Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Autonomous Community Temucuicui rejects allegations spread in Qué Pasa magazine through a public statement, expressing further that Mapuche leaders who signed the ADI "in most cases do not have the full support of their communities."
By Luis García-Huidobro
On October 5th Qué Pasa magazine published an interview in which it says that the community Wañako Millao accuses Autonomous Temucuicui of having burned the house of longko (leader) Juan Carlos Curinao, leader who heads the Indigenous Development Area, ADI, promoted by the government in Ercilla.
The accused community responded through a public statement, denying the accusation and stating that "we have no role in the burning of the house of longko Curinao, or other acts of violence of which we are charged."
The statement refers to other situations in which there were community members accused of crimes, and who were later acquitted. The last one was the Toll Quino case. At that time, the newspaper La Tercera-Owned by Copesaas well as Que Pasa magazine, gave a broad coverage of the prosecutor Miguel Velásquez's accusations, which when brought to trial came to nothing, although eight members of the community spent more than a year in preventive detention. The community members of Temucuicui argue that through these allegations the government seeks to imprison them so they will not continue with their territorial recovery process. "The story - they continue - attributes to us the image of a violent community, resentful, irrational and closed to dialog." This for their refusal to participate in the Indigenous Development Area (ADI).
"What this article, the press and the current authorities do not tell, is that two years ago we sat down with the mayor of the Araucanía, Andres Molina, the national director of Conadi, Jorge Retamal, and the current governor of Malleco Erich Baumann ". "For over two years we have maintained a dialog with the authorities without being able to reach any concrete agreement. For this reason, when they proposed to us to integrate in the dialog table to form the ADI Ercilla, we regard it as an instance little appropriate to solve our Territorial demands, and in this way we have stated this".
Furthermore, they pose the statement that this position contrary to the ADI is not a minority within the communities. Since the alleged 37 communities comprising the ADI "are no more than the result of the co-optation of some leaders, who in most cases do not have the full support of their communities."
Posted by Autonomous Mapuche Community Temucuicui
In the face of serious allegations against Autonomous Community Temucuicui
Source: http://comunidadtemucuicui.blogspot.nl/2012/10/ante-graves-acusaciones-en-contra.html
Monday, October 8, 2012
Public statement
Faced with serious allegations against us
The Autonomous Mapuche Community Temucuicui, based on what is said in the regional and national press, and especially in the magazine "Que Pasa" of the Copesa group, regarding the burning of the house of Lonko Juan Curinao and other occurrences of violence in recent times in the commune of Ercilla, to the local and national public opinion we state the following:
1. - We strongly reject these serious allegations, making it clear that we do not have any involvement in the burning of the house of Lonko Curinao, or other acts of violence of which we are accused, as our Werken, Jorge Huenchullan, has already brought to the media, therefore we do not accept that we are freely linked and accused of serious violence, through elaborate communication strategies that stigmatize and criminalize us, distorting the process of struggle and our aspirations for peace and justice to build our community. We do not hesitate to defend ourselves, appealing to the courts to prove our innocence and stop any kind of accusation with a discriminatory and defamatory content, we only demand that the prosecutors, government officials and the media that emit these judgments, take responsibility of the charges that they are making.
2. - It is very striking that this new charge against the community occurs weeks after the landmark trial of the "Toll Quino case", in which seven of our brothers were charged with various violent events and generally applying to them the Anti-Terrorist Act, who were kept in prison for close to two years, remaining for almost 90 days on a hunger strike. Subsequently, during August this year, in a politicized trial where the Public Ministry was left out due to irregularities in the accusation, staying as single complainant the Ministry of Interior, unanimously the Oral Criminal Court acquitted our brothers thus demonstrating their absolute innocence. We recall that historically leaders and members of our community, to participate in a process of territorial claims, have been charged with various criminal offenses without subsequently being able to proof their participation in the great majority of cases. Considering the foregoing, we ensure that through this charge, once again the government seeks to imprison members of our community in order to stop our fair process of struggle.
3. The facts of which they accuse us are closely linked to our political stance aimed at strengthening the autonomy Mapuche and of its communities around the recovery of historically usurped territories. This approach led us to reject the creation of Indigenous Development Area (ADI) Ercilla, and the current public policy that the government seeks consensus by all means, including through defamation of opponents. For our Autonomous Community of Temucuicui, this new dialogue table is a way to delay our historical claims. Note that the ADI is born of a unilateral announcement by President of the Republic of Chile, Sebastian Pinera, during the public account of May 21, 2012, without first consulting his announcement to any community, ignoring the provisions of Convention 169 ILO, which Chile ratified in 2008.
4. - According to the article written by journalist Nicholas Alonso, published in the magazine Que Pasa, entitled "Battle of lonco Curinao", they attributes us the image of a violent community, resentful, little rational in its politics and closed to dialog. What this article, the press and the current authorities do not tell, is that two years ago we sat down with the mayor of the Araucanía, Andres Molina, the national director of CONADI, Jorge Retamal and the current governor of Malleco, Erich Baumann, at this time indigenous affairs adviser, who even came to talk to us in one of the farms of the family Zeit, that we are currently reclaiming. For over two years we have maintained a dialog with the authorities without being able to reach any concrete agreement. For this reason, when they proposed to us to integrate in the dialog table to form the ADI Ercilla, we regard it as an instance little appropriate to solve our Territorial demands since two years of dialog did not allow any progress and in this way we have stated this.
Contrary to the speech held by the government, and widely circulated in the press, the position of our community on the ADI Ercilla is not such a minority within communities. The supposed 37 communities comprising the ADI are nothing more than the result of the co-optation of some leaders who in most cases do not have the full support of their communities.
5. - Regarding the image of a community closed to dialog, we make it clear that our community has always stood out for its openness to the outside world. Over time, we have received several researchers, human rights defenders and other civil society representatives to seek solutions to our territorial claims. Along with that, we have stated our demands internationally, as a testimony of our desire to peacefully resolve our demands recognized by international law, specifically the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization .
Victor Queipul Jorge Huenchullan Luis Toris
Lonko Werken Werken
Jaime Huenchullan Vania Queipul Millanao
Werken Werken
Wallmapuche Temucuicui
Posted by Autonomous Mapuche Community Temucuicui
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