During the Mapuche march on Wednesday in Bariloche, Andrea Despo Cañuqueo was at the forefront.
She is one of the women who were arrested in the Villa Mascardi eviction; she was the only one released, for not belonging to the so-called Lafken Winkul Mapu community.
Likewise, he says that they still need to return documentation. As for his vehicle, he complains: “They gave it to me with broken glass, disassembled inside and without the license plate.”
The woman had come to the area from Chubut to see who many consider a “machi” (within the Mapuche worldview, a person dedicated to ancestral medicine), Betiana Colhuan Nahuel, the young woman who, according to what was said at the time, He was the person who in 2017 pointed out the place where the lof should be installed (currently, he is under house arrest).
When the demonstration for the “demilitarization” of the region and the freedom of the women still in detention arrived at the Civic Center, at the request of the werken (spokesperson) of the Coordinator of the Parliament of the Mapuche-Tehuelche People of Río Negro, Orlando Carriqueo, Andrea spoke in front of the approximately three hundred people who were there.
“Everything we go through is very hard, and it’s not over yet,” he said, pointing to “mistreatment,” as well as “psychological, emotional, and cultural torture.”
In that sense, he considered: “There is a cruelty with our people, with our spirituality.”
He also described the situation as “humiliating and degrading”.
“How is the State going to repair all this?”, he questioned at the Civic Center, later asserting: “They are creating an internal enemy.”
Andrea Despo Cañuqueo is an actress and drama teacher.
Currently, she is participating in the fiction series “Salma – La Última Esperanza”, which is being shot in the province of Chubut, with the leading role of Eleonora Wexler.
Precisely, on Monday, one day before his release, the Argentine Association of Actors had released a statement asking for his freedom.
“I have a life, and this changed my work rhythm; it transformed absolutely everything”, expresses the actress.
It should be noted that Andrea has taken a solo show called “Sueños de agua” to various parts of the country, based on the life of the machi María Epul, who cared for the mother of Juan Domingo Perón, Juana Sosa Toledo, who had Tehuelche blood.
There is even a version circulating about how that “healer” was consulted when Evita’s health was deteriorating due to cancer, and she simply replied: “It’s already too late.”
One thing to keep in mind is that Andrea has a family relationship with María Epul.
In his ancestry, and in continuing to travel along that Mapuche path linked to healing, lies the reason for his visit to Villa Mascardi, going to see who they take as a new machi.
On October 4, when the federal forces began the eviction procedure, Andrea Despo Cañuqueo was about to leave.
– How do you remember the moment of the arrest?
-There was a lot of violence. We were getting ready to go to the rewe (for the Mapuche, a sacred object)and then I had to withdraw my lawen (remedy) and leave for the coast…
-You live in Trelew, right?
–Yes, but, actually, as I am an actress, and I was recording a series, I was going to meet up with my colleagues at the Florentino Ameghino Dam. If he left in the middle of the morning, he arrived at night.
-And that Tuesday, then, how was the procedure?
–We were just meeting to make a greeting at the rewe. We began to hear shots, a sound like a warning, and when we looked back we saw gases on the side of the entrance, the gate… The soldiers entered saying: “Get on the floor or we’ll shoot.” I went closer to the rewe. the other licks (sisters) they were in the machi’s house, waiting for her; they threw a gas inside her ruka (House). Someone from a special force came and shook me. They were armed, they threatened us with death. They shook me in such a way that my silverware came unsoldering (the necklaces). They took me with the licks and more soldiers arrived. They were many. The machi was not even allowed to grab the baby’s diapers. I asked if there was any order. Then someone older arrived, with a more violent tone, who said: “You like to be like this… Get on the floor, shit, or we’ll kill you.” I replied that he was an old Nazi, and he blurted out: “To much honor.” The others stopped him, because he was coming to grab me. They stopped him and took him back so he could calm down. He was taken out. He would be from some nationalist movement…
–What time was it?
“It was between half past seven and eight in the morning.
-The night before, rumors circulated that a procedure would be developed, although it was not known what, if an eviction, a new visual inspection… Did you get any comments?
–Yes… But, honestly, I didn’t think it was going to be something of that magnitude. One could think that they would ask to speak to someone… Or that they were going to enter through the space that was in conflict, which we all assumed was that of Diego Frutos, but we did not imagine that they would come through the official gate of the community, through that space, where there is the rewe, not even that there were so many, armed, with gas…
-So, they had heard that there was a certain type of movement, that something could happen, but they did not believe that it was…
-Never. I thought: after Rafa (Rafael Nahuel, shot dead on November 25, during an operation by the Albatros group, belonging to the Argentine Naval Prefecture)They won’t do something like this again. He had gone to treat me, because I had needed it for a long time and I was able to do it at that time… I knew there was a conflict, but I never imagined that it was of that magnitude, that the Government had ordered so many things.
–When you say that you went to attend, do you mean that you went in search of some kind of medicine?
–Of course, to what the machi does; she sees what spiritual or physical illness the person has and treats him with remedies, the “lawen”, as we call it, based on natural herbs.
–You are a descendant of a machi, right?
–I am related to María Pul, who lived in Cerro Negro (in Chubut). My grandmother was his niece. There is a very strong link with Mapuche spirituality from my family. Any Mapuche has the right to attend with his ancestral medicine. It is in the international treaties recognized by the Argentine State. But, suddenly, we found this, something so excessive… All the limits were violated.
-The operation was on a Tuesday, had you been there for several days?
–Since the weekend.
-While you were detained, what was the hardest thing?
–The worst moment was Thursday afternoon, in Unit 28 (from the Federal Penitentiary Service, in Buenos Aires), where, for the third time that day, we were stripped naked. When they made us remove all our clothes, I asked why again, since they had done it a while ago. They put a metal detector between my legs and, at that moment, a small window opened and I saw a man spying… I said I was going to report him… I don’t know his name or anything, but, even if it’s publicly, I’m doing it… So many Sometimes we had to fill our fingers with ink, go through different penalties… Everything has been tremendous.