Mapuche: Inmates In Chilean Prisons Expand Hunger Strike
Eight more inmates joined a hunger strike by Mapuche Indians who are being held at various prisons in southern Chile, bringing the total number of hunger strikers to 29.
Below is an article published by Latin American Herald Tribune:
Their principal demands are the restitution of ancestral lands, an end to the enforcement of a broad anti-terrorism law dating from the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, and freedom for all “Mapuche political prisoners.”
They also demand an end to what they describe as politically motivated prosecutions as well as the “demilitarization” of the southern region of Araucania.
“The purpose of the strike shares the same principles and reasons expressed by other Mapuche political prisoners who have taken this decision,” the eight inmates said in a statement.
As of Tuesday, twenty other Mapuche inmates had gone 15 days without food to demand the end of the anti-terrorism law and equal treatment in the courts.
Last week another prisoner joined the hunger strike.
The anti-terrorism law allows people to be held in prison for up to two years without charges, denies defense attorneys access to the investigation and extends anonymity to witnesses.
A total of 106 Mapuches have been convicted or are awaiting trial for politically motivated acts, compared with 59 at this time last year.
The 650,000-strong Mapuche nation is demanding constitutional recognition of its identity, rights and culture, as well as ownership of the tribe’s traditional territory in Araucania.
Their struggle to reclaim ancestral lands from farmers and timber companies led last year to the deaths of two Indian activists in confrontations with police.
Earlier this month, a group of Mapuches filed suit before the U.N. Human Rights Council accusing the Chilean government of criminalizing the Indians’ political activism.
Meanwhile, the Council of All the Lands, a Mapuche organization, is studying the possibility of asking Spain to act as mediator in seeking the release of indigenous “political prisoners,” as occurred in Cuba.
The communist government in Havana recently announced the release of 52 political detainees in the context of a Spanish-backed dialogue with Cuba’s Cathlolic hierarchy
