Mapuche Political Prisoner Situation
The threatened transfer of Jaime Huenchullán to Victoria Prison
Press Release - Monday 29th of September, 2008
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The Mapuche community of Temucuicui express the concerns on the transfer of Jaime to Victoria Prison. ____________________ Photo: Jaime Huenchullán, Mapuche Political Prisoner, although badly ill, is kept chained in the Regional Hospital of Temuco. |
1. Leader Jaime Huenchullán was shot by rubber bullets by police a year ago in his rural community whilst protecting his lands in a demonstration. Although still ill, he was supporting his wife and two small children. He later decided to come out of hiding after suffering terrible, ongoing discomfort and acute pain to seek medical help at the Regional Hospital of Temuco, where he was subsequently detained by the police authorities.
2. On Saturday 27th September medical personnel and prison authorities uncovered the threat of his proposed transfer to prison within the next few days, without receiving an operation. Furthermore, he would be transferred immediately from the Regional Hospital to Victoria Prison, although he hasn't even recovered 30% of his health yet. Now, he is not only ill, but will have to try to improve in the threatening atmosphere of a prison, which is dangerous for his health and his life.
3. We are pushing for an absolute refusal of the transfer of our brother, whether to Victoria Hospital or the Prison, because we know that the best hospital conditions for his recovery are in the hospital where he is currently being treated.
For this reason, we applied for an Appeal of Protection for Jaime last week, because his health is more important to us than any attempts by the Chilean justice System to add another person to the already growing list of Mapuche political prisoners, incarcerated when they haven't committed any crimes.
4. We expose the true intentions behind the threatened transfer of our Peñi (brother) to Victoria , as a way of silencing his case and denying him the social support and status that is currently being given to him as a campaigner (weichafe). Jaime has received lots of visits in hospital from different traditional authorities, organisations and social personalities.
5. We firmly believe that his transfer must only occur after he has absolutely recovered, since at the moment, he has only been treated with antibiotics, with the future expectation of a surgical operation. Furthermore, we demand that his case should be dealt with as speedily as possible, so that his unfair imprisonment does not drag out for a long time. Many of his other brothers before him were imprisoned behind bars, and were forgotten by the Chilean justice System.
We are making an extensive and heartfelt plea to the social organisations and all those who are united to our cause to make a special effort to visit Jaime, and to lobby for the refusal of his transfer until he has really recovered.
Autonomous Mapuche Community of Temucuicui
Wallmapuche, Temucuicui
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(Translated by Elise Saunders)