Oct 10, 2007

Mapuche: Nonviolent Protest Reeps Rewards


After more than two months on hunger strike, the nonviolent campaigning of Chief Calfunao and her sister produces results as the Chilean government acquiesces to her concerns.

After more than two months on hunger strike, the nonviolent campaigning of Chief Calfunao and her sister produces results as the Chilean government acquiesces to her concerns. 

The Hague, 10 October 2007 - Yesterday, 09 October 2007, Mapuche Chief Juana Calfunao and Ms. Luisa Calfunao ended a hunger strike commenced two months earlier in the prison of Temuco where they are currently detained. A symbolic nonviolent act meant to denounce the treatment of Mapuches by the Chilean authorities, this hunger strike greatly endangered their health, with Chief Calfunao suffering a heart failure seven days before the end of the hunger strike.

Chief Calfunao and her sister conducted the hunger strike to campaign against the maltreatment of imprisoned Mapuche activists and ancestral leaders, to demand recognition of all Mapuche political prisoners by the Chilean state, to reinstate family visitation rights for those political prisoners, and to demand the recognition of Mapuche ancestral authorities.

According to sources close to Chief Calfunao, the hunger strike was halted when Chilean authorities agreed to address her concerns. The Mapuche leadership is still awaiting official letters confirming commitment to these promises, and the condition of the hunger strikers remains critical.

For years, the Mapuche Nation has been stuggling to voice their concerns with the Chilean government. These concerns are of the utmost importance for the Mapuche people and, by extension, to the Republic of Chile’s people. The Mapuche Nation has been tirelessly campaigning for their status as an indigenous people to be recognised in the Chilean constitution, for issues regarding land rights to be reblanced, and for an end to the persistant detention and maltreatment of Mapuche activists in prison.

The Calfunao family has long been a fierce defender of the Mapuche Nation and of its people, and has suffered continued harassment and serious physical abuse for their activities. The above-mentionned issues are more than ever of the utmost importance and have unfortunately not yet been addressed by the Chilean administration, despite repeated past guarantees to make indigenous issues a priority.  

Throughout the hunger strike, Chief Calfunao and her sister received widespread international support, including that of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Mapuche, and the hunger strikers in particular, through their commitment to nonviolent protest, have shown the world that positive change can be brought about without taking up arms.

UNPO urges President Bachelet to act upon the promises made and take positive steps to build a constructive dialogue with the Mapuche Nation.