At the request of family members we make:
An urgent appeal to save the life of Patricia Troncoso
Press Release - January 14th, 2008
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Information from the Wallmapu, ancestral territory of the Mapuche nation, confirms the allegations made on January 13th in a press release issued by the Political Prisoners of the Juan Paillalef community, currently detained in various jails in the city of Temuco. We wish to express our deep concern over the health of Patricia Troncoso Robles, who is in agony in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Regional Hospital of Temuco. _________ Patricia Troncoso is trasfere handcuffed to Angol Hospital |
Patricia Troncoso was moved in the early morning hours of Sunday January 13th from the Mauritius Hagermann hospital of Angol to the Regional Hospital of Temuco which currently has a crisis of infection in several units, putting Patricia's life in imminent danger. We deplore the lack of sensitivity displayed by the Chilean authorities who, despite Patricia's moribund state and the pain she is enduring, kept her handcuffed, presumably to increase her suffering.
Family members and close friends are asking the relevant authorities to order her urgent transferral to Santiago. This request is based on the recommendations made by the medical team that signed the Medical Report on January 12th, 2008 in Angol.
However, the Medical Report delivered at the Hospital of Temuco on January 13th, by a team set up by the Government, has been kept strictly secret. Despite this, Dr. Luis Ravanal, a member of the team, agreed in an interview with certain media in the Araucanía region on the need to transfer his patient to a care centre in Santiago , as well as "keeping her un-handcuffed". The seriousness of her state of health is so critical that on 7th January, the medical psychiatrist Berna Castro Rojas recommended in her report "the immediate re-placement to a medical centre that guarantees the life of Patricia with access to doctors who safeguard her human rights."
Sources associated with the doctors and relatives of Patricia stated they are being confronted by strong government pressure to refrain from informing the public about her critical state of health. It is suspected that the Chilean government is attempting to avoid national and international pressure and further delay the outcome of a possible agreement with the delegates who intercede on her behalf.
The Chilean authorities consistently disregard the lives and suffering of the Mapuche. A clear example of this was the killing of Matias Catrileo Quezada on the 3rd January 2008, who was shot in the back with a submachine gun by a Chilean police officer during a peaceful protest. The protest concerned the reclamation of land, which had been previously usurped by the landowner and businessman Jorge Luchsinger, in the vicinity of Vilcun.
We urge the Mapuche communities and organisations fighting for the restoration of their ancestral land to maintain their campaign of protest. We call to all non-Mapuche organisations and people solidary with our cause to continue with the campaign for justice and freedom for all political prisoners, and end judicial and political persecution of Mapuche leaders.
We call on the Government of Michelle Bachelet to fulfil its promise of establishing a dialogue table with the family of Patricia Troncoso and respond urgently and favourably to the request made by Patricia and delivered on 2nd January, 2008. This was a prerequisite for her to stop her hunger strike, which is nearing 100 days in progression, has been completely ignored by the media, and is slowly and silently consuming her life.
Patricia's right to a due process was denied. Should her outcome prove fatal, it will be on the hands of both those who applied illegal laws introduced by the dictatorship of Pinochet, and all bribed and anonymous ("faceless") witnesses. The force that drives Patricia Troncoso to give her life, if necessary, is the injustice of her conviction. Sooner or later someone must assume responsibility for all damage caused to this brave daughter of the Mapuche nation.
Flor Rayen Calfunao Paillalef
Community Member of Juan Paillalef Community
Reynaldo Mariqueo
Mapuche Werken (Special Envoy) to the European Union