Public Complaint – April 28, 2026
Yesterday, Lonko Francisco Facundo Jones Huala began a liquid hunger strike after 11 months of preventive detention without formal accusation or sentence in Unit 6 of Rawson, Chubut. During yesterday morning he filed a written complaint addressed to the Federal Court of Bariloche, to the Head of Unit, to the Executive Branch and to whomever it may concern, for the serious prison conditions in which he is found and the constant violation of his rights as a member of an indigenous people; writing where, in addition, he specified the demands for which he is mobilized. However, the management of the maximum security prison where he is located, in the city of Rawson, did not send the text of the complaint to the court (as it should have done). Today, the Bariloche court confirmed to its lawyers from the Lawyers’ Guild that the prison did not send the letter.
At the same time, starting yesterday, when the hunger strike began, the Rawson Prison staff (shift chief and requisition staff) exercised mistreatment and discrimination when they announced the strike. So today they did not allow him to go to school, arguing that because there is a strike he could not attend. However, they forced him to go out into the yard. This is yet another violation of his rights.
We denounce this situation because it is serious, it is no coincidence that the note exposing the prison conditions just disappeared, even from a legal point of view because the document did not even reach the defense lawyers.
Below we transcribe the note issued by Lonko Facundo Jones Huala. Enough political persecution. For Lonko, his freedom now and/or transfer to Esquel.
4/27/2026
To the Federal Court of Bariloche, to the head of the Unit, to the Executive Branch, to whomever it may concern, their office.
With the greatest consideration, I address you in my capacity as a Mapuche political prisoner, in order to inform that I have once again begun a Liquid Hunger Strike, of an indefinite nature, with the possibility of converting it into a Dry Strike.
As Lonko, traditional authority of my Lof, community, ensuring respect for my political and cultural rights means doing so for all my people. I not only come to denounce political imprisonment, but also, and therefore, the worsening of detention conditions. First, because of the distance from my family and community, and then, because in this unit there are no prison conditions for anyone, least of all political prisoners of the Mapuche culture.
To the ignorance of the federal prison service and society, it must be added that, according to the changes in personnel and leadership, the protocols with respect to my culture change. From the beginning, lawen’s entry was not respected in a complete and correct way, but also, having brought partial solutions, these are unknown today. The exit to the realization of my llellipun is altered according to the procedures or requisition shifts, being corrected only when there are managers with good will.
In everyday life there is no going out to the patio, it is mandatory only once a week when they want, even in the rain and due to search procedures, where they repeatedly break belongings or steal. These patios do not have access to bathrooms and we must walk through urine and human excrement.
The conditions of the pavilion are worsening instead of improving, being more internal, the freezer is smaller, due to the failures of the electrical system that burned the previous one due to leaks in the cables. Winter is coming and the people in charge who broke the heater haven’t fixed it. Floods are daily, like water cuts, just as a detail of daily life. As far as my culture is concerned, very little is respected. I cannot wear my clothing, nor carry out my practices except when the service allows it, but aggravated by the distance, it becomes practically impossible to carry out, for example, the wetripantu, Mapuche New Year, even if it is authorized. They are breaking my family and community ties, attacking my culture and spirituality. I do not have access not only to Lawen, but also to Mapuche food, and not only am I not convicted or even prosecuted, even with ten conduct. Held in a maximum security prison just for seeking dignity and justice for my people.
We have and demand the right to our territory, language, culture, medicine, spirituality, organization, justice.
Before the ships arrived, we were already here, we still are and we will be here in the future. We already know your corrupt world, but you do not know ours, there are still possibilities to build in harmony and remedy the dispossession.
Ngechen müley tañi mogen
These are my demands:
-Decent prison conditions.
-Fair trial, due process.
-Transfer to the U14 of Esquel due to family proximity and to my lof.
-Application of ILO Convention 169, measures other than imprisonment.
-Cessation of political persecution and prosecution of all Mapuche fighters.
-Return of ancestral territory to the lofs in conflict.
-Political, non-judicial or repressive solution to the historical conflict.
-Application of article 75, paragraphs 17 and 22 of the National Constitution.
-Intervention of human rights organizations and international mediators for an appropriate political solution.
-Remove all Lof and Mapuche organizations from the list of terrorist organizations.
-According cultural protocols in the penitentiary system and every institution that they force us to transit.
-Cessation and withdrawal of mining, oil, transnational companies and landowners from Wallmapu.
-Freedom for all Mapuche political prisoners.
Without further ado, waiting for a prompt and favorable resolution. Greetings sincerely.
Francisco Facundo Jones Huala, Mapuche political prisoner.
DNI: 32,320,648
Lonko Curramapu, Cushamen. Pavilion 5. Rawson Headquarters.
Resumen Latinoamericano, April 29, 2026