Development & Aid, Headlines, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean, Population

CHILE: Mapuche Prisoners on Verge of Starving to Death for Cause

Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, May 9 2006 (IPS) - Three members of the Mapuche indigenous community and a supporter of their cause are in critical condition almost two months into a hunger strike in a prison in southern Chile.

The prisoners, who say they are prepared to face the ultimate consequences, are fasting to protest their conviction on terrorist arson charges, which carried a prison sentence of 10 years and a day and an order to pay more than 800,000 dollars in restitution.

“The doctor who is keeping us informed explained that the lives of these four people have been at risk since the 50th day of fasting – it is now day 59,” lawyer Alejandra Arriaza told IPS. Arriaza represents Juan Huenulao, Patricia Troncoso and brothers Patricio and Jaime Marileo, who have been held in the Temuco prison, 670 kilometres south of Santiago, since 2001.

On Sunday, the four handcuffed and shackled prisoners were taken to the Temuco hospital to stabilize their vital signs, after the Appeals Court granted a protective measure presented by the government through Alfredo Bañados, regional director of the Gendarmería (prison guard service).

However, Arriaza charges that the health centre failed to conduct certain evaluations – such as blood and urine tests – necessary for determining the patients’ true condition, limiting the examination to a blood pressure check and weigh-in. “They have all exhibited signs of weakness, cramps, kidney problems and memory loss,” she said.

The lawyer also criticised the hygiene conditions in the Temuco prison, to which the prisoners were returned. “They are in the infirmary with two other ill prisoners who eat next to them and share the same bathroom,” she stated.

The four, who began their hunger strike Mar. 13, have consistently denied any involvement in the fire that destroyed 100 hectares of a pine plantation on the Mininco forestry company’s Poluco Pidenco estate, near Temuco.

They are demanding that the verdict be overturned, and that they be immediately released.

In addition to denouncing irregularities in the trial against them, the indigenous defendants protested the application of the counter-terrorism law, which was enacted by the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) and modified during the transition to democracy.

This law, which allowed some 100 witnesses to conceal their identity while testifying, has been under fire from national and international organisations, such as Amnesty International, the International Federation of Human Rights, and the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights, through its rapporteur on Indigenous Issues, Rodolfo Stavenhagen.

“The forestry companies engage in self-sabotage to collect insurance and blame the Mapuches,” José Cariqueo, spokesman for the political prisoners, told IPS. He was acquitted during the same trial.

Nine other members of the Mapuche community have been imprisoned on charges of committing “terrorist acts” in Chile.

In April, Arriaza and Cariqueo met with Interior Minister Andrés Zaldívar, who agreed to temporarily transfer three of the four prisoners to the Centro Agrícola de Angol (Angol Agricultural Centre) where they could farm subsistence crops; he also promised to refrain from invoking the counter-terrorism law in similar cases.

The indigenous prisoners refused to end their protest, as the relocation did not include all four, nor was it a definitive measure; they would go to work during the day, and return each night to the Temuco prison.

The option currently being studied involves government fast-tracking of a bill proposed by socialist Senator Alejandro Navarro, which entails freeing Mapuche prisoners condemned under the counter-terrorism law, through an amendment to the parole law.

On Monday afternoon, several members of the centre-left coalition government and leaders of the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI) met with Zaldívar and the chief of staff, Paulina Veloso, to evaluate the viability of this and other options.

If this solution is chosen, the Chilean Congress would have the final word. It is uncertain whether the law would be approved, considering that actions the Mapuche people have brought against multinational forestry companies have sparked opposition in the conservative sectors represented in the country’s legislature.

On Friday, May 5, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal to review the verdict against the three Mapuches and the activist, presented by Arriaza, limiting the possibilities of a short-term solution that could prevent the situation from ending in deaths.

On May 1, the four prisoners’ demands were thrust into the public spotlight when a group of Mapuche protesters violently disrupted the International Labour Day event organised by the Central Workers’ Union (CUT) in Santiago.

Over the past few days several marches in support of the indigenous prisoners have been held in Temuco and other cities and towns in southern Chile, primarily organised by Mapuche indigenous people, students and human rights groups. Some of the demonstrations have ended in dozens of arrests, violent incidents and property damage.

Retired judge Juan Guzmán, the first magistrate to prosecute Pinochet in Chile, last week presented a letter from Mapuche leader Aucán Huilcamán to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, listing the attacks to which this indigenous community has been subjected, and asking for the international community to intervene.

“The Mapuche movement, which has employed all peaceful means to recuperate the land taken from them in Chile’s southern region, is once again the target of harsh political repression,” stated the judge.

Sergio Laurenti, director of the Chilean chapter of Amnesty International, told IPS that the organisation launched an international campaign to ask Chilean authorities to guarantee basic health conditions for the Mapuches and the activist on hunger strike..

The organisation is hoping “urgent action petitions” – channelled from all over the world through the Amnesty International web site – will pressure the Chilean government into “stabilising the prisoners, making them comfortable, providing them shelter in the prison and monitoring their health status.”

This does not include force feeding, or connecting an IV, as Amnesty International believes that no one should interfere with the decision that the four have made of their own free accord.

On Friday, Amnesty sent a letter to President Michelle Bachelet; the mayor of the 9th Region, Eduardo Klein; Justice Minister Isidro Solís; and Foreign Affairs Minister Alejandro Foxley. As of press time, no answer had been received.

While the Chilean branch of Amnesty International has decided not to take a stand on this court case in particular, Laurenti warned that there was evidence that facts were manipulated in previous trials, and strongly denounced the application of the counter-terrorism law.

According to the 2002 census, almost 700,000 people – 4.6 percent of the Chilean population of 15.6 million – belong to various indigenous groups; 87.3 percent of these minorities are Mapuche.

The Mapuche people’s ancestral lands were located in the southern areas of the continent, in what are today Argentina and Chile. In Chile, indigenous groups are demanding a law guaranteeing autonomous territory and increased political, cultural and linguistic rights.