Concern for two Indian women after a hunger strike for freedom and justice for political prisoners of the Mapuche in Chile

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) is very concerned about the well-being of two Mapuche Indian women in Chile, who after a 60-day hunger and thirst strike for freedom and justice for Mapuche political prisoners are extremely weak. On the International Day of Solidarity with the People of the Mapuche today, Friday, to which various Mapuche exile organisations have called out, the human rights organisation draws attention to the fate of Juana Calfunao (51), mayor (Lonko) of the community Paillalef in the IX. Region of Chile, and her sister, Louisa (41). They are political prisoners in custody in Temuco pending trial in connection with the land conflict which has been smouldering for a long time. The verdict is expected today. They are faced with up to 15 years in prison. For like many other Mapuche they have protested with civil disobedience against the theft of land and discrimination. Timber and energy companies carry out large-scale plundering of natural resources on the traditional land of the Mapuche communities in Chile.

The trial of Juana and Louisa Calfunao is being watched by the GfbV representative in Temuco, Vicente Mariqueo. The sisters wanted to emphasise with their hunger-strike, which they began on 7th August and broke off at the beginning of October, the demands of the Mapuche, that the so-called Anti-Terror law be abolished. The GfbV has supported the Mapuche for many years. The controversial law No. 18.314 goes back to the time of the Pinochet dictatorship and is used above all in conflicts concerning land rights with the Mapuche Indians or campaigns like road-blocks and the occupation of land, marking the accused as criminals and terrorists.

„Juana Calfunao had a heart attack in prison and her sister had to spend the two weeks before the beginning of the trial on 22nd October in hospital”, reported Yvonne Bangert, GfbV correspondent for indigenous peoples. Both women face charges for disturbing the trial, resistance against state authority and bodily harm. The charge goes back to a case in November 2006, in which Juana Calfunao was sentenced to 150 days in prison. „This verdict is a farce”, criticised Bangert, „for she protested peacefully against a public road, which was built against the will of the Mapuche right through the middle of the community of Paillalef. It sparked off a tumult between the Mapuche attending court and the police, for which the two sisters now with nine other Mapuche, among them members of their family, have to answer.

The Mapuche with about 1.3 million people make up almost ten percent of the total population of Chile. They have defended their land for centuries against the Inca and the Spanish conquistadores and it was only the young Chilean state which could subjugate them at the end of the 19th century.