By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CONCEPCIÓN, Chile-Imprisoned Mapuche activists told members of the press that they were torture, framed, and discriminated against by police and persecuted by prosecutors. The activists were arrested under a national security and anti-terrorism law adopted during the period of military dictatorship in Chile.

Charges against the activists range from “terrorist association” to attempted homicide against the prosecutor and two detectives who formed part of a team that entered a Mapuche community in 2008. One prisoner claims that the prosecutor tortured him to make him confess that he was the leader of the ambush where the two detectives were killed.

The Chilean government denies all allegations of wrongdoing. President Bachelet, who lived in exile during the military dictatorship said, “nothing, absolutely nothing justifies violence in the region of La Araucania.” The Mapuche has staged land seizures, burned vehicles, and agricultural machinery in protest of what they consider to be unauthorized land use. One government official pointed out that the violence has resulted in a significant decrease in foreign investment.

Since center-left government of Michelle Bachelet took office, thirty five percent of the disputed land has been returned to the Mapuche. However, many say that not enough progress has been made in the restoration of the ancestral land, which was taken in a government offensive that began in the late 19th century.

A 2007 international mission by the Observatory for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights found dozens of complaints of abuses, such as violent raids of Mapuche homes where police destroyed household goods and objects of cultural value, mistreated elderly people, women and children, and made racist epithets. This was allegedly done in search of activists wanted by the justice system. The Mapuche gave UNICEF the names of thirty-seven children they say were asphyxiated by tear gas.

There are nearly one million Mapuche living in Chile. Non-governmental organizations estimate that there are more than fifty Mapuche political prisoners in different prisons in Southern Chile. In September the Ethical Commission Against Torture put that number closer to 100.

The Mapuche resisted over 300 years of Spanish rule and then oppression by the Chilean state, until they were defeated militarily and cornered in the South. In the last few months, conflict has increased between the Mapuche communities and the state. This was primarily fueled by a new wave of land occupations, leading to confrontations with police.

For more information, please see:

Mapu Express-Hablan Presos Mapuche Desde la cárcel del Manzano, Concepción-19 November 2009

IPS-CHILE: Mapuche Voices from Prison-16 November 2009

Univision-Chile Utiliza Ley de la dictadura para juzgar a mapuches-16 November 2009