Press Release

Bristol, UK. 26 August 1999

Chile: Mapuche nation under attack!!

The Chilean Government has broken the Agreement to Respect Citizens' Rights which it signed as recently as 5 August 99. The police detained 34 people from indigenous communities, some of whom are held incomunicado in Lebu gaol. Ten of them declared a hunger strike on 25 August. Two others were detained in Arauco province. The charges brought against all these Mapuche people is robbery, causing fires and harming private property against which the Prisoners have declared their innocence.

On 22 August, military forces of the Chilean police took over an VIIIth Region community called Pablo Quintriqueo Huenuman very violently. They detained 34 Mapuche people who were in an official meeting. Among them were the Chief (Lonko) of Antonio Frem, and those who lead the Coordinadora Mapuche Arauco Malleco: Pedro Cayuqueo, Aliwen Antinao and Jose Huenchunao. Jose is both ill and held incomunicado. Another detainee is Pedro Frem, 76 years old, who is ill and has been refused medical attention.

Added to these on 19 August six people from Choin Lafquenche of Collipulli had been held. Also Pascual Cona and Avelino Menaco (from Arauco province) were captured on 25 August.

400 people have been imprisoned since the beginning of the year. This figure compares with the worst years of repression under the Pinochet regime.

These police actions usually take place without authorization and at the request of forestry companies. Human rights have been violated on these occasions. Women, children and elderly people have been held without legal justification, as well as pregnant women and those with babies in arms. They have had to suffer racist abuse, torture and physical assault. The companies' objective is to intimidate Mapuche people, and prevent them from demanding the restitution of their ancestral land which they have expropriated. The forestry company, Mininco (among others) have tried to criminalize the Mapuche leaders through false allegations  which have been lodged by witnesses who they have paid. This was widely publicised in the Chilean media just recently.

Many communities are virtually under siege. The police are patrolling them, taking photographs, filming and interrogating leaders, destroying household possessions, violently preventing people from meeting and holding peaceful protests. Some families claim the police are stealing their money and humble possessions.

As there is no effective recourse to law, these actions go unpunished. None of the many complaints about arbitrary offenses and racial abuse have been dealt with by the authorities. Numerous Mapuche requests for an investigation of their complaints have been met by a deafening silence of the part of local and central government.

The national police force in Mapuche areas have been converted into minions of the forestry companies. With their institutionalised racism, all security forces have lost credibility with the affected population, as they have been transformed into instruments of repression, and act like an occupying force in the same way as in Palestine, East Timor and Kurdistahn.

The present government is palpably unable to negotiate peaceful solutions for the Mapuche Nation. The real intention of President Eduardo Frei with his trumpeted Agreement to Respect Citizens' Rights is quite clear, as he has never received Mapuche delegations or responded to communications. Right at the end of his term he refers to the "Mapuche problem", and in the run-up to the next elections is making noises about what his coalition party intends to do about this "if re-elected". With an eye to public opinion he tries to appear to offer hope to Mapuche people, a transparently dishonest move. This is viewed as merely a public relations exercise in order to gain support for the forthcoming elections.

This deplorable situation for Mapuche people tolerated by the Chilean State, with no real hope for justice, reaffirms those who are struggling for territorial autonomy. This is felt to be the only way the Mapuche nation can reconstruct stable communities, regain their freedom, maintain their culture and determine their own future.

The Mapuche International Link organisation express their solidarity to their Brothers and their families who are victims of the brutal repression. We call upon human rights organisations, including the UN, to take urgent action to secure the individual and collective rights of the Mapuche nation by insisting on the implementation of international law and conventions to which the Chilean State is a signatory concerning civil, social, economic and cultural rights.

We are also asking people to write protesting about the militarization of Mapuche areas, and demand the liberty of political prisoners. Please send your letters to the following names and addresses:

Carlos Gonzales
Gobernacion Provincial de Arauco,
Fax: 56- 41- 51 12 21

Martin Zilic
Intendencia de Concepcion
FAX: 56- 41 - 230247

Oscar Eltit
Intendente de Temuco
56-45 - 213064

Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
Presidente de la República,
Palacio de la Moneda,
Santiago, Chile.
Fax: 56-2-6 90 40 20

Mapuche International Link / Enlace Mapuche Internacional

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Mapuche International Link
Enlace Mapuche Internacional 6 Lodge Street,
Bristol. BS1 5LR,
England.
Tel/Fax +44-117-927 9391
e-mail: mapulink@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/mapulink
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