Bomberos de Argentina (reported donation alias “bomberosfund” + Donar Online)
Fundación River + Red Solidaria (campaign page; includes a “Donar Online” link)
INDIGENOUS-LED / INDIGENOUS-DIRECT support (Mapuche / Mapuche-Tehuelche)
ANRed: Aid list for Comunidad Mapuche Lorenzo Pulgar Huentuquidel (includes a donation alias)
Canal Abierto (2025): Coordinadora del Parlamento Mapuche Tehuelche fundraiser alias “EMERGENCIA.COMUNIDAD”
Fundación CholChol (Mapuche artisan/community support — donation page)