Freedom for the Mapuche political prisoners of Puelmapu!

Argentina has been built on the territories of peoples who have pre-existed the constitution of the nation state. In the Constitutional Reform of 1994 the native peoples achieved the recognition of their rights of pre-existence, identity and community territory, among others.

However, the recovery of their ancestral territories is increasingly criminalized at the same time that the defense of the property of tycoons and corporations that make fruitful business out of its use is advancing.

For seven months Luciana Jaramillo, Betiana Colhuan, Celeste Guenumil and Romina Rosas have been imprisoned for their Mapuche identity, accused of a crime that can be released from prison. These women, among whom is the machi Betiana Colihuan, spiritual authority, are in house arrest together with their children in a situation of racist and patriarchal violence to which is added the violation of children's rights.

A new appeal for their freedom was rejected by Judge Gustavo Villanueva, head of Federal Court No. 2 of Neuquén and subrogating judge of Bariloche. On this occasion the judge established the analogy with the pre-trial detention of the genocides who committed crimes against humanity in Neuquén and part of Río Negro during the last civil-military dictatorship. (As stated in www.elcohetealaluna.com he cited the ruling in the case of the military who requested house arrest due to their advanced age and health problems (case "Reinhold, Oscar Lorenzo y otros s/delito c/la libertad y otros s/incidente de apelación de 2008")).

From the People's Health Movement we repudiate the homologation of our ancestral peoples with the genocides and we condemn the political imprisonment of women for their Mapuche and gender condition.

There is no health of the peoples without the ancestral knowledge and struggles of the people of the land that constitute us as a nation. We hope that the political authorities, using their powers, intervene so that the rights of these women and their daughters and sons do not continue to be violated.