Claudio Andrade
08/30/2020 - 15:17
- Clarín.com
- Society
In response to this Saturday's caravan organized by the residents of Bariloche, the Lafken Winkul Mapu community called on the Mapuche people in a statement to "defend in the way they deem appropriate the territory" they claim to be their own in Mascardi, 35 kilometers from the city . They assure that they will "resist" with their "lives" any action that compromises the taking.
This Saturday more than 200 vehicles tried to reach the Mascardi ACA within meters of the occupation that already reaches more than 30 hectares and began in November 2017. The Río Negro police prevented the caravan from continuing at Lake Gutiérrez. Governor Arabela Carreras herself was present at the blockade and managed to get the motorists to return to the center after 20.
For his part, the former governor and current senator Alberto Weretilneck sent a public letter to the Security Minister Sabina Frederic in which he harshly criticized the criminal complaint filed by the official against the neighbors who attended the march. Weretilneck reminds him that it is confirmed that the members of the community are armed with firearms, boleadoras, among others.
The Mapuche communiqué says: “We make a broad call to pu kona pu weichafe and our entire Mapuche Nation to accompany and defend the Territory in the way they deem appropriate. Making it clear that there will be no offense without answers ”. "We will resist the envestment of fascism and racism with our lives if necessary, understanding that political and territorial rights are not sold, they are exercised," he adds.
Saturday's protest on the outskirts of Bariloche. Photo Marcelo Martínez
Already on Thursday in the framework of a mobilization against the "easy trigger" in the Civic Center of Bariloche, Matías Santana, one of its spokesmen, had warned that the situation could escalate in its violence if the State or the neighbors tried to expel them. Santana, known as the "Mapuche with binoculars," was prosecuted for giving false testimony to the Justice in the case for the death of Santiago Maldonado in Cuchamen (Chubut).
“This system was never ours, it was always the oppressors. We cannot trust your Justice. We are not going to trust the police because it is the same police that repress us in the communities, it is the same police that disappears us, that kills us as if we were worms, ”Santana said in her speech.
“We have the conviction to fight against this unjust system so that our political and territorial rights will be recognized tomorrow. If the young Mapuche who are in struggle want to repress the communities illegally, we are ready to support it, wherever we go we are combatants for our people, the Mapuche nation, ”he warned.
Former governor and senator Weretilneck responded strongly to the decision of the Minister of Security, Frederic, to initiate a criminal complaint against the protesters on Saturday for an alleged "instigation of violence."
"The complaint (...) is the validation of a policy that means that in Argentina today the State recognizes you more for violating the Constitution and laws than for complying with them," the senator said.
“The non-recognition of Argentina as a Nation, the non-recognition of our National Symbols, the non-recognition of the democratically elected authorities by the citizens, and the non-recognition of state and private property, is the ideological position of this violent and extreme who calls himself “Lof Lafken Winkul Mapu” and is not even registered with the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI), ”he continues.
“To think that this conflict is simply of a local nature or because of the possession of some hectares of public land, belongs to innocent officials. There is credible data that there are activists infiltrated in the taking that come from groups based in the province of Buenos Aires ”, she details.
“This conflict has its inspiration and model in the conflict that occurs in the Chilean Araucanía, of enormous gravity in all aspects, with loss of life, violence and high economic cost. Here they steal, destroy, burn, threaten and injure the people of Villa Mascardi and those who travel along National Route 40. They possess long and short firearms, and have used them in several of the criminal acts committed, as well as knives. , boleadoras, gomeras and palos ”, he emphasizes.
“Mrs. Minister Frederic, it is not holding the Province of Río Negro responsible and treating the Villa Mascardi conflict as a matter of minor crimes. Her Government has a major problem, in our country the Constitution and the Laws must be complied with beyond social classes, creeds and ideological affiliations ”, points out the legislator.
"We demand an urgent solution to this conflict," he concludes.
GS