Claudio Andrade
10/19/2020 12:07
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 10/19/2020 12:07
A device made up of about 150 troops and another 50 officials from various offices in the Río Negro province are ready to enter the El Foyel camp, occupied last Thursday by a Mapuche community, as soon as the judge authorizes the eviction.
Although the agents stationed at the entrances to the property still number about 20,
another 130 await the orders of the force in El Bolsón, sources indicate.
This morning the hearing was postponed for the second time in two days in which the prosecutor Francisco Arrien must present the challenge to the decision of Judge Ricardo Calcagno not to authorize the eviction request until the referents of the taking Blanca Gallardo and Juan Carlos Oyarzo.
The one who understands at this stage of the case is Judge Marcelo Álvarez Melinger.
If the magistrate approves the expulsion of the Mapuches from the Gallardo Calfú lof, the operation will proceed immediately, provincial sources confirm to Clarín.
As this newspaper was able to find out, the province's Security Secretariat had about 150 police officers who arrived from Viedma, Bariloche and Alto Valle, including a special unit dedicated to high-risk situations, the Special Operations and Rescue Corps (COER).
These were joined by Civil Defense personnel, Human Rights officials from the province, and the police chief himself, Daniel Jara.
Governor Arabela Carreras, who has pointed out severely against the usurpation, hopes that it will be a clean procedure and that it will not leave consequences.
A way, as they comment here, to pressure and show an example to the Ministry of National Security, led by Sabina Frederic, a unit that has avoided direct actions in the violent takeover of Mascardi, 35 kilometers from Bariloche.
The agents have at their disposal satellite phones, modern communications equipment for remote geographies like this one, video cameras that will record all the events, virtual maps of the sector, drones, climate information, among others, which allow them to obtain a privileged panoramic view of the scene. and its actors.
In the last three days, the justice and security of the province have been working on an operation of great logistical complexity taking into account the size of the territory, almost 400 hectares, and the characteristics of those who occupy it illegally.
Blanca Gallardo, the leader of the occupation, is considered basically a machi
(spiritual guide) by the Mapuche community since she has practiced curanderismo in the San José neighborhood, the toughest of El Bolsón, for decades.
His family is made up of 9 siblings and dozens of grandchildren, nephews and cousins, who hardly let their spiritual leader and in this political case be detained without major complaint.
Gallardo, for his part, warned that he will not leave the territory that he considers property of the lof.
The woman, accused of the usurpation and on whom an arrest warrant weighs, would be found inside the camp ready to resist, it was revealed.
"We understand the White figure and what it represents," the chief prosecutor of Bariloche, Martín Lozada, tells Clarín.
"We are going to respect all the guarantees and constitutional rights in force, but we are still in a stage that is not resolved and they are presenting objections by the lawyers, all delaying maneuvers," the Security Secretary Betiana Minor warns this newspaper.
Meanwhile inside there are three members of the Soriani and Mayer family who have been prevented from leaving the property since last Thursday even to buy food.
“We are fine, but rationalizing everything.
We do not know how long this can last so we rationalize and also kill some chickens to eat, we have no other.
We are not going to abandon our property.
This is total madness, ”Pablo Mayer told Clarín.
In the field there are cattle, sheep, chickens and agricultural machinery.
The family fear for these goods, they explain.
The members of the Gallardo Calfú lof claim the territory based on an alleged scam suffered by the original owner, Félix Gallardo Calfú in 1980, by Miguel Soriani.
They ensure that it is an ancestral property and that they have the collaboration of the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI).
However, the Río Negro courts did not support the two claims made at different times by the Mapuches.
