Violent eviction of the Lafken Winkul Mapu community in Río Negro: those arrested are women and children
They report that at least eight people were arrested, all women and some children.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. Tear gas, rubber bullets and 200 members of the National Gendarmerie evicted the Mapuche community of Villa Mascardi (45 kilometers from Bariloche, Río Negro).
During the violent and excessive operation that began around 7:30 a.m., at least eight people were arrested. All were women, and some were children.
It was the first action of the Unified Command of security forces that was made official in the early hours of this Tuesday in the Official Gazette.
The operation is being led by Judge Silvina Domínguez, who, as a first measure, ordered the case sealed. Therefore, until midday, even the number of detainees was unclear.
Presentes learned through journalist Santiago Rey - who was in the area a few hours after the operation began - that "from a distance, eight detainees were seen, all women. And three or four minors were also seen, some of them babies. "
Until after midday, the explosions could be heard from Route 40.
“We were emptied inside our homes”
Machi Betiana Colhuan is the highest spiritual authority of the community. She recounted the eviction in an audio message. “We were forcibly evicted from our territory this morning, along with the children—a one-month-old baby, a four-month-old baby, and a pregnant woman. We were emptied out of our own homes. We were forcibly removed with our babies,” she said.
“We are currently being held in this area and will be transferred to Bariloche. We have been beaten and mistreated, and there are children lost in the mountains. We have been informed that there are orders to shoot live ammunition. The situation here is very serious.”.
For her part, the Mapuche leader, Soraya MaIcoño, explained, “I was just able to communicate with our sisters, who are being held up, detained outside on the road. They are in a very desperate situation because there are children sheltering with their mothers in the fields, in the forest. Motorcycles with armed people are coming up and there is a lot of gunfire.”.
“Our people are pleading for action. They need some kind of mobilization in Bariloche and in all possible territories. But it must be known that those most at risk right now are the children. They are being protected, but unfortunately, they are not being shown any consideration. Armed men are arriving on motorcycles, and many gunshots are being heard,” he described in his statement.
They are demanding access to the information
The secrecy surrounding the investigation prevented lawyers from accessing information during the initial hours of the operation. This was denounced by the Lawyers' Association.
“Today, as soon as we became aware of an action by federal troops against Winkul, and after reviewing conflicting information, we assessed that these actions are unlikely to be related to any of the cases in which we are involved. We would have been aware of it,” they explained in a statement published on social media.
“We contacted the federal judge in Bariloche directly, requesting information. Dr. Domínguez confirmed that she is in charge of the operation. She also informed us that the actions are not related to any of the cases in which the union is involved.”
“We are awaiting further information,” he continues. “It is clear that the right-wing operation mounted in recent days, with direct actions in the conflict zone to frame community members, has been successful. The right wing has been planning this move for some time through the Consenso Bariloche group, headed by Patricia Bullrich. Bullrich traveled to Bariloche to finish the job she began in 2017 with the brutal repression that resulted in the death of Rafita Nahuel.”.
A desperate plea
From different points in the south, Mapuche communities expressed their solidarity and support for the evicted community.
“We are worried about the children because there are young children. There are newborns, a mother about to give birth any day now, so what is happening is extremely serious because our people are not going to allow us to be evicted just like that,” explains one of the women from the community. “So, I fear that this will turn into another situation, like what happened with Rafa, with Santiago, or with Elías. This is an urgent, dramatic appeal. Please, let's mobilize, I don't know, to the Río Negro Provincial Government House, to the Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace), somewhere, or let's organize some kind of demonstration. We cannot lose another life. So, whatever support is within the reach of the organizations that make up this group would be important.”.
The voices of the people
Various indigenous communities from Río Negro, Chubut and Neuquén, through a statement, expressed their support for the Lafken Winkul Mapu, given the tense situation in Villa Mascardi.
“From the ancestral territory of the Nahuelpan community, in the El Bolsón area, we want to express our solidarity with the community,” they stated in a press release.
They indicated that they decided to speak out based on what they describe as "the advance of violent supremacist groups that constantly intimidate and stigmatize the Tehuelche Mapuche nation in general.".
For his part, Werken Carriqueo published an “Urgent Letter to Adolfo Perez Esquivel”, Nobel Peace Prize winner from Argentina.
“In my capacity as Werken, on behalf of and representing the Mapuche Tehuelche Parliament of Río Negro, a political and representative organization of more than 160 Mapuche Tehuelche communities in Río Negro, I am writing to you urgently to request your intervention on behalf of the human rights of the Lafken Winkul Mapu Mapuche community, which is being evicted by a unified command of federal forces. There are two infants in the territory, as well as other children and a pregnant woman about to give birth. The tragic history of the Coast Guard, which murdered Rafael Nahuel in cold blood, leads us to suspect a very complex situation (…) Taking up arms against a people who are fighting to live with dignity, as is our right in these lands, is an outrage that can only result in grave losses,” the letter states, among other things.
Without dialogue
The Legal and Social Center of Argentina lamented that the government cut off dialogue in 2020 and recounted the events through a Twitter thread.
For her part, Moira Millan, of the Indigenous Women's Movement for Good Living, stated, “Racializing categories are being used to justify dispossession, plunder, and death. Hate speech is being shouted brazenly and without any filter. Because colonial republics have domesticated their peoples into a state of absolute unconsciousness. This allows for so much aggression against the Mapuche Nation: the militarization of our territories, persecution, imprisonment, the destruction of our sacred spaces, and even the abhorrent persecution of our children.”.
The conflict
The conflict over land in Villa Mascardi, located 35 kilometers south of Bariloche, deepened in 2017 during the government of Mauricio Macri, who systematically persecuted the Mapuche community.
According to what the government says, weeks ago, unknown hooded individuals set fire to a mobile Gendarmerie post, installed in Villa Mascardi to guard a property that had been vandalized in early August in an incident that is under investigation.
That was the reason why units were formed to carry out this operation.
What does the government regulation say?
The national government, through the Official Gazette, established the legal framework for the actors involved in this operation.
“The Unified Security Command for the Villa Mascardi area, intended for the management and inter-force coordination of crime prevention activities in the town of Villa Mascardi, Bariloche, Province of Río Negro, command which in its role as an auxiliary to the organs of the justice administration system, and under the coordination of the Secretariat of Security and Criminal Policy, will provide collaboration in the proceedings that may be ordered judicially, for the purpose of securing the people and property of the town.”.
Article two of the text states, “The Unified Security Command for the Villa Mascardi area will be comprised of the Argentine Federal Police, the Argentine National Gendarmerie, the Argentine Naval Prefecture, and the Airport Security Police. The designated officials will have, within the scope of their duties, decision-making authority over the personnel and resources allocated to the security operation.”
“The Unified Security Command for the Villa Mascardi area will be dissolved when determined by its Coordination and will have its operational headquarters in the City of Bariloche, province of Río Negro.”.
Article 4 of the provision, which has nine articles, states, “The General Coordination of the Unified Security Command in the Villa Mascardi area will be exercised by the Secretariat of Security and Criminal Policy of the Ministry of Security, which will be in charge of leading the police forces and security forces involved in the operation.”.
Cover photo: Originario.ar
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