Mapuche human rights defender imprisoned

Juana Paillalef's horse shot by Chilean police

6 January 2005

A Mapuche chief who was arrested in her home on 4 January 2006 was charged with threatening police officers and obstructing public property at a preliminary hearing on 6 January in Temuco, Chile.

Juana Calfunao Paillalef, lonko (chief) of the indigenous Mapuche community of Juan Pailllalef in the Cunco district in the Araucania region was refused bail on the grounds that she was a security threat and is now incarcerated in the regional state penitentiary for women.

According to local information, the Temuco district Public Prosecutor Alberto Chifelle is in possession of photographs that prove the 47-year-old indigenous leader’s involvement in the alleged crimes. However, Ms Paillalef contends that she is in fact a victim of police brutality and Front Line has acquired photographs of her with severe bruising on her face and body.

The lead up to these events began on 21 December 2005 when members of the Juan Paillalef community staged a peaceful protest against the construction of a road from Los Laureles and Colico; a road that runs through land, that they believe, rightfully belongs to the community.

Two Dutch observers watched as approximately 15 Carabineros (military police), armed with clubs and guns released teargas on the crowd of adults and children. The police shot at the protestors and hit the horse Ms Paillalef was riding on (see picture). When her horse fell to the ground, the observers say the police beat Ms Paillalef.

The following day the community blocked a section of the road and this resulted in more police arriving in the community on 23 December. They came with teargas, and rubber bullets. According to observers, the police, raided a residence without a warrant, broke electricity generators, smashed a community workshop and confiscated the rural community’s agricultural tools and mobile phones.

Ms Pailllalef and her sister Luisa were both arrested. The two mothers were kept overnight in prison and when they were released the next day, both claimed that they were they subjected to “cruel inhumane and degrading “ police treatment.

Ms Pailllalef, who recently returned from a European speakers tour (which included a visit to Ireland to meet with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs) is a prominent defender of Mapuche land and social rights. Human rights groups have pointed out that the rights of the Mapuche people have been systematically violated under the guise of legality. The Chilean government often uses anti-terrorist laws introduced under the rule of Pinochet, to punish the Mapuche’s peaceful protests and to charge leaders.

Ms Paillalef's struggle for her people’s rights has led to her becoming a victim of intimation, persecution, torture, arbitrary incarceration, and arson. On 22 of July last year her house was burnt to the ground in an arson attack. Her seven-year-old daughter Relmutrai was in the simple wood and mud house at the time of the attack but managed to escape.

This was the third arson attack on Ms Paillalef’s home. In an attack in June 2004, the charred remains of her uncle Don Pascual Namunacura Canulao were found in the destroyed hut. Don Pascual was not staying in the house at the time and some believe he had been murdered at another location and the fire was a cover up for this alleged murder.

Ms Paillalef, her husband and her three children have all been victims of physical attacks. In 2001 when she was three months pregnant she was arrested, beaten and tortured by the police. She spent three days in solitary confinement without charge and lost her unborn child. She has been stoned, her crops have been burned and her community has been intimated by gun wielding landowners.

Front Line is concerned for the security of Ms Paillalef, her family and her community and has called on the Chilean authorities to guarantee their protection. Front Line believes that the treatment of Ms Paillalef is arbitrary and her incarceration is directly related to her work as a human rights defender and has called for an immediate and independent investigation into the events prior to her arrest.