WCC NEWS: A young Mapuche speaks up for her people

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World Council of Churches - News

A YOUNG MAPUCHE SPEAKS UP FOR HER PEOPLE

For immediate release: 06 December 2010

Natividad Llanquileo is a young woman from the Mapuche people, an
indigenous group that makes up some 4 percent of the Chilean 
population.
In late November, she visited Geneva – seat of the United Nations 
Human
Rights Council and other UN bodies – to inform the international
organizations about the ongoing negotiations between the 
representatives
of the Mapuche political prisoners and the Chilean government.

Llanquileo is a member of the Puerto Choque community in Arauco 
province.
She is only 26 years old and represents the next generation of the
“diplomats” of the Mapuche people to the international organizations.
She is also the youngest representative of the Mapuche prisoners in
Concepción.

“My main aim with the international organizations in Geneva has been 
to
make contact with observers who could help in the legal proceedings
against the political prisoners whom the legal authorities in Chile 
have
accused of terrorism,” Llanquileo said during a press conference on 26
November.

The information session and press conference were held at Geneva's
Ecumenical Centre, seat of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
secretariat, on an invitation of the WCC Indigenous Peoples Programme 
and
the Coordinating Group of Genevan Organizations supporting the Mapuche
Prisoners on Hunger Strike.

A hunger strike by Mapuche political prisoners that lasted from 
August to
October failed to achieve their purposes as the attention of the 
national
and international public was focused on the rescue efforts for 33 
miners
trapped below the Chilean dessert and the 200th anniversary of the
country. Despite this situation, the Mapuche people managed to 
strengthen
their local organizations and to denounce internationally the
criminalization that their struggles for land and cultural rights are
facing.

The process of dialogue with the Chilean government, which the Mapuche
started after the end of the hunger strike, received the support of
various church organizations, including the Latin American Council of
Churches (CLAI) and the WCC. The Methodist Mapuche pastor Hugo 
Marillan
has been accompanying the negotiations on behalf of CLAI and WCC.

Llanquileo has played an important role in these negotiations, acting 
as a
mouthpiece for the Mapuche political prisoners. At the press 
conference
she recognized the important role of the churches and asked for their
support through the introduction of international observers in 
denouncing
the criminalization of the Mapuche struggles.

According to Llanquileo, the observers can gain a better overall view 
of
the situation, as they receive information from all parties. They can 
thus
perceive the contradictions of the prosecutors, the illegality in the
presentation of the cases against the Mapuche prisoners, in having
anonymous witnesses and other irregularities and forms of 
discrimination.
“We cannot accept this continuing criminalization of the Mapuche
people,” she said.

A further aim of her visit has been to gain information on how
international mechanisms function, “in particular the agreements
concerning us that governments ratify but do not apply,” she declared.

“For example, the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples has made
several reports recommending that the anti-terrorism law should not be
applied to the Mapuche people. The government’s response to the
international forums is that it will do so, but in practice it does 
not
implement the recommendations. The same has happened with the ILO
agreement 169 which recognizes the Mapuche as a people having a right 
to
their land and its resources, but it, too, is not put into practice.”

This article is adapted from a text written by Alberto Dufey for the 
news
portal Swisslatin. Click here to access the original article (in 
Spanish).
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=52f11145d4ab31d6e2e7 )

More information on the WCC Indigenous Peoples’ Programme
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f28e63180564db9de661 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, 
witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship 
of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 
Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 
million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the 
Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse 
Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, 
Switzerland.



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