The Mapuche Community in Southern Chile Yeupeko-Filkun

The following is a communique concerning a recent police raid on the Mapuche community, Yeupeko-Filkun. The Mapuche Nation, located in the occupied territories of southern Chile and Argentina, has been in a war for autonomy and self-determination since Spanish colonization. Yeupeko-Filkun is on the Chilean side of the colonial border. The Chilean state continues to engage in highly militarized and repressive tactics against the Mapuche communities in conflict, including its use of the Pinochet era anti-terrorism law. The anti-terrorism law allows the state to utilize unidentified witnesses.

Public Press Release Lof [Community] Yeupeko-Filkun

To national and international opinion, we inform the following:

1. The Chilean State, tirelessly assaulting our Mapuche Nation and the organization that resists forceful extermination (the Arauco Malleco Coordinator - CAM), throughout the morning carried out a new political persecution against the Weichafe [Mapuche Warriors] of our Lof [Community] of Yeupeko-Filkun, in the morning hours of July 17th.

2. The objective of this violent attack was to identify and capture Weichafe [Warrior] Luis Sergio Tralcal whom belongs to a family, which has been victim of raids and political-judicial set-ups over the last few years for the sole reason of raising their voice for the demands of the Mapuche People. At this time, the Chilean National Police have dispatched an immense operative, including a helicopter, in their efforts to capture him.

3. We wish to clarify once again that neither "terrorists" nor "violent perpetrators" exist on our lands; on the contrary, simply working people that have decided to end the usurpation of historic lands, in the hands of a cast of large landed estate lords. With these events, it is clear to us that the Chilean State, and its administration headed by Michelle Bachelet, has sided with the corporations and estate owners. They have prioritized their interest to maintain the capitalist order and delegitimize the anti-capitalist expression of the Mapuche struggle that is the Arauco Malleco Coordinator of Communities in Conflict.

4. Lastly, this new raid does not scare us, nor frighten us; on the contrary, it gives us more strength to continue advancing for our territory and national Mapuche liberation, when on January 13, 2001, we decided to tear down the barriers from the opulence of a few. Even until now, it has cost us the persecution, torture, jail, political clandestinity of our community members and the fall in combat of our Weichafe [Warrior] Matias Catrileo, on January 3, 2008. For them we continue advancing; creating hope for the new generations of Mapuche that are yet to be born.

Freedom for Mauricio Waikilao!

Freedom for the Mapuche Political Prisoners!

Freedom and Autonomy!

Advancing Towards Territorial Control!

Lof [Community] Yeupeko-Filkun - CAM

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Distributed by:

The Women’s Coordinating Committee Chile-Canada [Toronto]

Email: wccc_98@hotmail.com