Last Monday, March 11, after a hearing, the Lebu Guarantee Court ordered the return to the Arauco prison of the Mapuche political prisoner, Claudia Nahuelan, who had been held for two months in the CP Concepción, far from her three children and her community, a fact that finally took place this Wednesday.
The court’s decision is based on the arguments raised by the defense that point to her condition as a Mapuche woman and mother, for which it was demanded to respect “the best interests of the child, given that she has three children of 10, 7 and 5 years old, enshrined in international human rights treaties in force and ratified by Chile”, as explained in a statement by the communities in resistance of the Lavkenche Strip.
However, and as is to be expected in Mapuche cases, Gendarmería appealed the court’s decision this Thursday, in the Court of Appeals of Concepción, “arguing that the Arauco prison is located in a small town, prone to possible skirmishes of Mapuche communities” which is denounced by the communities as a result of pressure from the “Ministry of Justice, together with its undersecretary, the central government led by Gabriel Boric, its allies in the Frente Amplio and the Communist Party”.
Below we share the full communiqué of the communities in resistance of the Lavkenche Strip.
PUBLIC STATEMENT
Faced with the political persecution against our lamuen and political prisoner, Claudia Nahuelan Llempi, the Lov Pocuno and the different Lov and Mapuche communities in resistance of the Lavkenche Strip, we declare:
We openly accuse the government of Gabriel Boric of carrying out an unprecedented political persecution against the Mapuche political prisoner, Claudia Nahuelan, held today in the Arauco prison after the Court of Guarantee of Lebu ordered this Monday her return to this penal center after staying two months in the El Manzano prison in Concepción. Claudia returned yesterday, Wednesday, to the Arauco jail since the court gave 72 hours to Gendarmería to execute the ruling.
The Lebu Guarantee Court, accepting the arguments of her defense, justified its sentence due to Claudia’s role as a woman and mother and in the best interest of the child, given that she has three children of 10, 7 and 5 years old, enshrined in international human rights treaties in force and ratified by Chile.
However, this Thursday Gendarmería has decided to appeal, before the Court of Appeals of Concepción, the ruling handed down on Monday by the Lebu court, arguing that the Arauco prison is located in a small town, prone to possible skirmishes of Mapuche communities. The decision of the Gendarmerie, undoubtedly, responds to a higher political decision, in this case of the Ministry of Justice, together with its undersecretary and the central government led by Gabriel Boric and his allies of the Frente Amplio and the Communist Party, who tear their clothes with the defense of human rights but who do not give up in their punishing, racist, colonizing and now misogynist zeal against the Mapuche people mobilized for their political and territorial rights.
With this appeal, the government seeks to reinstate Claudia in the El Manzano prison in Concepción, increasing her punishment and removing her, once again, from her community and her three children, thus violating the best interests of the children to be a little closer to their mother and disregarding its human rights obligations, contradicting its own official discourse. This is evidenced by the statements of the Minister of Justice himself, Luis Cordero, who spoke in Geneva before the UN Human Rights Committee, where he assured “that the state I represent takes its human rights obligations very seriously”.
It is clear with this the double standard and hypocrisy of the government in this matter, which has dedicated itself to govern at the pace of the fascist right wing, promoting numerous laws that, precisely, go against the protection of human rights (Nain-Retamal Law, for example) and in Wallmapu unleashing a real hunt against the autonomist Mapuche movement, militarizing the territory, imprisoning its leaders and pu weichave and now humiliating our prisoners. The “peloteo” of the PPMs of Angol last August, the refusal to transfer Camilo Astete Catrileo to Lebu and the indolence in the face of the hunger strike of the political prisoners of the CAM are some examples of this. Not to mention the application of ILO Convention 169, an international human rights treaty that since its entry into force in 2009 has simply been a dead letter.
The political persecution against Claudia Nahuelan responds to this same design, devised by the central government and executed by the gendarmerie with the support, many times, of the State Defense Council, a body that has taken part on behalf of the government to stop the legal appeals that have been filed to improve the prison situation of Mapuche political prisoners. The political persecution is evident even with the arguments that the gendarmerie has used in court to stop the transfer of Camilo Astete to Lebu and with those that supported the sending of Claudia to Concepción last January, these are reports extracted verbatim from Wikipedia and press archives that show the derisory scientific rigor of its foundations.
It is evident that the political persecution against Claudia responds to her condition as a Mapuche woman conscious of her political and territorial rights and for being a member of a Lov that has been consistent with the weichan line, with the territorial control and political autonomy that we aspire to achieve as a people.
We hope that the Court of Appeals of Concepción ratifies the first instance ruling issued by the Court of Guarantee of Lebu and allows Claudia to serve her preventive detention in the Arauco prison, where her rights as a woman, mother and Mapuche will be respected, until her absolute and total innocence of the charges brought against her by the anti-Mapuche prosecutor, Juan Yáñez, is confirmed.
Finally, we would like to thank all the expressions of solidarity with our lamuen from the different organizations and people who have accompanied Claudia in Concepción, denouncing the assembly and sharing their newen. To the different lov, to the traditional authorities of our territory and to all those who have helped to denounce the political persecution against Lov Pocuno and his people.
Out with the forestry companies and militia from Wallmapu!
Freedom to all Mapuche political prisoners!
For territorial autonomy
Lov Pocuno
Lov and Mapuche communities in resistance of the Lavkenche Strip
Thursday, March 14, 2024
source: https://lazarzamora.cl/?p=12164