In view of the deterioration in the health of the Mapuche political prisoners on hunger strike:
Open letter to the President of Chile from Mapuche International Link
 |
Anna Harvey, Reynaldo Mariqueo, Jimena Castro and Roberto Navarrete (the latter both representatives of the Chilean Association of Former Political Prisoners in the United Kingdom) made up the delegation that handed the letter (see below) to Rodrigo Espinosa (centre) Minister Counsellor of the Chilean Embassy in London |
 |
MAPUCHE INTERNATIONAL LINK |
Mr. Sebastián Piñera Echenique
President of the Chilean Republic
Santiago, Chile
Bristol, 12 August 2010
Dear Mr President,
In representation of Mapuche International Link, we must express our profound concern to the Government of Chile over the fate of the 31 Mapuche political prisoners who today have completed one month on indefinite hunger strike.
The outcome of the denial of a fair legal process, the application of the Antiterrorist Law introduced during the military dictatorship, the lack of independent and impartial courts and the lack of respect for due process has been a loss of trust in Chilean justice, which is viewed by the Mapuche people merely as an instrument of domination of a colonialist character.
The Chilean Government’s continued application of the Antiterrorist Law to contain and control the Mapuche movement is expressed in practice as an instrument of terror against the Mapuche communities in conflict. The police and intelligence agents commit all manner of abuses, operating in a way that is completely out of control. Included among these excesses are murders, torture, the destruction of homes, arbitrary arrests and the killing of livestock in order to damage their precarious economy. These excesses are virtually never investigated, let alone punished, by the Chilean authorities, which is an attitude that implicitly denotes the Chile government’s approval of them.
On the other hand, the use of paid witnesses, whose anonymity denies any possibility of subjecting them to the rigorous examination required in such cases, means that all Mapuche leaders, due to their very condition of being indigenous and leaders, run the risk of being detained at any time and under any pretext.
We deplore the fact that the unanimous condemnation by the international human rights bodies, including the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on indigenous issues, has been ignored by your Government. We find it unacceptable that in a state under the rule of law, and under a democratic government, military tribunals continue to be used alongside civil courts to judge the same case. This illegal way of proceeding highlights the unacceptable discrimination against the Mapuches, whose detained leaders see their sentences doubled. All this once again attests to the intolerable political persecution suffered by the Mapuche movement.
Mr. President, the deterioration in the health of the 31 Mapuche political prisoners due to their prolonged hunger strike is alarming; reason for the extreme form of their protest is the denial of their most elementary human and civil rights by the Chilean justice system. It is now public knowledge that the Mapuche political prisoners are set up by the police and the judicial authorities, who criminalise their just demands and accuse them of crimes they swear they did not commit.
Official sources in Araucania indicate that the health of most of the political prisoners is in a delicate situation; their physical weakness is clear, as they have lost between 8 and 11 kilos; they are suffering from continuous headaches and stomach aches, cramps, nausea, faintness and disorientation, in addition to heart problems and momentary loss of vision. Their physical condition is worsened by the intense cold that is affecting the region, by the lack of medical attention and by the humiliating and racist treatment meted out to them by the police and prison authorities.
As a consequence, Mapuche International Link makes the following demands:
An end to the institutionalised violence and repeal of the Antiterrorist Law;
An end to the policy of militarisation of Mapuche territories;
The guarantee of the respect for due process and the release of the Mapuche political prisoners who are currently detained;
An end to the system of “simultaneous double trials” before military tribunals and civil courts;
Political and territorial rights, autonomy and self-determination, which are recognised in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ratified by the Chilean State on 13 September 2007;
An end of the policy of dispersion and isolation of Mapuche prisoners, which hinders visits by lawyers and family members;
The immediate commencement of negotiations to put an end to the hunger strike, in order to avoid a fatal outcome, with unpredictable results as regards peaceful coexistence and social harmony.
At the same time, we reaffirm:
The inalienable right of our people to exercise its entitlement to autonomy and free self-determination in accordance with the norms of international law, as well as our commitment of solidarity with the just demands of our people for the return of their territory, illegally occupied by the Chilean state. More than thirty international treaties with the Crown of Spain and with Chile recognise Mapuche sovereignty over its territory.
Consequently we urge your government to alter its behaviour towards the Mapuche conflict, and we express our desire for a favourable framework to be established to lead to the political solution through dialogue that we all desire.
Yours sincerely,
Reynaldo Mariqueo
Mapuche International Link
Mapuche Werken [special envoy]
for the European Union