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(News updated on 3/9)

Yessica Bonnefoi Carriqueo Antimil, a young Mapuche woman and mother of five, was a member of the Lafken Winkul Mapu community when a federal court ordered her arrest in October 2022. Although she no longer belongs to that community, she was detained on the night of Friday, August 11, by officers from Police Station 28 in Río Negro province. She was arrested in connection with three cases in which she is a defendant. “Even though I no longer belong to any community, I consider myself a Mapuche political prisoner because I have Mapuche blood,” she told Presentes from the Airport Security Police (PSA) headquarters in Bariloche, where she is being held. At 35, she is about to become a grandmother because her 18-year-old daughter has given birth.

A statement released on Sunday, September 3, reported that she is suffering from a fever, two weeks after beginning a hunger strike. "Today, Sunday, September 3, 24 days after the unjust arrest of Yessica Bonnefoi and 14 days into her hunger strike, she is experiencing fever and general malaise. Mari mari kompuche and all those who are supporting her. From the network that has been helping Yessica Bonnefoi Carriqueo Antimil here in Furilofche, we urgently call for an end to normalizing impunity." The statement was released on the Facebook page advocating for her release.

“I’ve been locked up for more than two weeks waiting for a response regarding my request for house arrest. I’ve been on a hunger strike for seven days. I live in the countryside with my children and I was at peace,” she told Presentes a few days ago. 

Blows, sticks and a broken tooth

“On Friday, August 25, I went to court to testify (before Judge Gustavo Villanueva), to say that at the time of those events I no longer lived within the community, but there is another case for usurpation and I am also in the Los Radales case (Editor's note: It is a case for the burning of a Gendarmerie post in the Los Radales cabin in Villa Mascardi, Río Negro), which I don't even know about, but because of the date it coincides with me no longer being there,” he explained in a calm voice. 

Her voice sounds weakened by the hunger strike. She says she was at a friend's house in Bariloche when " the provincial police burst in shouting, swinging batons, and hitting us. It was all traumatic because we weren't expecting it. They broke one of my teeth. It makes no sense that I'm imprisoned because there was a political agreement, which also applies to me because it was based on the events of 2017. And at that time, I was indeed part of the Villa Mascardi community," Bonnefoi told this agency, in a conversation conducted during one of the two half-hours per day she is allowed to communicate. Her mother visits her every day. The woman said her mood is "fluctuating, sometimes dizzy, with ailments that come and go."

House arrest pending

Judicial sources consulted by Presentes clarified that Bonnefoi is charged in the case initiated following a complaint filed by the National Parks Administration for land usurpation against the Lafken Winkul Mapu community of Villa Mascardi (Case No. 26,511). She is also charged in another similar case (Case No. 16,149) and in a third case for damages that occurred in 2018, in which she was considered a fugitive. When asked about the injuries Jessica reported receiving at the time of her arrest, the sources indicated that they are not documented in the medical certificates, nor has any claim of institutional violence been made. They did confirm, however, that the request for house arrest is still pending.

“Yessica Bonnefoi is accused of trespassing in what we call the main case. This case began in November 2017 when the community was evicted and Rafael Nahuel was murdered,” Laura Taffetani, a lawyer with La Gremial representing the Mapuche woman, told Presentes. “The other case is for literally scratching Federal Police Officer Pérez,” she added. This incident falls outside the scope of the political agreement reached in June with the national government , which was appealed by the prosecution and is now before the Court of Cassation. The police insist on bringing Jessica to trial.

Taffetani explained that Bonnefoi is also charged with trespassing at the former Mascardi hotel, La Escondida, which is a private property, and the Los Radales case, a file where the suspects are "hooded men" and not women. 

“Jessi wasn’t in the community last year because she separated from the father of one of her children, Cristian Colhuan, so she wasn’t living there anymore. Her eldest daughter is eighteen and about to give birth; the other four children are minors, the youngest being seven. That’s why we requested house arrest. She is the breadwinner for the family, earning a living through informal work, buying and selling clothes,” the lawyer explained. 

In a statement from his confinement at the PSA (Airport Security Police), Bonnefoi said: “I was ordered to pretrial detention without any reason or evidence other than harassment and persecution for being Mapuche. The prosecutor is threatening to transfer me to a federal prison more than 1,000 km away from my children, who depend on me. For this reason, I have decided to begin a sustained hunger strike until I am released or at least granted house arrest so I can be with my children . He added: “I call upon my fellow Mapuche people, communities, conscious individuals, and social and human rights organizations to speak out about this situation and appeal for their support and solidarity. I call for mobilization against the persecution of the entire Mapuche people. All forms of struggle are valid. With the strength of Weichafe Rafael Nahuel and Elias Cayicol Garay.”

Meanwhile, in Bariloche, Indigenous organizations and groups supporting the struggle of Indigenous peoples held a demonstration at the Access to Justice Center. “We demand that the relevant institutions intervene in the case that is illegally depriving Jessica Bonnefoi of her freedom and further violating the rights of her children,” stated Estela Antu Co, a member of the Indigenous support collective in that city.

Listen to audio of Jessica Bonnefoi.