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dam-l Email campaign for Mapuches
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We would like you to help us launch an effective email campaign to Hillary
Clinton. She will be visiting Temuco on April 18, 1998. Her email is
first.lady@whitehouse.gov.
On March 30th, Reynaldo Mariqueo, International Coordinator of the
Interregional Mapuche Council, and Luis Llanquilef, European Coordinator of
the Tirua and Arauco Community, filed an official complaint to the UN
Commission on Human Rights on behalf of the Mapuches in Chile. The
complaint decried the violations of the rights of the Mapuches as people of
an ethnic, religious, and linguistic minority.
By writing to Hillary Clinton and including this complaint in your letters,
we will call attention to the severity of the human rights violations
committed against the Mapuches.
This is a campaign driven by the following signatories. As always, thank
you for your solidarity.
Por Ñuke Mapu: Jorge Calbucura
Por Consejo Inter-regional Mapuche: Reynaldo Mariqueo
Por Comunicaciones Mapuche Xeg Xeg:
Por Ñiminkan: Sandra Huenchuán Navarro
Por Rehue: Mirek Doubrava
Por Mapuche Page: Jennifer Arnold
Por Kingdom of Araucania & Patagonia: Dan Morrison
Por Campaign Associate International Rivers Network: Aleta Brown
Por The Earth Network for Sustainable Development: Beatriz Schulthess
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Letter example:
Dear Mrs. Clinton:
On the occasion of your visit to Temuco, Chile, please allow me to bring
to your attention the situation among the Mapuche people.
On March 30, 1998, Reynaldo Mariqueo, the International Coordinator of
the Inter-regional Mapuche Council and Luis Llanquilef, the Coordinador
in Europe of the Commune Tirua and Arauco, presented to the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva documentation of violations
of the rights of Mapuches of Chile. I attach a copy of that document for
your information.
While you are in Chile, I ask you to intercede in defense of the human
rights of the Mapuche community.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
> UNITED NATIONS
> FIFTY-FOURTH SESSION
> 16 March - 24 April 1998-03-27
>
> Item 16: Rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and
> linguistic minorities
>
> Document presented by
> International Peace Bureau
>
> Mr. Chairman,
>
> We thank you for the opportunity of speaking before the Human Rights
> Commission today, and are pleased to greet you, the members of the Commission,
> and the non-governmental organisations here present.
>
> The Mapuches are a minority within the Chilean State, whose rights this State
> in practice does not recognise. These include: our linguistic and cultural
> rights; our right to a livelihood, for we are deprived of our land; and even
> the right to physical integrity. Today, we are suffering brutal repression as
> in the worst years of the military dictatorship.
>
> First:
> Just over 100 years ago, the Mapuche nation, spread across the present-day
> states of Argentina and Chile, possessed a vast territory which, on the
> Chilean side, stretched from the Bio-Bio River down to the South. This
> territory was recognised first by treaties with the Spanish Crown and then by
> a series of treaties and parliaments held with the newly established Republic
> of Chile. With the military defeat of the Mapuche people in 1883, the Chileans
> took possession of the Mapuche territory by conquest --territory which the
> Mapuche communities still claim as theirs today. Despite the loss of national
> sovereignty and annexation to the Republic of Chile, the Mapuche have by no
> means renounced their claims to possession of their
> land and resources.
>
> Without the recovery of these lands, and the inalienable right of property
> over them, the survival of the Mapuche communities and of their culture is
> under threat. Deprived of their lands, the Mapuche communities suffer growing
> social instability, with the evident danger of outbreaks of violence, which
> could have unforeseeable consequences for the peace and stability of the
> Chilean State as a whole.
>
> We demand, therefore, the recognition of the fundamental rights of the Mapuche
> people, as guaranteed by legal instruments both national and international,
> such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
> article 1.
>
> Second:
> With regard to the situation of its indigenous population, Chile in theory
> made an important step forward with the passing of Law No. 19.253 in 1993.
> This law establishes norms for the protection, promotion and development of
> the indigenous population and recognises a number of basic rights, such as the
> condition of the Mapuche as a People. It guarantees the protection of
> ownership of land and water, and the introduction of multi-cultural and
> bilingual education; it prohibits manifest and malicious discrimination. By
> this law, the government must consult the indigenous peoples of Chile on all
> issues affecting them directly. In reality, however, this law is not
> implemented. Yet, with the return to democracy and to the rule of law in
> Chile, with the strengthening of its legal institutions and its ratification
> of international treaties in the field of human rights, Chile presents a
> normal and civilised face to the rest of the world. But, if we look at recent
> events in Chile, it becomes clear that the treatment of the Mapuche people has
> not improved since the days of Pinochet's dictatorial regime. Injustice,
> violation of human rights, usurpation of Mapuche lands, inhuman and
> humiliating treatment, discrimination, racism etc. are in Chile still very
> much the order of the day.
>
> Between October 1997 and March 1998, 85 Mapuches, among them women and
> children, were detained in Temuco, Malleco, Arauco, Angol and Santiago. This
> was the result of the introduction of the Law of State Security and the Anti-
> terrorist law in 5 communes in the Mapuche region. The Chilean police, on the
> basis of these legal instruments, carried out an exaggerated military
> operation in the entire region. Together with anti-terrorist forces, and using
> military vehicles and helicopters, the police patrolled the area, entering
> homes, threatening the inhabitants. Detentions took place at any hour of day
> or night. According to the statement of one of the detained, he was held
> incommunicado for 7 days (whereas Chilean law stipulates 5 days), during which
> he suffered inhuman and degrading treatment.
>
> In a confrontation between security guards of the logging company Arauco S.A.
> and Mapuche families from the Pichi Lonkollan and Pilin Mapu communities of
> the Lumaco sector of Malleco Province, who were trying to halt the
> exploitation of forestland traditionally theirs, 2 trucks were burnt --
> incident which, in our view, could hardly constitute a "threat to the interior
> security of the state". The reaction of the Chilean state towards the Mapuche
> population in this case seems to us to be irresponsible and totally
> exaggerated.
>
> Third
> Projects for the improvement of infrastructures, such as the building of new
> roads and dams, are being carried out without the prior consent of the
> communities concerned, in violation of the Indigenous Law No. 19.253 of 5.
> October 1993. Not only has the Chilean government not implemented this
> Indigenous Law, due, it says, to a "lack of economic resources" (at the very
> moment in which Chile is buying weapons worth hundreds of millions of
> Dollars), but it has manifestly violated it. For example, the imminent
> construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations in the Bio-Bio river
> in the Mapuche-Pewenche region, without the consent of the communities
> affected, is in direct contradiction with Article 13 of the Indigenous Law,
> which provides that "Indigenous lands, as national interest demands, shall
> enjoy the protection of this law. They shall not be alienated, seized, nor
> acquired by limitation, except between communities or indigenous persons
> belonging to the same ethnic group".
>
> A large number of indigenous communities are facing such situations, due to
> the implementation of a number of mega-projects such as the Coast Road, the
> Temuco By Pass, urban expansion, exploitation of forests, privatisation of
> coastal areas and their waters etc. All these projects, far from benefiting
> Chile's most needy, plunge them ever deeper into poverty, leading to enormous
> social and cultural problems within our people. We need hardly mention the
> disastrous environmental consequences of the above projects.
>
> We should like to make it absolutely clear that the Mapuche people are not
> opposed to progress, but want fair, sustainable and harmonious development,
> with full respect of their rights and ancestral values, and a development
> process from which they are not absolutely excluded.
>
> We believe that the recognition of cultural diversity in Chile will mark the
> beginning of a historic reparation which today the indigenous peoples are
> anxiously awaiting, and which sooner or later the Chilean State will have to
> consider. For only in this way will a solid base for coexistence with the
> original inhabitants of the country be created. Our demands are not of a
> violent nature, but are based on full respect of the Chilean legal order,
> which includes the norms of the common law which traditionally governed the
> Mapuche people, reserving for ourselves the right to self-determination, as
> the basis for the protection and development of the Mapuche in their ancestral
> territory.
>
> We demand also the recognition of the Mapuche people within the Chilean
> Constitution and the ratification of ILO Convention 169 by Chile, as this is
> one of the few texts, if not the only text, which recognises the inalienable
> rights of indigenous peoples.
>
> We thank you.
>
> Reynaldo Mariqueo Luis Llanquilef
> International Coordinator European Coordinator
> Mapuche Inter-regional Council Arauco and Tirua Coordination
>
> Geneva, 30th March, 1998
>
> ============================
For questions please contact:
> Jorge Calbucura, PhD
> Department of Sociology
> Uppsala University
> P.O. Box 821
> S-751 08 Uppsala, Sweden
> Tel: +46 (18) 471 15 18
> Fax +46 (18) 471 11 70
> mailto:jorge.calbucura@soc.uu.se
> http://www.soc.uu.se/mapuche
> ============================
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Aleta Brown
Campaign Associate
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Phone: 1.510.848.1155
Fax: 1.510.848.1008
email: aleta@irn.org
http://www.irn.org