On the brink of death for the Mapuche

by Alejandro Pintamalli
26-01-2008

The hunger strike by Chilean human rights activist Patricia Troncoso is attracting more and more attention. For over 100 days she has been refusing food in solidarity with the plight of Chile's Mapuche Indians. Ms Troncoso is currently in a hospital in the southern city of Chillán, where she awaits a response to her demands from Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

Through her campaign, Patricia Troncoso hopes to secure the release of a dozen Mapuche Indians who have been behind bars since 2001. They were convicted of burning down 100 hectares of forest but have always maintained their innocence.
They and Ms Troncoso were convicted under an anti-terrorism law brought in under the Pinochet regime. This legislation allows exceptional procedures and generally results in sentences which are three times longer than those normally imposed.

FightPatricia Troncoso is not Mapuche herself but, as a human rights activist, she supports their fight to recover the land that was taken from them. Through her hunger strike, Ms Troncoso is also protesting at the inhumane conditions in which the Mapuche prisoners are being held in a jail in Araucanía, 400 kilometres south of the capital Santiago.
Patricia Troncoso's health is failing dramatically. Her doctors say she is suffering from cardiac arrhythmia and that the damage to her system could soon be irreversible. Since she began her hunger strike on 10 October last year, she has lost 25 kilos.

"Ms Troncoso is extremely weak", explains Sergio Laurenti of Amnesty International in Chile. "We have heard that she is now being force-fed through a tube. This is being done against her will and she is being restrained in her bed. It is a cruel, inhumane treatment that effectively amounts to torture."

Initially all of the Mapuche Indians in the prison took part in the hunger strike, but poor health forced the others to give up.

SupportIn the past few days, messages of support for Patricia Troncoso's protest and the demands of the Mapuche have been pouring in from inside and outside Chile. Human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have already called for the prisoners' cases to be reviewed. AAccording to Sergio Laurenti of Amnesty International, the application of this law to the Mapuche is completely unjustified. He believes the only solution is to turn to international legal authorities, since Chilean law does not allow for any appeal against the sentence.

International contextRafael Reilaf, chairman of Folil, an organisation in the Netherlands that represents the interests of the Mapuche, shares this belief that the only way forward is to raise the issue in an international context, because Chile's president has not responded to the Mapuche's demands. Reilaf: "Within Chile, we cannot achieve much: Bachelet and the Chilean government will not listen to the Mapuche. There is no real prospect of the anti-terrorism law being changed. So we will have to think of something else. We will have to tackle this issue outside of Chile."

After 77 days on hunger strike, Patricia Troncoso sent another emotional message to the outside world. "They want us to die in silence. Chile has a long and traumatic history of human rights violations. I cannot believe that a democratically elected government such as this one is using the same methods against a defenceless people."

* RNW translation (dd)
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/080126-mapuches-chile-mc




Mapuche International Solidarity Network
mapucheinternationalsolidarity@gmail.com