Lonko’s, Life, Liberty and Land Rights
By Nina Dean* - 26th July 2010
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Waikilaf Cadin Calfunao, Mapuche political prisoner on hunger strike |
As in all Mapuche communities the hereditary mantle of Lonko is traditionally held by a particular local family and is passed down to the first born child from generation to generation. The Paillalef Calfunao family, from the Juan Paillalef community, Cunco, near Temuco in Chile are one such example of this tradition. The title of Lonko in this community is currently held by Mapuche political prisoner, Chief Juana Rosa Calfunao Paillalef; whilst previously the Lonkos mother had occupied the role and so on through generations.
The traditional role of Lonko is to act as a lifelong guide to their community; as such they represent an anchor and security providing reassurance through times of difficulty within the life of the community. They are held warmly, in high esteem and respect by their community, providing an enduring beacon of strength, reassurance, continuity and stability to them. Each Mapuche community has its own Lonko and in line with Mapuche customs the Lonkos may meet together with other Mapuche communities and authorities to discuss wider issues of concern to the Mapuche people, those whom they are entrusted to guide and protect.
Waikilaf Cadin Calfunao the eldest son of the current leader of the Juan Pailalef community, as the prospective heir to the title of Lonko therefore represents the future of his community, its peace, security and aspirations; his future role is to protect and serve his people and the land upon which they live, which sustains them. This is a great honour and a grave responsibility, as the future wellbeing and survival of his community rests in his hands.
The relationship between the Mapuche people and their land is pivotal to their way of life; it is the primary and fundamental source of their spiritual understanding of the world. It is the compass by which the Mapuche navigate through daily life as it has served them for hundreds of years to date. Without this symbiotic connection to the land the Mapuche identity is fragmented and becomes unsustainable.
Due to the increasing presence of commercial national and multinational extraction and development companies in the Mapuche territory, Wallmapu, Mapuche communities have been besieged by the trespass of intrusive destructive industrial activities without their required free and informed consent, required in line with international conventions such as the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention 169. The Chilean and Argentinean states despite ratifying ILO 169 in 2008 fail to act in accordance with its principles in relation to the Mapuche people’s rights.
The Chilean government, in breach of previously signed treaties which state that their respective right to territory ends at the Bio Bio river, marking the border between the Mapuche/republican territories, the republics remain complicit with the interests of national and multinational corporations agendas to exploit the natural resources which lie within the boundaries of Mapuche ancestral territory. Herein lays the source of Mapuche land rights conflict. As a means of maintaining the application of their objectives, under the Patriot Act the Chilean State in particular has applied the Anti terrorist law first introduced under former Pinochet dictatorship, to Mapuche who attempt to defend their ancestral territory by peaceful democratic means resulting in the arbitrary detention of approximately 60 Mapuche men, women and children to date.
This characteristic state response has become a trademark strategy of the Chilean government, who accuse peaceful democratic Mapuche protesters of terrorist activities in order to silence their just democratic demands. The Calfunao family has been a victim of this unjust and inhumane tactic for multiple generations. The entire Calfunao family is in this way fractured, causing immeasurable damage to their respective emotional wellbeing and ability to develop as a family within their native community a right which is enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights, the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and also ILO Convention 169.
Like many other Mapuche Lonko families, Waikilaf as the eldest son of Lonko Calfuano has become a prime target for police, harassment, violence and consistent intermittent arbitrary detention, as were his mother and her mother before her, who have endured years of harassment, torture and arbitrary detention. Waikilaf like all members of his family has thus been prevented from living a normal life, where marriage, work, education and raising a family have been denied to this young man. Instead Waikilaf has been forced to observe the destruction of his family, his mother, who remains in detention after four years for a minor disobedience offence; his father who has endured intermittent periods of arbitrary detention; his sisters, the youngest of which currently resides in exile in Europe for her safety; brother and grandparents who have also endured significant periods of detention, violence and intimidation, as well as that of his community and the Mapuche nation as a whole. The incalculable suffering that Waikilaf and his family continue to endure at the hands of the Chilean state is nothing less than criminal and flies in the face of all accepted international norms and values.
Waikilaf was again arrested on 12th May 2010 for alleged public disorder offense, during a peaceful public protest against the continued arbitrary detention of his mother following the failure of her appeal for release. The police later returned to his home, and alleged to have discovered evidence of terrorist paraphernalia including explosive ingredients, inside the family home, an allegation fervently refuted by the defendant and his family.
Today Waikilaf and his mother Chief Juana Calfunao remain in detention in the separate Chilean state prisons of Angol and Temuco, with no date set for release. Under anti terrorist legislation, should Waikilaf be found guilty of the charges for which he was recently detained he could face a 10 to 20 year prison sentence for a crime which he did not commit.
In July 2010 on day eleven of their dry hunger strike 23 fellow Mapuche political prisoners were joined in solidarity by Waikilaf. The hunger strikers are held respectively in detention in prisons across Chile in protest at the application of anti terrorist law solely against Mapuche activists and their communities. Like many of his compatriots, during his numerous detentions, Waikilaf has consistently suffered torture at the hands of his captors.
The international community including the United Nations Human Rights Council and numerous international human rights organisations have been regularly updated on the Calfunao family situation and that of the Mapuche as a whole over the past decade. Whilst the application of anti terrorist law has been widely condemned by the UNHRC and numerous nation states. During the 12th session of the United Nations Human ‘rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland in Sept 2009 Danielle Mitterand, wife of former French president Francois Mitterand, vehemently denounced the ongoing repression against Mapuche activists and peaceful campaigners.
In Waikilafs last recorded statement to the international community he states ‘’I call upon all international bodies to act now and not when they have me killed by the police.’’ ‘’Our community's fight continues because it is legitimate. We urge all Mapuche and non Mapuche brothers not to be intimidated or frightened by acts of the corrupt police and prosecutors who persecute Mapuche. We ask for the release of all Mapuche political prisoners’’.
In July 2010 Antonio Cadin, the father of Waikilaf, along with ex mapuche political prisoner Victor Ancalaf Llaupe traveled to the United Nations to participate in the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in order to present their concerns for the ongoing repression against the Mapuche nation and that of the illicit detention of his wife and son and all Mapuche political prisoners.
Whilst the future of the Calfunao family and that of the Mapuche people remains in jeopordy, it remains clear that despite many years of lobbying the international community in order to coerce the Chilean state to comply with international standards for human rights, there have been no tangible changes in their policies and no political will to do so. Therefore we must demand nothing less than the immediate release of all Mapuche political prisoners and an end to the cruel inhumane and unjust harassment and denial of civil liberties of the Mapuche nation and its just and valiant leaders, before they are extinguished without trace.
*Vice secretary and International political strategist
Mapuche International Link