Leftraru Kommittee

Leftraru Kommittee

“A government that calls itself democratic can’t use torture just like Pinochet”

Domingo Krespo Varela

Temuco, Wall Mapu (Territory Mapuche).  End of April.  Two weeks had already passed since Hector Llaitul, member of the Arauco-Malleco Coordinator, began his hunger strike.  He was denouncing the court case against him and the prison conditions, as well as requesting a transfer to Angol Prison to be closer to his family and together with other Mapuche political prisoners.  [In early May, having achieved the transfer, he ended the hunger strike.]  Two members of the Solidarity Committee for the Mapuche Political Prisoners, Leftraru Kommittee, helped us understand the current reality of the Mapuche Nation.

Maria- With twenty one Mapuche political prisoners after the arrest and imprisonment—in awful conditions—of Hector (February, 21^st, 2007), we saw that it was necessary to create a committee that could support his demands and those of the other prisoners.  The majority of the prisoners are serving 10 year sentences on charges of “terrorist arson,” which they would also like to apply to Hector (who is accused of the destruction, in late 2006, of machines belonging to the Mininco Forestry Company).  The entire case against Hector is fabricated.  Testimony from just one witness, given under torture, is the only evidence against him.

-  Let’s talk about the case against Hector Llaitul, about the repression against the Mapuche Nation.

Maria- The witness, Roberto Painamil Parra, is a Mapuche prisoner.  He was detained by a civilian group, paramilitaries who work for the large landowners; they tortured him – blows to the head with an iron bar, electrodes – so he would blame Llaitul.  He himself is now a prisoner in Lautaro prison.

It’s another aspect to the repression applied by the timber, mining and hydroelectric companies in the area of Arauco and Malleco, the 8^th and 9^th Regions of Chile.  In addition to political harassment now there’s a judicial aspect characterized by trials full of irregularities (like the use of faceless witnesses), application of the Terrorist Illicit Association Law (from the Pinochet era), reform of the penal code and the imposition of severe sentences.

These punishments are meant to set an example, to chastise and frighten the Mapuche population.  Financial groups have the Mapuche communities surrounded.  Often they are forced onto land unfit for planting or too small to farm.  Pine and eucalyptus [from the timber companies] take over everything; they don’t even leave room for small subsistence farm plots.  They destroy the soil, acidify it, erode it; they provoke drought and the disappearance of native plants and animals; they contaminate the air and water.  With the disappearance of their traditional means of survival (farming, hunting, fishing, gathering) the Mapuche are supposed to move to the city.  The Mapuche Nation is impoverished.  It’s a consequence of the theft of their land.

- Which brings us to the land recuperations. 

Julio- Recuperating land is a fundamental step towards rebuilding the Mapuche Nation.  We need land (we’re not referring to trading, negotiating for a limited number of acres) to be able to rebuild the spaces necessary for our survival as a Nation: the culture and language (Mapudungun), production and the economy.  The territory, the territoriality, goes hand in hand with autonomy; the alternative is to remain linked to the state, to institutionalism.  People who don’t govern themselves don’t have dignity.

- What is the role of international solidarity? 

Maria- A government that calls itself democratic, like that of ‘socialist’ Michelle Bachelet, can’t use torture just like Pinochet.  It’s not just the case against Hector Llaitul; these aggressions, kidnappings and murders, this impunity, is common in our communities.  If we accept torture now, our sons and daughters will suffer.  We cannot allow it.  Breaking the wall of silence imposed by the Chilean state is part of solidarity efforts.

Julio- The Chilean state wants to use our people to historically justify their presence in these lands.  They want the Mapuche to be Chile’s indigenous.  But they’re wrong: we are not Chile, we are not Chileans.  We are Mapuche.

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