The four Mapuche men who have been on a hunger strike for 36 days while being held in the Chilean prison Angol have today released a video to calling for their people to reclaim their lands.
Paulino Levipan Coyán and Daniel Levinao were convicted of attempted murder against members of Chile’s militarized police and posession of illegal firearms during an incident in November 2011. Meanwhile, Rodrigo Montoya and Erick Montoya are still waiting for the completion of their trial.
Today is the 36th day of their hunger strike in prison, with which they ask the Chilean Supreme Court to review and set aside their convictions. They also demand immediate demilitarisation of Mapuche territory and the realese all Mapuche political prisoners. In addition, they also claim an end to the torture of integral members during raids in Mapuche territory.
With a video issued from their prison cell, they called upon their indigenous community to reclaim ancestral lands currently held by coorporations and landowners.
Some of the men have lost about 10kg and Daniel Levinao was hospitalised last week for an electrocradigram scan due to a weak pulse.
Spokesman for the Mapuche organisation Wente Winkul Mapu, Luis Melinao, said in an interview with Radio Bío Bío that “after 30 days in hunger strike and still no rapprochement with the government or authorities it clearly shows that the conviction is racist, discriminatory. and unfair”. He added: “This is nothing but a political execution.”
The government has been unwilling to negotiate while the prisoners are still on hunger strike, but have now showed interest in a dialogue. They have offered to review their crimes based on common crime law instead of using the legislative system of anti-terrorism that dates back to the last dictatorship. “We will continue to discuss,” says the indigenous group Natividad Llanquileo’s spokesman Rodrigo Curipán.
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