The Cold and Unforgiving Embrace of Chilean State Terrorism
By Nina Dean* - 10th January 2010
Mapuche Lonko (Chief ) Juana Calfunao, ancestral authority and leader of the Juan Paillalef community in Chile remains imprisoned in a Temuco jail as a cruel and strategic measure implemented by the Chilean State in order to break the spirit of the Calfunao family and simultaneously that of the Mapuche ancestral land rights movement. The brutal and unethical treatment of the Calfunao family and countless more Mapuche, at the hands of the Chilean state has been consistent through generations of the Calfunao family.
The community led by Lonko Calfunao have protested against the illicit construction, without the prior and informed consent required under international law, of a road running through the heart of the Juan Paillalef community. This had led to Chilean government military police being deployed into the region to repress the democratic protest in defence of ancestral land. Further the home of Lonko Calfunao had been burned to the ground on three occasions in suspected arson attacks by local latifundistas (landowners of European descent). During one such attack the youngest child of the Lonko was inside the home when it was set alight but fortunately was rescued by family members thus preventing physical injury or fatality.
Despite many years of campaigning by a multitude of loyal and dedicated supporters, among them Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Mapuche organisations, acclaimed Chilean lawyer, judge Juan Guzman, the United Nations Human Rights Council and a myriad of national and international ngo's, including a visit to the Vatican Mapuche International Link in 2007, the Chilean State refuse to bow to international pressure to release all members of the Calfunao family and other Mapuche political prisoners, whom the government refuses to acknowledge as such; Neither do they exhibit remorse or compassion for the plight of the Calfunao family, rather they continue to use them as a means by which they apply incalculable suffering via their continued incarceration. In this action the Chilean state demonstrates its commitment to the Machiavellian principle of statism, 'that in the last analysis the state must survive regardless of the casualties that this ethic produces be they human or other, all are dispensable in the protection and expansion of the evolving state'.
Whilst intentionally overlooking all valid treaties previously signed between, the Mapuche Nation and the Spanish Crown and later the Chilean and Argentinean States. The Chilean government continues to deny their validity under international law by proceeding to repress the Mapuche in pursuit of their ancestral territories and the commercial value they represent to the state. The innocent victims, the Mapuche and families such as the Calfunao's.
Remulray Cadin Calfunao, the youngest daughter of Lonko Calfunao was finally removed from the family home in Chile to seek sanctuary in Switzerland under the care of her Aunt Rayen, sister of Lonko Calfunao (who also await the outcome of their claim for political asylum). Remultray whose mother, father and Aunt Luisa are held in detention whilst her two older brothers have been intermittently detained throughout her life, is only able to communicate with her parents via live video link to their respective prisons. She maintains telephone contact with her brothers and sister in Chile during the periods that they are not in detention. One can only imagine the isolation and loneliness suffered by an innocent child deprived of the love and affection of her parents and siblings and the familiarity of the land of her birth along with the pain that this injustice brings.
The Calfunao family have in this way been separated and denied by the Chilean Government, the universal right to live as is their birthright, a normal family life. Surely these are not the actions of a post dictatorship democracy but those of an unconscionable regime intent on ruthlessly fulfilling its selfish agenda by any means necessary. Under a regime such as this the universal value for human rights enshrined in international conventions such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ILO Convention 169, and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are ignored. Value and respect for life does not appear to register in the minds of Chilean government officials and the policies that they implement which represent an unprovoked violent and pre meditated assault upon the Mapuche people regardless of their vulnerability as in the case of women, children and elderly victims.
Lonko (Chief) Calfunao and her sister Luisa Calfunao had committed to hunger strike on the 7th of August 2007 in an desperate effort to raise awareness of their plight and that of all Mapuche political prisoners. Lonko Calfunao herself came close to death at this time after suffering a heart attack on the 64th day of her protest due to the effects of starvation. Despite the two sisters fragile condition the media blackout in Chile continued in an effort to prevent the world from observing the condition of the political prisoners and to shroud their repressive policies against the Mapuche people. Meanwhile the Dhali Lhama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people offered prayers for the Mapuche political prisoners.
Judge Juan Guzman a Chilean lawyer who previously brought to trial the former Chilean dictator General Pinochet had intervened in Lonko Calfunao's case during the time of her hunger strike. This had been a most fortuitous intervention and it can be speculated that at this most vulnerable time, may have saved the life of Lonko Calfunao and her sister. According to Judge Guzman, Chilean government policies such as the anti terrorist law when applied against Mapuche democratic protest in defence of their ancestral lands are done so for the theft and exploitation of their territory as the actions of a partial judicial and law enforcement system reinforced the economic interests of national and trans-national corporations.
The world has witnessed the destruction of natural indigenous habitats, the attempted genocide of indigenous nations such as that of North American Native Indians, Inuit, and countless others across the globe, yet it seems that it remains unenlightened to the fact that the post imperialist era continues to ravage what remains of these peoples, in what may be labelled phase two of the indigenous conflict, the scramble for the last remaining resources of the Earth. For the indigenous peoples and families such as the Calfunao's total annihilation is close unless the world awakens to action in order to save the Mapuche and other indigenous nations from the ruthless governments who seek to destroy them.
In eradicating these peoples, their rich culture, history, spirituality and way of life the West will burn the last remaining bridge which leads the way back home.
*Vice Secretary, Mapuche International Link