Pelentaro Llaitul, my son, is being prosecuted for a series of events that are part of what is the territorial and political claim carried out by the Mapuche Nation people.
His trial, which is currently in the process of preparation, begins in June 2025 after more than 2 years of preventive detention, a case where we are once again in the presence of a judicial process full of racism, prejudice and bias with implications of political persecution. It is undoubtedly a trial that demonstrates once again the position of the Chilean State, the oppressive Chilean institutionality, against the process of struggle carried out by the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco, the CAM.
It is the so-called “Lautaro Case”, of resistance actions against the forestry industry in which several militants of the Mapuche cause, including my son, are artificially involved. A case where a new situation of improper process is already observed, since this judicial case together with the presence of protected witnesses, the lack of concrete and scientific evidence, adds the argumentative fallacy on the part of the prosecution, which indicates that the pu peñi (brothers) were arrested in flagrante delicto, in circumstances that they were arrested many kilometers away from the scene of the events and in an area where another process is taking place of territorial recovery, and where there is a strong ascendant militant insertion of each of them in that Mapuche Nagche territory.
For this reason, the procedural situation is complex and unfair. First, because one of the weichafe prosecuted is my son, which shows a kind of cruelty against my children for the role I have been playing in the autonomy struggle. And on the other hand, the contribution and meaning that the Mapuche youth have had in the concrete struggle. Certainly, Pelentaro’s participation in the Mapuche cause has been very significant not only because of his selfless dedication that gives new energy and freshness to the liberation process, but also because throughout his life, his participation has to be an example for young weichafe to follow.
Pelentaro Llaitul, is one of my youngest sons, he has a lifetime of being involved in the struggle for the historic territorial and political claims of our organization. From a very young age he has participated in this process, becoming at a very early age, an outstanding militant of the Mapuche cause. Fulfilling very specific roles within what is our world and the culture of our people, what are the socio-political and cultural implications of the communities in reconstitution, the lof, and in the Mapuche autonomist and revolutionary movement in general. Thus he became purrufe, curiche, palife and an outstanding weichafe. It is in this framework of outstanding cultural and political participation that he had to fulfill a very important function in the organization, which earned him hatred and persecution by our historical enemies, today represented by the forestry companies and the fascists who attack Wallmapu.
We are in the presence of a new act of directed political persecution and that today is part of a political decision on the part of this specific government, an action of revenge and cruelty against Pelentaro, because beyond being my son, the State intends to achieve a mockery of the new generations of fighters.
With this action, the Chilean State portrays itself as giving an account of the de facto repressive and punitive action against the Mapuche that is applied by the current administrators of justice in Chile, by the current ruling political class and that is carried out by the courts that have historically acted in a racist and intolerant way against our people. This is the reason that explains the bitterness that is reflected and translated into the Lautaro Case where the prosecution is asking for 70 years in prison and this government of Gabriel Boric is requesting 100 years in prison against Pelentaro via complaint. Moreover, aggravating the situation and not satisfied with the above, my son is being formalized again for another cause, in which he also risks many years of political imprisonment, in circumstances that at that time he was a minor.
It is for this reason that we can affirm without fear of equivocation that we are in the presence of an emblematic act of political persecution, where this government in particular wants to install an example of derision and teaching against one of the most consistent Mapuche youth. With this action, the current government contradicts the entire supposed position of human rights and justice for the Mapuche that it shouts so much and that is reflected in absurd peace commissions, revealing the true position towards the native peoples, which is to repress the resistance of the communities at all costs.
Without a doubt, we are in the presence of a new action that portrays this government in its most racist, intolerant and punitive facet that has been seen in recent decades, and which currently has more than 100 Mapuche political prisoners in Chilean state prisons. Because, discrimination and political persecution against the Mapuche who are willing to fight for territorial and historical political claims are and will be repressed without contemplation to safeguard the interests of the powerful.
I am currently a prisoner in a Chilean state prison, but I must continue to denounce injustices and from my role as werken of a Mapuche autonomist organization that is still in force. Especially because this case, in which my son and other young weichafe have been involved, has not had the proper media coverage, which has allowed there to be abuse on the part of the Prosecutor’s Office and the courts, and where due process is imposed in all its magnitude.
Another reason for making this specific denunciation, and which obliges me to disseminate it in the alternative and foreign media, is because the official press, the bourgeois press, covers the facts in a tendentious and malicious way, creating the conditions for the racist action of the oppressive institutions and where the courts and the political police of the State have not only criminalized our struggle but also mount operations and are vicious against the most outstanding weichafe of our people.
It is in this framework that we extend the denunciation against the media that are supposedly alternative and that were pro-Mapuche cause, and that soon ended up selling themselves to power, that were not only co-opted by the current governance as is the case of the newspaper El Ciudadano, El Mostrador, The Clinic who are accomplices with their silence or omission of these dirty intelligence operations. Because only in this way can it be understood why they do not cover or make these cases invisible and only cover supposed demands that are framed in lowly and submissive positions. It is, in the final analysis, a pseudo-progressive press at the service of the model of injustices.
Finally, we continue to reaffirm the profound significance of our struggle in recent times, and where, given the achievements of the autonomist movement, the contradictions between the Mapuche people and the Chilean State have become more acute. Because our struggle has positioned itself in anti-capitalist and anti-colonial definitions that have mostly clearly confronted the interests of big capital. The struggle for territory and freedom does not compromise. It is in this context that there is greater repression on the part of the current government, and that generates the conditions for a new fascist offensive of the Chilean right that is already attacking with great force in historic Wallmapu.
Finally, and a not insignificant piece of information at the last minute, my son Pelentaro Llaitul is currently awaiting the trial, which was set for 39 days from June 24. And that one of the judges that the court ordered for the drafting of the sentence in that process, is Judge Jorge González Salazar, the same one who convicted me without evidence in a case that is currently in international headquarters for various violations of rights that occurred in the process. In principle, this judge had not been appointed, however, a day after the court was formed, one of the 3 judges was changed to leave González Salazar, a recognized anti-Mapuche. It should also be remembered that this judge was the same one who convicted several Mapuche leaders as in the Lonkos Case, for which the Chilean State was condemned internationally due to the way in which Mapuche social protest was criminalized. This new fact clearly illustrates how justice works in the ancestral territory. A justice system at the service of the powerful and that acts under pressure and mandate from the ruling political class.
For territory and autonomy for the Mapuche Nation !!
Out with the forestry companies from the Wallmapu!!
Weuwaiñ
Héctor Llaitul
(*) This column was published by the French newspaper Les 2 Rives
Resumen Latinoamericano, March 5, 2025