Toronto , September 11, 2010.
Thirty two hunger strikers, locked in five different prisons in the south of Chile , have lost between seven to 16 kilos, and are suffering nausea, dizziness, disorientation, low blood pressure and cramps. Three have been hospitalized to “stabilize” them due to organ failures, probably without their consent., and then returned to prison
Background
The Mapuche community’s ancestral territory spans the southern tip of South America across Argentina and Chile . The Mapuche — who make up 87 percent of indigenous people in Chile — number around one million in this country of 16 million. The Mapuche lost most of their territory in the late 19th century. Later, under the Pinochet regime, forestry companies and other firms interested in operating in undeveloped parts of the country were offered incentives like land and subsidies. As a result, indigenous communities, who generally have no formal title to their ancestral property, continued to be forced off their land.
Today’s Struggle
The imprisoned Mapuche activists, are accused of crimes including terrorist arson, attempted homicide, bodily injury, threats and illicit association.
Their Demands:
What prompted the extreme measure of a Hunger Strike is the demand that they not be tried by the Anti-Terrorist laws from the Pinochet’s dictatorship period. This repressive legislation has only been used by the Chilean State, during so called “democratic” times against the First Nations and their supporters.
The activists are denied a fair trial under these laws, which include:
* prosecution can present witnesses with concealed identity,
* secret judicial investigations
* longer periods of arrest on remand,
* heavier sentences.
* double trial: end the practice by which detainees stand to trial twice, by both the civil and military courts when members of police and armed forces are involved, resulting in sentences twice as long, a legal aberration anywhere else.
* investigation and application of justice of the killers of Mapuche martyrs, who were killed in a confrontation with police while claiming their rights to land.
* unidentified witnesses have been bribed to testify against the Mapuche defendants.
* hunger strikers complain they have been framed by police and prosecutors, and that they have been mistreated and abused in prison.
The Mapuche people also protest the news blackout on the hunger strike and the biased coverage of the conflict by the mainstream media, particularly the four mayor television channels, the most popular way of accessing news in Chile . “The only thing that has happened here are attacks on private property, which should be dealt with under civil law. Our brothers and sisters only want a fair trial,” said Maria Tralcal, a spokesperson for the hunger strikers. “Internationally, it is attacks on human beings that are considered to be terrorism. But so far, not a single civilian or police officer has died at Mapuche hands; the only people who have been killed have been Mapuche brothers at the hands of the police,” said Traical .
Human Rights:
-The treatment of Mapuches violates all UN International accords:
-Violations of the Roma Treaty of International Court
-Arbitrary Detentions and total absence of access to just trials, violates the ILO Covenant of which Chile is a signatory
Support for their cause:
The anti-terrorism law has been denounced by Amnesty International, International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH), the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights. Demonstrations in solidarity with the hunger strikers held in Belgium , Britain , France , the Netherlands and Switzerland and cities in Canada.
You or your Organization CAN HELP: Ask your MP, Canadian Government and Canadian First Nations to demand the Chilean government to stop violence, establish fair trials and respect international covenants
Ontario Support Human Rights & Solidarity with Mapuche People
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