DELIVERY OF LETTERS TO AMBASSADOR OF CHILE IN THE HAGUE - 29/10/2012

Today, Monday October 29, 2012, representing the Dutch organization Maricheweu International, representing the Mapuche, Chileans and Latin Americans living in the Netherlands, together with the Dutch people and also representing the organizations that are collecting signatures to protest the state violence against Mapuche communities in Chile, I went to deliver letters formalizing a protest against all the events occurring in Mapuche territory, to the Ambassador of Chile in Holland, expressing our total rejection of all acts of violence, racism and of non-compliance with national and international laws committed by the Chilean state against the Mapuche people and their just demands.

He was received kindly by the first secretary of the Ambassador Mr. Edgard Eckholt and Ambassador Mr. Juan Antonio Martabit Scaff. We talked for almost an hour. I handed him the letters and expressed the deep concern and indignation of many people for the situation suffered by the Mapuche people by the acts of a government of a country that claims to be a democracy and has signed and ratified international treaties such as the Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We talked about the change in feeling and thinking of Chilean society in the last 20 years with respect to indigenous peoples and the way the government treats them. He told me of the various projects to protect and promote native cultures. I replied that it is great that there is this change in Chilean society but that all these projects give no answer to the demands of the communities and that the only dialog of the government with the communities in resistance consists of bullets and tear gas and repression and judicial setups.  

I emphasized that the government must open a dialog with the communities and really listen to the demands and wishes of the people. That they are the only ones who know what they really want and need and they have that very clear. That the first step for that is the demilitarization of the area and an end to the raids and violence against the communities.

Again and again I returned to the issue of violence against the children, the women and the elderly and the terrible damage caused by the violence of the state, as much material, physical and psychological. I demanded that the state must accept responsibility for these very serious damages and make an effort to compensate and that it has to bear all the expenses of the healing of the wounded. In particular I drew his attention to the case of the young Leonardo Quijón who since 2009 suffers from the almost 200 pellets that until now remain in his leg after being shot by police. He is also one of the five Mapuche political prisoners who were recently on a hunger strike in Temuco for 23 days, including five days of a dry strike, bringing them to the brink of death itself, to simply get their legitimate right to be transferred to the prison in Angol, being the prison closest to their families.

The ambassador assured me that he will communicate all that we have talked about to the government of Chile and that he will send the letters to the designated persons. He also promised that he will find out everything about the case of Leonardo and that he will report on the outcome, although purely for humanitarian reasons ...   

The story of Pavlovic, his mission of promoting the ADI of Ercilla and the role of the media in Chile

Source: http://comunidadtemucuicui.blogspot.nl/2012/10/el-reportaje-de-pavlovic-su-mision-de.html
Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Just last Tuesday it was broadcast on the screens of the "channel of all Chileans," National Television of Chile / TVN, the program of the journalist Santiago Pavlovic, "Special Report", which promised to display unprecedented images on the situation in Mapuche communities of Ercilla, in his chapter entitled "red zone".
 
By Gerardo S. Berrocal
 
The Reportage
  
The impetuous title and the promotional spot's that were aired by the channel as a advance mode, already made the program's approach clear. The "exclusive pictures" registered by the GOPE police themselves with a camera on their helmet-those who violently entered the houses of Wente Winkul Mapu, showed the moment when Sergeant Hugo Albornoz, was dying on the floor after getting the shot that killed him, while entitled "Mapuche ambush".
However, before issuing the promotional trailers, the Temuco Court of Appeals issued an order prohibiting the channel broadcasting images of Sergeant Albornoz, at the request of the family of the police officer, who were affected when the images were partially showed. Accordingly, on Saturday before the broadcast, TVN withdrew the promotional video of its website.  

But this did not stop the program to maintain its release date. Eventually, after a short wile one could confirm the suspicions, "arson attacks", "firearms", "fighting", "taking of plots", "Mapuche conflict", "red zone", it was what was promised by the program. Pavlovic would show the image of those who are the good Mapuche, that is, those who have accepted the Piñera government policies integrating into the Indigenous Development Area / ADI of Ercilla, represented by the figure of Lonko Juan Curinao; and the bad Mapuche, that is, those who "burn trucks", "steal weapons," commit "rustling", "burn houses", "take land", "threaten" the small farmers and cause the "fear" in the area, represented in the communities Autonomous Temucuicui, Traditional Temucuicui and Wente Winkul Mapu.

To operate the little innovative communication strategy Pavlovic emphasizes the arson attacks, with a large space for the familiar ingredient: the victimization of the "smallholders" sector, among them even counting people from Angol. Moreover, for example in the burning of Chequenko school, he does not clarify the circumstances nor the investigatory situation of the events, but on the contrary, he imputes in advance the Mapuche who maintain the territorial recovery, but without giving space to the version of the very members of the affected community, the parents of the children studying in that school, those who denied at the time -through alternative means by the way- the charges against them and that moreover even had suspicions that groups from outside the community could be involved.  

The reportage also refers to the burning of the house of the Lonko Juan Curinao, which occurred at the same time an office was opened in Ercilla with ADI members, an activity interrupted by members of the communities of Temucuicui and Wente Winkul Mapu , whom authorities and media have been publicly accusing of being responsible for the burning, without anyone having troubled themselves to ask or make room for the possibility that there are other groups interested in blaming the Mapuche, as has happened in the past. But in the program also are found those to blame: "Autonomous CommunityTemucuicui", which in the words of Pavlovic, was identified by the Lonko Curinao.
 
The program also shows pictures of the march that was called for by the Autonomous Community Temucuicui, with those who try to continue contextualizing the environment in which the battered "red zone" remains, for that which is stated in the fiery speeches of the Werkén who addressed those who accompanied the landmark trial prepared to accuse young Mapuche of the community, charging them with one of many events attributed to members of communities in Ercilla that maintain the territorial recovery processes, the "Toll Quino Case", to which Pavlovic makes no reference.

Pavlovic says nothing either in relation to the dismissal, by unanimous vote of the judges, of all the accused in the case, or the complete lack of evidence to accuse them in a flawed trial that kept them imprisoned for almost two years, and on hunger strike for almost 90 days in 2010. Nor does it refer to the irregularities that led to expel from the case the Public Prosecutor for offenses in the process as "insulting" and "formal defects", in addition that which allowed them to be accused was only the use of the Anti-Terrorism Act, with a "protected witness". Or that the only complainant ended up being the Ministry from the Interior, in a politicized trial that sought until the end, despite the complete lack of evidence, the imprisonment of the Mapuche of Temucuicui.

According to Pavlovic, for the regional prosecutor of Araucanía, Francisco Ljubetic, in the application of justice "there is a bias towards the Mapuche", to which Ljubetic, who has been one of the main promoters of the mythical "rural guerrilla" - with the bias that characterizes him, states that in the cases against Mapuche for serious crimes the "standards of proof are not the same as for anyone", forgetting to clarify that the Anti-Terrorism Act neither is applied to anyone, but only to Mapuche who demand the recovery of the territory.

Neither was there a picture or word on the situation of the Mapuche political prisoners who began a hunger strike since August 27 in jail of Angol and from October 1st in Temuco prison, or the motives that lie behind that. Neither about the absurd accusations, the politicized and exaggerated mediatic trials and prison sentences hanging over the accused. Neither the fact that they have been indicted for alleged acts in which they ascribed to them the attempted murder of the head of the Carabineers of the IX Police Zone, Ivan Bezmalinovic, who led the raids from a helicopter while the alleged attack was made against him.

In this case, Pavlovic does not see a political way out, but a problem of "privileges" that was applied by judges to the Mapuche that are related to the the territorial recovery process, therefore, there should be a judicial and not a political solution. Contrary to what was demonstrated in the case of the Maori people, about those who, by the way, Pavlovic has a radically different view as a Native People compared to the Mapuche. Among other comparisons that require a process of much deeper discussion and a desire for dialog that this government does not have, as with that of the imposition of its repressive, criminalizing and welfarist policies with the Mapuche communities.
 
The role of the media in Chile     

But it is not the first time this happens, TVN has a long history of manipulation of information in relation to the Mapuche people. Recall, for example, among many others, some recent cases, such as the real promotional campaign for the creation of paramilitary groups in the Ercilla, we saw for more than a week on the screens of the channel in both its regionally and national news and which Pavlovic made resurge.

Or the crude coverup that TVN was wanted to make of the war arsenal found of a landowner from Victoria, on whom in the reportage Pavlovic judgment that "he had no links to the attacks," but that rather "the violence points to indigenous groups" without indicating that the landlord is a member of "Hernán Trizano command", which has publicly threatened to "wipe out" the Mapuche of Temucuicui, that the reason for his dispute with René Urban is his "soft attitude" with the Mapuche and that "the links" that he may or may not have, have never been investigated by justice, and that he neither has spent a day in jail, like what would have happened with the Mapuche. On that occasion TVN also referred to the innocence of the farmer Temer San Martin saying he was a "gun collector", and putting in place images of the young Mapuche Luis Marileo, who had just voluntarily surrender to the police, claiming complete innocence in the fact of which he was accused, a situation that was certainly not duly reported by TVN neither then nor now in the program of Pavlovic.

Until when will we have to continue to tolerate the lies, lack of professional ethics, prejudice and racism of the Chilean media and unscrupulous journalists who are sent to communication missions seeking to clean the image of the government and justify the violation of essential human rights, and along with this, seek the criminalization and discrediting of legitimate social processes to claim rights that, for the rest, are recognized in various international treaties which Chile has signed, but not yet applies nor respects, unlike backward laws in the area of Human Rights such as the Anti-Terrorism Act inherited from Pinochet.  

The longer we have to wait to have really public media that are not mere agencies for advertising and  abetting corporate sector interests and politicians who control this country, that its executives are not vain political operatives and its media professionals are not mere mercenaries of their employers and really make a minimum effort to change their biased views and deepen adequately the complexity that the subject deserves.

Any country that claims to be democratic and says to be respectful of Human Rights should ensure adequate representation of all stakeholders in the media, thus ensuring access for all sectors of society through public media and facilitating the creation of their own means. Failure to ensure that these spaces exist in the mainstream media and not facilitate the proliferation of new media, violates the right to freedom of expression, right to information and communication, and the access to new technologies. It is time then to start demanding the recognition and respect of all human rights, including also the right to communicate, and to have public media containing programs that incorporate diverse points of view and respectful of local realities and social processes, also having the ability to communicate through their own means, especially, as in this case, on issues related to First Nations.

Posted by Autonomous Mapuche Community Temucuicui  

Mayor Molina closes the dialog with Mapuche of Temucuicui

Source: http://comunidadtemucuicui.blogspot.nl/2012/10/intendente-molina-se-cierra-al-dialogo.html
Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The mayor of the Araucanía region, Andres Molina, refused to talk with a delegation of the Autonomous Community Temucuicui who came today to the intendancy, in Temuco, to clarify the serious accusations that the regional authority had made against them.

The mayor Molina, a few days ago began a campaign of vilification of the community Temucuicui to the media, accusing them as "perpetrators of violence" in the area of Ercilla, of being "closed to dialog" and that they were traveling abroad to "sell" the Mapuche cause. According to him, this would be the reason of not responding to the call of the Piñera government to join the ADI Ercilla.

The delegation of traditional community authorities, the Lonko Victor Queipul, the Werkén Jorge Huenchullan and members of the community, came with the intention to clarify these allegations and to dialog with the the regional authority so that he found out firsthand what their vision is on the situation of the communities and the reasons for their rejection of ADI Ercilla.

However, the Mapuche of Temucuicui were not received by the the regional authority, who confined himself to sending the government SEREMI, Mauricio Ojeda, who attended the delegation on the street, outside the building of the Regional Inspectorate, to excuse the mayor alluding to him not having time to talk with them.
 
Posted by Autonomous Mapuche Temucuicui

Autonomous Community Temucuicui summons Mayor of Araucanía for serious allegations and insults

Source: http://comunidadtemucuicui.blogspot.nl/2012/10/comunidad-autonoma-temucuicui-emplaza.html
Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The mayor of the Araucanía region, Andres Molina, in an interview aired by regional TV channel TVN, on Saturday October 20, 2012, referred to the region of Temucuicui in derogatory terms, stating in that interview the following:

• He indicates the autonomous community Temucuicui as being primarily responsible for the violence in the area of Ercilla.

• He said that leaders of our community have gone abroad to negotiate the Mapuche conflict.

• He underlines that the community of Temucuicui is a Mapuche community that has been most favored by the land transfer program.

Based on these statements, and considering the serious disqualifications, the Community today Tuesday October 23, 2012, sent a delegation headed by its traditional authorities who will present themselves in the intendancy of the city of Temuco, where they will demand to talk with the mayor about his allegations and to clarify to him what the approaches of the community are, and let him know its position on the 3 points which he states. "Considering the responsibilities for the violence that we have in the eyes of the mayor, we hope to be received tomorrow," they said.

They add: "Apparently the Mayor confuses violence and expressing our disagreement with the policies of the state, and especially the ADI Ercilla. It seems that our rejection of ADI makes us responsible for the violence occurring in the region. "They continue by saying: "Regarding the violence in the area, we also want to express our concern to the mayor about the massive police presence in the town of Ercilla, whose presence was intensified since the visit to Ercilla by President Sebastián Piñera. Since that time, our communities are even more militarized, resulting in violent raids and police checkpoints on rural roads."

About the trips abroad, they explain: "Indeed, our leaders have gone outside to raise our claims, to make known the acts of violence and repression against members of our community, as well as learn the rights of indigenous peoples recognized by international treaties, and supported by international institutions." 

Regarding the acquisition of land, they state: "Yes, it is true that we have been favored by the program of delivery of land, but we are not satisfied with pieces of land, because we are in a process of territorial reconstruction, it was time to to explain to the authorities what we mean by territory." 

Besides clarifying these three points, they are keen to us this moment to learn the views of the mayor on the acquittal of the community members in the "toll Quino" case, considering that they have been in detention for nearly two years in preventive detention, "we think it's time that the executive authorities, who have been part of this trial, respond in front of this injustice," they said. 

The delegation will be present on Tuesday October 23, 2012, at 11 am on the outskirts of the regional Municipality, where the Community authorities will give a press conference.
 
Posted by Autonomous Mapuche Community Temucuicui

Chilean court annulled in part the sentences of two Mapuche on hunger strike

Source: http://paismapuche.org/?p=5687
October 24, 2012

The Supreme Court decided to annul in part the trial that last August convicted two of the Mapuche community members of the community Wente Winkul Mapu carrying 60 days on hunger strike in the jail of Angol.

The President of the Criminal Chamber of the Chilean Supreme Court, Milton Juica, explained that in the case of Daniel Levinao Montoya, the unanimous ruling orders to overturn the conviction for the crime of attempted murder against General Ivan Bezmalinovic, but confirms the sentence for illegal possession and holding of firearms.



In this way they will need to perform a new trial to determine his alleged responsibility in the crime of attempted murder against the police, leaving him only convicted of illegally carrying a weapon.

While Paulino Levipán Coyán will leave the jail of the capital of Malleco immediately, as the Supreme Court reduced the sentence of 10 years in prison to only three years and 541 days, having to fulfill it in the manner forwarded without imprisonment, for changing the figure of homicide to only injuries against police personnel.

This triumph for the community and its defenses could affect the hunger strike of these two youths, along with two other defendants for similar crimes in Angol. A measure which spans almost two months and keeps them in a precarious state of health.