mapuche

A nation imprisoned
by Josè Venturelli

The appalling conditions of a people persecuted for centuries, between Argentina and Chile, on the basis of observations made during the period 27 January / 28 April 2010 a professor emeritus at McMaster University in Canada, a spokesman for the European Secretariat of the Ethics Commission against torture.

Given the increasing repression in recent ten years, and the statement of the previous government, according to which the State had not "done anything wrong," it seemed important to visit the Araucanía for discussions with human rights groups and to understand what was happening in the region. The purpose of my trip was just to know the reality of the Mapuche political prisoners. Lucía Sepúlveda, with its "innovative journalism", has identified about a hundred prisoners before the Chilean government issued, in Geneva, its universal periodic review before the UN Human Rights Council on human rights violations known to the people Mapuche. The Chilean government was the subject of seventy-seven recommendations. However I heard the Chilean ambassador Droguett argue that there were "four prisoners under the law against terrorism" and that the imprisoned Mapuche, as argued Lagos and Bachelet, "were all criminals." I visited the Mapuche prisoners in jail within a human rights work.

Jailed at all costs

Talking to prisoners in person, with their families and observing the conditions in which they live have come into contact with another reality. The press and state television, as the powers and require that customers benefit from the situation of violence, they talk about terrorists. The Mapuche and international bodies speak of violated rights and legitimate demands. These terrorists do not possess weapons and hold the monopoly of the dead. Those who claim to defend civil peace hold a monopoly on weapons and causing death ... with impunity. I knew that the repression was harsh and that the Lagos government had worsened it. He proceeded to the militarization and criminalized in irresponsible demands of the Mapuche, pursuing a position that did not reflect in any way progressive aspects, humanists or environmental protection, which likes to boast of. So I wanted to make sure if it was true or not that you were trying to "do good" by the state, its structures and its legal system. I've not found it.