The first time that the lonko Jones Huala was detained in Unit 14 of Esquel in 2017, a group of followers that varied between 5 and 20 depending on the mood and the day of the week, met on the sidewalk of the penitentiary center to
" put up with it."
It was not clear who paid for the pizzas and hamburgers that his outrageous companions ate for dinner each day.
They bought them in a restaurant in the center of Esquel and not in any pizzeria.
It is also true that Jones Huala was aroused by then the admiration of various groups in the country and even abroad.
While detained
, he received a visit from a Chilean television channel
that understood that the lonko was becoming a news character.
There were also some Europeans.
One of them, a Frenchman, even mentioned to this journalist that year that he intended to dedicate a documentary to him.
Jones Huala's return to the penitentiary has been
far less glamorous
than that not-too-distant past.
Outside of Unit 14
this time no one expects it
.
There are no enthusiastic young people claiming for their freedom.
The lonko finds himself alone like never before.
His hunger strike only corroborates that loneliness.
When the Valdivia Court of Appeals accepted his extradition this Thursday, Jones Huala became depressed.
The news, although expected, hit him like a bucket of cold water, they say.
In part for this reason,
he asked his lawyers to see a therapist
starting this Friday, February 10.
The Mapuche referent has 1 year, four months and 17 days left in his arrest to complete his 6-year sentence in Chile, which was imposed by that country's justice system.
In Argentina, he had spent 1 year and 3 months behind bars and in Chile he spent 4 years and 3 months in two southern prisons between 2018 and February 2022, when he did not appear before the authorities after the Superior Court of Justice of that country canceled his house arrest.
The options in dance
In Esquel, they say that the priority for Jones Huala is to get him granted house arrest in his sister's house, located in the 169 Viviendas neighborhood in Alto de Bariloche
and not return to Chile in any way.
His second option is to remain in Unit 14 until his remaining prison time is up.
In this penitentiary center, Jones Huala is known and in general
his days go by without news
.
In 2017, the lonko was not in the habit of walking very occasionally through the large patio, where there is also a soccer field, which has the penalty and he looked pale.
He spent his time meditating and reading, they say.
There are compelling reasons for Jones Huala to reject the possibility of crossing the mountain range again.
In 2018, in the first instance, the lonko was sent to the Llancaue de Valdivia Penitentiary Center where he spent
many very cold days with little heating.
It is known that Valdivia has a very humid climate that the winter rains make even more harsh.
The lonko complained on several occasions that he was suffering due to these circumstances.
He was later transferred to the Temuco prison, which has
a "Mapuche prisoner module."
In this unit he shared space with some of the convicts of the Luchsinger Mckay couple, for example, among others.
Jones Hula was treated better in Temuco where the influence of the Mapuche culture is noticeable.
His title and history placed him in a place, if not of privilege, at least of respect among the prison community.
Now the lonko speculates that
if he returns to Chile they will make him pay for his escape
from him by leaving him in a cold and damp cell, perhaps in Valdivia.
The lonko considers his “home” the entire mountain range that goes from Los Alerces National Park in Chubut to Colonia Suiza in Bariloche, where his mother, Isabel Huala, lives in territories occupied by the Argentine Army.
Throughout that territory
, the group that he himself founded
almost a decade ago,
Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche (RAM), acted violently.
With the unanimous decision of the trans-Andean justice, Jones Huala now
depends on something more than a wink from the national government to avoid extradition.
His approach to a therapist could not be read as casual, sources in Esquel indicate.
"Here, if he complains, everyone gives him a ball, in Chile it will not be so easy," says someone who knows his situation.
The public criminal defender, Juan Pablo Alday, argued before the Chilean judges the need for Jones Huala to be close to his family and his people.
A line of argument that could emerge again on these dates in which his destiny is defined.
NE
look too
The Government proposes that the machi and the rewe stay in Villa Mascardi and secures land in a tourist area for the community
Fires in Chubut: Cabandié attributes them to the drought and the governor suspects Jones Huala
Conflict with Mapuches: at the request of the Government, the Justice suspended the trial of those accused of the usurpation in Mascardi
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