Members of the indigenous people Mapuche burst into the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago de Chile during Easter Mass. It was to demand the freedom of four mapuches who were imprisoned for protesting against the expropriation of land in the area of Lake Lleu Leu between the years 2005 and 2009. The charges pressed against them were of performing terrorist acts. The imprisoned mapuches have been on a hunger strike for 42 days.
Héctor Llaitul, Ramón Llanquileo, José Huenuche y Jonathan Huillical were condemned to 20-25 years in prison. They were found connected to the attack of lawyer Mario Elgueta.
This is the second time since 2010 that the imprisoned mapuches start a hunger strike.
The group of mapuches asking for the liberation of Llaitul, Llanquileo, Huenuche and Huillical are members of the Coordinator of Mapuche Communities in Arauco-Malleco Conflict (CAM).
The protesters reached the cathedral’s altar and displayed a banner that read “freedom to the mapuche political prisoners”, echoing the Human Rights Chilean Commission’s (Cchdh) pronouncement on the subject.
The Cchdh head, Gonzalo Taborga, denounced that the indigenous people are condemned to “silence their representatives who are fighting for a historical claim”.
The Chilean police entered the cathedral and violently removed the demonstrators.
Leader Natividad Llanquilleo accused the police of aggressively reprimanding the mapuche initiative and explained they only wanted to remind Chileans about the imprisoned mapuches’ situation. They are in a delicate condition caused by sudden weight loss.
Two protesters were arrested and interrogated in a police station in Santiago de Chile.
Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the news agency of AMARC-ALC
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