Support for Mapuche political prisoners in Chile

The following is a public declaration about developments in 
the struggle of the indigenous Mapuche people against the 
domination of their land by transnational corporations. It was 
made on February 14 by the Regional Committee of the IX Region 
centred around the city of Temuco.

On Friday February 13 the court at Collipulli decided to change 
the custody arrangements for our comrade Mireya Figueroa — a 
Mapuche leader in the Tricauco community. The court decided that 
Mireya will leave the Detention Centre for Women in Temuco and 
continue under house arrest.

Similar measures were taken with others implicated in the Poluco 
Pidenco case. Among them were Luis Catrimil and Juan Antonio 
Colihuina, both leaders of the community of Tricauco. [The Poluco 
Pidenco estate is an area owned by the Mininco logging company. 
Part of the estate was burned out in December 2001 in an alleged 
"terrorist" attack.] 

Mireya has completed a year and two months in detention as a 
political prisoner without the military being able to prove any 
guilt whatsoever.

We believe that we are faced with a case of political persecution 
by the Chilean state against the Mapuche movement — persecution 
headed by the current government and executed zealously by the 
police and the public prosecutor. This offensive by the Chilean 
state could be categorised as a fourth historical surge in the 
attempt to exterminate the Mapuche people.

It cannot be explained in any other way that today, under the 
government of Ricardo Lagos, in the prisons of the VIII and IX 
regions there are more Mapuche political prisoners than during 
the [Pinochet] dictatorship.

In this way the government is carrying out the orders of the 
transnationals to "pacify" the territory of the Mapuche so that 
they can get fat profits without restrictions. The signing of the 
Free Trade Agreement has brought, as a direct consequence, an 
increase in the repression of the Mapuche movement. There can be 
no other cause for the fact that, the day after the treaty came 
into force the leader of the Mapuche, Victor Ancalaf, was 
sentenced to 10 years in prison — the longest sentence for a 
Mapuche leader for political reasons.

We are pleased to know that Mireya will be able stay at home with 
her family, her four children and the people of her community. We 
are pleased that she will be able to attend to her sick son and 
better treat her own health problems.

We declare that we will keep struggling for the complete freedom 
of Mireya and the other Mapuche political prisoners.

We believe that the task of the unification and mobilisation by 
the Mapuche people is more urgent than ever.

We demand that the government stops taking the role of accuser of 
the arrested Mapuche leaders.

We call on all democratic sectors of Chilean society to support 
the struggle of the Mapuche people.

The next demonstrations must link all our struggles, in 
particular the rejection of the Free Trade Agreement. For this 
reason the strike being prepared by the [trade union peak 
council] CUT for the first half of this year will be of enormous 
value.

The just demands for autonomy and territory that are being made 
by the Mapuche movement will get stronger with time and will meet 
with growing support in more and more sectors of democratic 
Chilean society.

* * *

Translated by Juan & Bob