February 7, 2013
COMMUNIQUE BY THE MAPUCHE COMMUNITIES IN RESISTANCE IN HUILLICHE, CHILE
Given the seriousness of the legal actions that led to the arrest and imprisonment of two zugunmachife, two kona and the Machi Millaray Huichalaf and Tito Cañulef, ancestral spiritual authorities of the Mapuche-Williche nation, the lof in resistance in the river Pilmaiken declare:
Kiñe: We call upon our people to stay alert and informed about these developments in order to denounce the repeated abuses that are being exerted against Mapuche ancestral authorities, as part of a campaign of intimidation and criminalization aimed at breaking the movement to defend the spiritual spaces threatened by transnational interests in the Williche territory. It is clear that the imprisonment of our brothers is due to the pressures that the prosecution has registered to use them as scapegoats in the investigation of the attacks in the Araucanía.
Epu: We call on all Mapuche territorial identities and all lof of Wallmapu to express their solidarity with the imprisoned spiritual authorities, on the basis that our survival as a culture depends on the integrity of the territories undermined by mega-projects that threaten the continuity of the Mapuche way of life.
Kila: We call on all the Mapuche ancestral authorities to pronounce on these facts and actively join the efforts aimed at the immediate release of the Machi Millaray Huichalaf and Machi Tito Cañulef.
Meli: We call on also our brothers of Puelmapu to join these actions and to intensify ancestral links with the communities in resistance of the river Pilmaiken, which is the Ngen Mapu Kintuante, spiritual bastion of the Williche-Mapuche.
Kechu: We urge to strengthen the practice of our ancestral spirituality and Mapuche feyentun, from which depends both the survival of the Mapuche culture and of all forms of life that live in our territory, threatened by the greed of transnational power, forms of life that our people have always defended, protected and valued because it is an inherent part of our way of life.
Kayu: We repudiate, in short, the criminalization of our spiritual authorities, as part of a strategy to undermine the actions for the recovery of our spiritual territories, of whose legal protection and inviolability the integrity of our culture depends.
Regle: The public should know that the imprisonment of our spiritual authorities has serious consequences for our people. First, given the nature of their spiritual leadership and responsibilities in the practice of medicine and the conducting of the ceremonies, the Machi must perform different daily spiritual activities that are interrupted by their arrest, harming their welfare as people and hindering their spiritual performance. Their imprisonment leaves their patients seriously helpless, whose health and recovery depends on the constant attention of the Machi. The arrest of a Machi has serious implications for the spiritual balance necessary for the welfare of the ancestral communities.
Purra: The persecution of the Machi through arbitrary accusations of poor consistency in the interests of those sections of the state that look favorably on denationalization of territory by multinational capital, which seek to maximize profits and consolidate a submissive model in which the Chilean and Mapuche sovereignty are seriously threatened. This orchestrated campaign of criminalization of Mapuche ancestral authorities seeks to undermine the integrity of our people, dragging it to violence and despair. However, the Mapuche nation is based on a long history of sovereignty and resistance that can not be overwhelmed by these events. Despite the negative consequences of incarceration, our Machi can not be intimidated, as they draw their power directly from the spiritual world.
Aylla: Finally, we call on the Chilean society as a whole and all people of goodwill who recognize the legitimacy of the Mapuche way of life and find in it a paradigm for a better way of life, to take part in the solidarity with the imprisoned spiritual authorities demanding their immediate release. It is time to understand that so far two nations forcibly coexist in the same territory without the Chilean people stopping to consider calmly the aspirations that both nations have in common.
We call to boost a real and mutually enriching dialog, whose requirement is that the authorities and spiritual territories are respected and restored to those who since ancient times have honored and protected them in all circumstances: the Mapuche people and their spiritual and territorial authorities.
Juana Cuante
Apo Ulmen of the General Board of Caciques, Valdivia Province
Spokeswoman Pu Lof in Resistance of the River Pilmaikén
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