Statement regarding the legitimate demands of the Mapuche Political Prisoners

From the CLACSO Working Group “Bodies, Territories, Resistances” we express our total rejection of the complete lack of response from the State of Chile to the legitimate demands of the Mapuche Political Prisoners (PPM) on hunger strike and to the serious acts of violence unleashed against their peacefully mobilized relatives.

The hunger strike began on May 4th and currently involves 27 Mapuche prisoners from the Angol, Lebu, and Temuco prisons, demanding rights arbitrarily denied, such as the benefit of a commutation of sentence to serve house arrest due to Covid-19, or that judicial processes and alternatives to imprisonment be reviewed so that they are compatible with their own forms of punishment and with their economic, social, and cultural conditions, as contemplated by ILO Convention 169, ratified by Chile in 2009.

Since July 27, several family members of the hunger strikers peacefully occupied six municipal buildings (Galvarino, Collipulli, Traiguén, Lonquimay, Victoria, and Curacautín), given the Chilean state's complete indifference to their demands and the serious deterioration of the health of several strikers, including the traditional Mapuche leader Celestino Córdoba. On August 1, during curfew, armed civilian groups attacked the mobilized family members with impunity, amid the complicit silence of police officers. They set fire to their vehicles, municipal buildings in Curacautín, and a rewe (Mapuche altar) in Victoria, and violently assaulted several Mapuche people. The police violently evicted the family members, including children and infants, and repressed subsequent peaceful demonstrations in support of the hunger strikers and in protest against these racist acts.

We strongly demand:

– That the laws and benefits contemplated in both national and international legislation – particularly Articles 9 and 10 of ILO Convention 169 – be respected for Mapuche Political Prisoners, considering that their demands for human rights and collective rights as indigenous peoples are completely legitimate.

– That the events of August 1 and 2 be investigated, prosecuting both those directly responsible and the leaders who incited the racist anti-Mapuche violence, for which there are records that constitute compelling evidence.

– That the State of Chile respond immediately to the legitimate demands of the Mapuche Political Prisoners (PPM); that it cease the criminalization of the struggle for the recognition of their collective and territorial rights, and the militarization of their territories; that it establish channels of dialogue with the hunger strikers and implement decisive measures to combat systemic racism, both within State institutions and in sectors of civil society. We stand in solidarity with the Mapuche Political Prisoners on hunger strike and with their families, and with their legitimate struggle for their rights, which, as a people, are internationally recognized. We join the various national and international bodies that have condemned both the criminalization of legitimate demands and the impunity for the police and civilian violence they have suffered.

August 6th, 2020
CLACSO Working Group
Bodies, territories, resistances

This statement expresses the position of the Working Group on Bodies, Territories, Resistances and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.