March against discrimination towards indigenous people in Chile

Third march in support of the Mapuche Political Prisoners on hunger strike against indigenous peoples discrimination in Chilean justice.

Fifty-two days of the start of the hunger strike, the 32 Mapuche Political Prisoners are in a critical stage (three strikers had to be taken to hospital with heart problems).

In Chile, indigenous people tend to be doubly disadvantaged by the lack of guarantees of due process. First, civil cases in the context of the claims of indigenous peoples are referred to military courts which constitutes a serious failure of the Chilean State, as stated in the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case Palamara Iribarne. v. Chile in 2005. And second, civil justice, is applied a law called the Anti-Terrorism Act, which was passed in the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. today is repealed in many of his articles, but continues to be provided to different interpretations.

These situations have attracted the attention of several human rights organizations and United Nations Rapporteurs. As Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Amnesty International recommends amendments to the Terrorism Act in order to clarify the definition of crimes within the law. The possibility of allowing anonymous witnesses in trials, directly violates the American Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights United Nations.

According to a report of the Ethics Committee against Torture, until last June 23 in Chile had a total of 106 indigenous prisoners, convicted or prosecuted in connection with the so-called Mapuche Conflict.

Mary Tralcal representing the Prisoners Relatives denounced cases of torture in various prisons "The most timely at this point has to do with the case of prisoners of Angol, because since the brothers decided to begin the strike has had repeated raids and one of them was 10 days in solitary confinement in a punishment cell, according to Prison for bad behavior. And in Temuco, the brothers do not get sunlight, so the doctor says it is a sign that the brothers were lost in the day and begin to spin out mentally, because if someone is subjected to repeated stress, making their defenses down and they become weak. then you might understand that there are clearly acts of torture, and the doctor says they are the same facts spent in Guantanamo, where that kind of torture that has already been proven so in Chile we also have some small Guantanamo "(Radio Cooperativa, Chile. http://www.cooperativa.cl/comuneros-mapuches-en-huelga-de-hambre-entraron-en-situacion-critica/prontus_nots/2010-09-01/083731.html)

The government has refused to hold talks with the strikers, parents or organizations, has just called to end the strike. And today has made an announcement of a bill to amend the powers of military justice and law enforcement of Anti-terrorism Law. Families and organizations are doubtful but hopeful.

This hunger strike has been controversial for the reasons behind it, as also by the media siege that has developed. The news of the strikers began to spread by the media after a month and a half to the start of it.
(also today, it was announced the addition of two more strikers, who were arrested when they were minors).

Santiago, Chile. 01/09/2010.