31 Mapuche political prisoners are now one month into an indefinitely long hunger strike in Chile. On Thursday the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) turned to the International Committee of the Red Cross (IKRK) with an urgent appeal to oversee the medical support of the 31 hunger strikers. "We are greatly concerned about the health of the civil rights activists being held in five detention facilities in Chile. We have asked the IKRK to visit them and to ensure that they are receiving the necessary medical attention,” stated Yvonne Bangert, the consultant for indigenous peoples at the STP. "One of the prisoners, Andrés Ignacio Gutiérrez Coña, who is being held at the high security prison Nueva Imperial in Valdivia, has already complained of headaches and circulation problems.”

The Mapuche prisoners have been using this desperate action to protest in prisons in the cities of Concepción, Temuco, Valdivia, Angol und Lebu since July 12th. They are protesting against the unjust way their cases were conducted and the manipulation of their charges as well as maltreatment in prison. They also aim to raise awareness of the catastrophic situation faced by their people. "So far the political scene in Chile has barely taken note of the Mapuche communities and their struggle to survive,” noted Bangert. "A few representatives have come forward, urging the government to open up a dialogue, but there needs to be action taken in addition to dialogue.”

These civil rights activists were arrested on account of a dispute over land rights and, in accordance with the notorious anti-terrorism law that was created during Pinochet’s dictatorship, will be brought before a military court. This law is currently being used exclusively in practice against Mapuche. The hunger-strikers are calling for the anti-terrorism law to be repealed, the military court cases against the Mapuche to be dismissed and the immediate release of all political prisoners. A typical charge is "terrorist arson,” if, for example, Mapuche set fire to hay bales, the huts used by lumbermen, or piles of wood in their attempt to regain possession of their land. The Mapuche pay for their civil resistance with their life. "Exactly a year ago, on August 12, 2010, the 24-year-old Mapuche Jaime Mendoza Collio was shot while participating in a land occupation. The bullet in his back came from one of the Carabineros’ weapons,” deplored Bangert. "This day is therefore also a Memorial day for the Mapuche for this young man.”

The Chilean Anti-Terrorist Law allows for an extremely long pre-trial detention of up to two years, as well as the acceptance of anonymous testimony from so-called "faceless” witnesses and a sentence of five to ten years plus an additional fine. These penalties are only possible under the anti-terrorist law and, in comparison to civil cases, are quite extreme.

Translated by Sophia Chambers