Chilean Voices
The Nation through the eyes of a Mapuche Leader
Santiago, 14th Februry 2001
By Richard Coles
KEYWORDS: CULTURAL, INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
TEXT: (Ed. note: In our latest interview with ordinary and extraordinary Chileans sharing their perspectives on culture, politics, economics, history or everyday life, Mapuche community leader or lonko Juana Calfunao Pailleff, 43, speaks out against the brutal treatment she and her community receives at the hands of the police.
The Mapuche are Chile's largest indigenous group and represent about 10 percent of the population. Calfunao, who is one of about 120 members of the Juan Pailleff community, gained national notoriety in July 1999 when she was filmed punching Rodrigo Gonzalez, then director of National Indigenous Development Agency (CONADI ).
Question: Tell me about your community.
Juana Calfunao Pailleff: We live in extreme poverty. We've got no electricity or running water. We have to draw water from the nearest river and we've been requesting electricity for the past 12 years, to no avail.
I live in a ruka (a traditional Mapuche hut made from wood and mud) with only the earth for the floor. We live in rukas partly because that's what we're used to, but mainly because we haven't got the money to build proper houses.
Q: Is the ruka divided into rooms?
JCP: No. We put up metal barriers to divide it a little. Seven of us live in the ruka.
Q: What's the current situation of the Mapuche?
JCP: What's happening at the moment isn't so terrible. We've been through much worse times in the past. Sometimes it's worse, sometimes it's better, but there's always conflict. We go to bed not knowing if we'll be alive in the morning. Nothing has really changed, even with this (-democratically elected-) government, and nothing will ever really change.
The government works in collaboration with the police to subjugate us further. More laws are passed, such as reforms to the judicial system that are currently being tested in Temuco, which only serve to repress and dominate us, to beat us and imprison us even more.
Q: How are you treated by the police?
JCP: They beat us just for being Mapuches. I was arrested in the Temuco bus terminal just for being a Mapuche, for wearing my traditional clothing. They dragged me by my braids and handcuffed me. My son tried to defend me, but he was also beaten and cuffed. My husband was also arrested. My other children and my fellow Mapuche brothers tried to help me, but couldn't do a thing...... As a result of the beating I received, I lost my unborn child. I was stripped naked and left in a cell overnight. They strangled me with my braids, let me catch my breath and then strangled me again. They stood on my stomach, they spat in my face, they beat me all over.... It was horrific....
Q: When did this happen?
JCP: May, last year. I was in a critical situation in the hospital, but the police denied any responsibility. Medical examinations showed that I lost my unborn child, but the military attorney's office denies that I was ever beaten by the police, that I lost my child. The attorney wants to dismiss the case without even investigating it. All my medical files have disappeared, but luckily I managed to make copies of them before that happened. I'm trying to take the case to international organizations so people can see what is really going on here so this never happens again.
We've never harmed a soul, we want to live in freedom and peace. We want to live a normal life like any other person. The only thing we're fighting for is land because (-Mapuche translates as 'people of the earth'-) and without land we're not people.
Source: Santiago Times
_______________________________________
For more information on Chief Juana Calfunao, Click here