Chilean President Gabriel Boric on Thursday began his first visit to the southern Araucania region, which has been plagued by violence linked to radical indigenous groups.

Leftist Boric deployed troops to the region and re-imposed emergency measures earlier this year after a spate of arson attacks.

Speaking on Twitter, the President said his visit was designed to “strengthen interministerial work based on our government’s priorities in the region, with a focus on people and security.”

His visit to the region of central Chile, several hundred miles (kilometers) south of Santiago, was only confirmed late Wednesday due to security concerns.

Another series of arson attacks followed, including against a school and a church, as well as several roadblocks.

The densely forested region is the arena of territorial claims by the Mapuche, Chile’s largest indigenous group.

The Arauco Malleco Coordination (CAM), one of the main Mapuche groups in the region, released a statement Wednesday against Boric’s visit.

It said his trip “obeys the interests of the oligarchy, the power of business groups opposed directly to the Mapuche cause.”

Boric plans to meet with local leaders and victims of the conflict.

In the 16th century, the Mapuche resisted Spanish expansion into their territories, but were eventually subdued in 1870 by the Chilean army, which subsequently began establishing colonies in the region.

The return of these ancestral lands is at the heart of the Mapuche struggle.

Radical groups regularly carry out arson attacks on logging companies in the region and also prevent outsiders from entering the area without permission.

Two days after Boric took office in March, former Interior Minister Izkia Siches was forced to turn back from a planned visit to the region after shots were fired in the air to intimidate her party.

Boric’s predecessor, Sebastian Pinera, first deployed the military to Araucania in October 2021, and although the new president ended the move, he was then forced to back down in May.