Movements Demand That Chile Free Mapuche Indigenous Leader

Machi Linconao held by Chilean police | Photo: Mapuche Indigenous – Twitter

TelesurTV, August 18, 2016

Marchi Linconao has been jailed by Chile since 2013 but the evidence that was used to detain her using an anti-terror law remains suspect, with the main witness retracting her statement.

Feminist and Indigenous movements in Chile are demand the freedom of Machi Francisca Linconao – an important spiritual leader of the Mapuche people – as human rights groups take her case to the United Nations.

The Anti-Terrorist Law vs. the Autonomist Mapuche Movement; Contributions to the Debate by Hector Llaitul

Chilean riot cops raid Mapuche community.

from Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu, August 7, 2014

Neoliberal governments, like their economies, need certain commodities in the course of their development with the ends to consolidate, improve and deepen their dynamics, which may not necessarily be easy for the elites. This is why they build stories that empathize with people’s needs, with its deep and heartfelt demands, fill solutions in the framework of populism, but under no circumstances promote participatory processes where the model is questioned and new cultural and economic practices are generated.

Chile: Terror case collapses as ‘activist’ witness admits being informant

Police informant Raul Castro testifying in court in August 2013.

Mapuche men acquitted of arson to seek official redress, after being detained for two years as minors under anti-terrorism law.

By Joel Keep, Santiago Times, Feb 17th, 2014

Defense lawyers for two indigenous men say they are canvassing options for potential legal action against the Chilean state, after their clients were cleared of terrorism allegations as the testimony of a self-declared police informer was ruled unreliable last week.

Chile: Mapuche burn forestry company helicopter

Happy New Year: Forestry company’s helicopter after arson attack, Dec 31, 2013.

Mapuche Resistance Defies the State of Siege

The Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu [Toronto], December 31st, 2013

What can only be described as an act of defiance against the State of Siege imposed by the Chilean State was carried out this morning (December 31st), against the Chilean occupation and its Capitalist plunder in the province of Malleco.

Arson Attacks in Wallmapu unleash Government and Police Hysteria

Arson of house in Mapuche territory, Chile, on Dec 27, 2013.

The Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu [Toronto]December 30, 2013

At least three sabotage attacks against the Chilean occupation have occurred in the last week including the arson of a private get-away cottage in Lleu-Lleu; a corporate management house in Vilcun; and a logging encampment in Lumaco. This has unleashed the hysterical reaction of the Chilean government and the police apparatus in the area, as well as the rage of the corporate elite have begun to criticize their own government for the failure of repressive policies against the Mapuche movement.

Three Mapuche youth convicted in death of farmer

The Women’s Coordinating Committee For a Free Wallmapu [Toronto], December 5, 2013

Family members react to conviction of Mapuche youth in court, Dec 5, 2013.

The three young Mapuche Political Prisoners belonging to the Lof Chekenko Community were convicted this Thursday in the town of Angol for the murder of farmer Hector Gallardo. The injustice and racism of the Chilean courts can be seen once again within the framework of the current Presidential elections, in which the entire political class washes their hands of any responsibility.

The Mapuche’s Struggle for the Land

Another Kind of Revolution

Militant Mapuches march at a funeral of one of their comrades.

by JOHN SEVERINO

In the aftermath of the inspiring popular uprising in Argentina at the end of 2001 and the battles that blocked neoliberalism in Bolivia from 2003-2005, the Left came to power in governments across South America—most notably in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, and Bolivia—in a series of electoral upsets that were quickly hailed as revolutions. In hindsight, these victories prove to be less than convincing. The new revolutionary governments institutionalized social movements, turning them into mere appendages, they continued cutting down the rainforests and displacing indigenous peoples in the name of progress, they supported free trade agreements, used paramilitary or police forces against student demonstrators, expanded the exploitation of gas, oil, and coal, and imprisoned dissidents. Business as usual.

Chile: Police Siege Against Mapuche Communities After Death of Estate Owner

Businessman, wife die as home burns during attack believed by indigenous Mapuche

Chilean riot police raid a Mapuche village.

By Federico Quilodran, The Associated Press, Friday, January 4, 2013

SANTIAGO, Chile – An elderly couple whose family’s vast landholdings have long been targeted by Mapuche Indians in southern Chile were killed in an arson attack early Friday while trying to defend their home. The president quickly flew to the scene and announced new security measures, including the application of Chile’s tough anti-terrorism law and the creation of a special police anti-terror unit backed by Chile’s military.