Below is an article published by I Love Chile:

Yesterday [6 May 2014] the Minister of Justice met families of the Mapuche prisoners, who are on hunger strike in the prison of Angol, in the Araucanía region. After the meeting the Secretary of State acknowledged the importance of protecting the health of the three interns who are on strike in the Hospital of Temuco, to evaluate the request for clemency for humanitarian reasons and proceeding with new medical examinations of the intern José Llanca Tori, because “there are conflicting medical reports.” José Llanca Tori suffered a liver problem and the minister declared that he was keen to conduct further examinations in order to find out his exact medical situation.

“We have expressed our intention to transfer the inmates to an exclusive Center on Education and Labor in the Araucanía Region for purposes that may perform work and integration, and also on their own terms as Mapuche people.” Indeed the transfer can’t be to the Centro de Estudio y Trabajo (C.E.T. of Angol) which is what was requested, because it doesn’t fulfill the security conditions: “the obligation of this Ministry is to respect the law and regulation, according to this situation, we have proposed a CET which has security measures but also which is a safe place.”

In relation to demands to review the trial, the authority emphasizes that this situation is not an Executive’s skills, however it emphasized the important of analyzing legislation.

Finally the Minister of Justice emphasized the call to the end the hunger strike in order to not to affect the health of the inmates: “we call on them to stop the hunger strike because ultimately it affects their physical integrity and doesn’t produce the effect that they eventually hope for which the government has been widely available to find a solution that is within the laws and regulations which are the Ministry of Justice’s skills.”

Below is an article published by I Love Chile:

José Antonio Gómez, Chilean Justice Minister met with relatives of the Mapuche prisoners, that are on hunger strike in the prison of Angol.

The prisoners Luis Marileo, from the Cacique José Guiñón community, Cristian Levinao Melinao, from the community of Rayén Mapu and Leonardo Quijón Pereira from Chequenco haven’t been eating for 30 days now and have already lost about 15 kilos.

The Mapuches are asking to be transferred to a Gendarmerie work and study center and, most importantly, the review of their trials, due to their opinion, that the application of the Antiterrorism Law against them was executed arbitrarily.

Furthermore, there is a request for humanitarian clemency for Llanca José Mariano Tori, who suffers from a terminal illness being incarcerated in the prison of Angol.

After pressure from the prisoner’s families, it was possible to arrange a meeting with the governmental representative minister Gómez.

For one of the relatives, Fredy Marileo, this meeting is a chance to find concrete solutions and sees it not only as a chance for the government to dilate the situation any more. As Marileo said, the reason for the encounter is “more than anything to find a solution to the issue, because we believe that the Government is already fully informed of requests by the peñi(Mapudungun word for brothers), hopefully they do not turn a blind eye on us, as the mayor Huenchumilla did when he visited the prison.”

One of their main arguments is based on a report by the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations, Ben Emmerson, who said that the current legislation is not in conformity with international human rights standards.

“We come to fix this issue, we do not want the Government to continue procrastinating. In that sense we are clear that the Government must have a solution or they have to say yes to all our requests after having the hunger strike by our peñi in Angol prison”, explained Marileo.