Latin American Summary, October 7, 2022
Nehuen M. LONCOMAN, INDIGENOUS COUNSELOR for the Andean Zone and in exercise of the PRESIDENCY of the Council for the Development of Indigenous Communities Co.De.CI, Co-Management Organization between the Mapuche Tehuelche Communities and the Government of Río Negro and enforcer of the Law Integral Indigenous No. 2287/88 designation recognized by Decree No. 195/22, with legal address at Avenida 25 de Mayo 133 of the City of Viedma, province of Río Negro, with email address at Presidenciacodeci@gmail.com, accompanied by Orlando CARRIQUEO with legal address at Avenida 25 de Mayo 133 of the City of Viedma province of Río Negro and email address at javiercarriqueo04@gmail.com as Executive Secretary WERKEN of the COORDINATOR OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE MAPUCHE PEOPLE in the province of Río Negro, political organization of the MAPUCHE / TEHUELCHE people, with LEGAL PERSONALITY No. 53/2015 recognized by the government of Río Negro through decree 310/98, we present ourselves and say:
That on Tuesday, October 4 of this year, a spectacular, unnecessary and violent operation was carried out by the Unified Command created by the Ministry of Security of the Nation in conjunction with the Government of Río Negro with the aim of carrying out a covert eviction of the Mapuche community Lafken Winkul Mapu, ordered by Federal Judge Silvina Domínguez.
In said procedure, in addition to violating Law 26160 and ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, both international treaties signed by the Argentine State, laws that protect the rights of indigenous peoples were violated. women girls and boys.
What has followed in the hours after the procedure were more violations of Human Rights with the arrest of seven (7) Mapuche zomo (women), one of them being Machi, the Spiritual authority of our people, who also violates international agreements that protect human rights. cultural rights and the exercise of the spirituality, cosmovision and way of life of the peoples.
The zomo were held incommunicado for more than 48 hours, something decidedly illegal. Four (4) of them were transferred on a night flight, without notification to the defense and more than 1500 km away.
The defense attorneys could not assume the defense because the detainees were held incommunicado. They also could not have access to the file and the place of detention in Bs.As., nor the charges of the accusation were not communicated. All these events are similar to the events experienced during the military dictatorship that devastated Argentina and left a balance of 30,000 victims.
The procedure for the eviction and hunting of Mapuche people is still taking place today, October 7. We have photographic material that proves the presence of elite troops with lethal weapons and dogs that entered the community territory to start the Unified Command’s “Mapuche Hunt” Operation, taken on October 5, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Added to these images is the photographic material that was broadcast nationally on October 4, 2022, which proves that there were always troops with lethal weapons in the operation.
The images that showed the entry of unarmed troops was just a sample to deceive public opinion in Argentina. What happened later and is happening right now is the hunt for Mapuche people with elite troops and to carry out this operation Route 40 is cut off for a few minutes, the elite troops of the “Mapuche Hunt Operation” go up the mountain and traffic resumes on Route 40. This has been happening on a daily basis since October 4, 2022.
This procedure hidden from public opinion is the same as what happened in 2017 when the Albatross Special Group entered the territory and killed Rafael Nahuel from behind, a crime still aberrantly unpunished.
We believe that this hunt promoted by Minister Aníbal Fernández is a violation of all human, cultural, territorial, childhood and women’s rights that should be respected in a democratic state and whose non-compliance and violation puts us in a framework of Terrorism of Condition.
The seriousness of the facts that we publicly denounce and that in the next few hours we are going to do in court oblige us to demand from you, in your capacity as Political Leader and President of the State of Argentina, the following:
To order the immediate cessation of the “Mapuche Hunt” Operation, which is taking place at this time, and the withdrawal of the forces of the Unified Security Command with which they have militarized the area.
The immediate freedom of the seven (7) Mapuche women, political prisoners of the Argentine State, who are illegally detained, due to a judicial process tainted with nullities.
The return to the Lof Lafken Winkul Mapu of their community territory, where the Rewe (ceremonial sacred site) of the Machi Betiana Colhuan Nahuel is located
Given the seriousness of the reported events carried out by the Unified Command under the Ministry of Security of the Nation, we request the resignation of Dr. Aníbal Fernández.
The immediate start-up of a Political Dialogue and Discussion Table with the necessary participation of the National Government, the Provincial Government, the Coordinator of the Parliament of the Mapuche-Tehuelche People, the Council for the Development of Indigenous Communities (CoDeCI), the University of Rio Negro, the University of Comahue and civil society actors, in order to address the multiple and historical territorial conflicts and the systematic violation of Indigenous Rights and Human Rights in the Province of Río Negro.
The need for DIALOGUE to deal with conflicts is a major obligation of the State after having submitted to a GENOCIDE initiated in the Desert Campaign whose continuity of territorial dispossession, institutional violence and racism continues to this day.
Retracing the path of violence in order to find bridges between two different cultures, they demand that we commit ourselves to the path of dialogue based on the recognition of the true history on which the State is founded. Because in order to repair, you must first recognize.
Given the seriousness of the events that we denounce and the physical integrity and life of the people who are being persecuted in an inhumane hunt being at serious risk, we urgently request a response to our legitimate demands.
Without another particular we salute you.