Massive farewell to Mapuche activist Assassinated by the Chilean police
17th August 2009
This Sunday, the 16th August, more than 3,000 people of diverse Mapuche representations in Wallmapu took part in Jaime Mendoza Collío’s funeral. At 5 p.m. the funeral procession including the symbolic Mapuche mounted guards made their way to the community cemetery, led by Lonko (the traditional Mapuche authorities). At the funeral, diverse socio-political representatives of the Mapuche people also attended, their internal divisions temporally overcome by a shared grief. They subsequently declared two days of mourning to be held immediately.
Mendoza was a 24 year old member of the Requén Pillán community, he was murdered during a social protest on the 12th of August. The Mapuche had been campaigning for the right to regain their ancestral lands when violence broke out. During the demonstration the Carabineros (Chilean special police forces) attacked the campaigners, and when Mendoza turned to flee he was shot in the back. He leaves behind him his widow and child. The Carabineros classified the shooting as self defence, a claim corroborated by the Chilean government. The case has referred to the military tribunal, rather than the civil courts, despite condemnation from the inter-American court of human rights.
In November 2002, another Mapuche, the 17 year old Alex Lemun was also killed during a social Campaigning. During a demonstration against the Mininco forestry company – Lemun was shot in the head by the senior police officer Marco Trurer. Despite overwhelming evidence against the officer, he was proven innocent by the military court. Turer has been subsequently promoted. Not merely content to ignore these assassinations, the government endorses the subjugation of the Mapuche, and the ex-President Lagos was particularly keen to repress the Mapuche through his “Paciencia” military strategy.
Through “Paciencia”, the military courts fabricated evidence which imprisoned members of the Mapuche campaigns. The Arauco Malleco Coordination organisation, which aimed to regain the Mapuche lands – was attacked particularly strongly, and all the main leaders remain imprisoned though false evidence.
During the wake, Victor Ancalaf an ex-Mapuche political prisoner, made an appeal of solidarity and unity to confront the exploitation the Mapuche people face today. Ancalaf himself was imprisoned for five years due to his condemnation of the Chilean government’s repressive policies. The Mapuche representative called to maintain the mobilisation of resistance, but he also emphasised the importance of protesting peacefully and with dignity, in the face of provocation by the military police and intelligence services. Rosa Collío, the mother of the man killed also demanded justice in the name her family, especially her granddaughter – who will now live alone without her father.
Source: mapuexpress
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Translated by Henry Gill
Mapuche International Link