Chief Juana Calfunao appoints Reynaldo Mariqueo Werken Mapuche to the European Union
6th January 2008
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Reynaldo Mariqueo heads a delegation from Mapuche International Link to the Vatican to submit a letter to Pope Benedicto XVI and participate in a demonstration in Rome in support of the Mapuche political prisioners. Photo : Werken Mariqueo in Venice, Italy, August 2007
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We, Juana Calfunao Paillalef, and Chief of Lof Juan Paillalef, have, today, appointed Reynaldo Mariqueo as Werken (Special Envoy) to the European Union.
This honourable title has been awarded to him for his long standing commitment to defending the rights of the Mapuche nation. Werken Mariqueo has remained true to the cause of freedom for the Mapuche people over many years.
Today -- the day that our nation commemorates the Treaty of Killen of 1641, an event which established an international boundary at the Bio-Bio river between the Mapuche nation and the land colonised by Spain -- I would like to reaffirm before the world, that even though today we are unjustly imprisoned, our sovereign right as authoritative figures in the Mapuche nation still stands. It does not matter how many decrees or laws are passed by the Chilean Government, they will never take these rights away; it is the ancestral order of the Mapuche people.
Even though the Chilean Government has taken away my liberty because of my fight for the rights of my community and my nation, and has confined me together with common criminals, and deprived me of my home and a family life, it will never be able to imprison my thoughts and my ancestral status as a leader of the Mapuche nation-- inherited from my ancestors and the grace of our Chau Ngenechen (god father).
It is, for me, a great pleasure to officially appoint Iamngen (brother) Mariqueo as a Mapuche Werken (Special Envoy), in order that he may continue to develop international relations between our nation and the global community, according to the principles of our ancestral and cultural heritage. I would like him to be the voice of all those whose voices are silenced; those who don't speak the Spanish language; and those who cannot participate in international forums. I ask that in his capacity as Werken, he meets with other human rights, political and social organisations, so that they may act as mediators for those of us imprisoned, tortured and massacred by the oppressive Chilean state.
From the Women prison of Temuco
Juana Calfunao Paillalef
Lonko del Lof Juan Paillalef
Ayllarewe Kecherewe
Wallmapu
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Translated by Lucie Pannell
