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Yessica Bonnefoi Carriqueo Antimil was given a six-month suspended prison sentence for the crime of minor injuries and resisting authority. This stemmed from the alleged scratching of a policewoman during an eviction operation against the Lafken Winkul Mapu Mapuche community on November 25, 2017. The eviction was part of the repressive process in which, two days later, the young Mapuche man Rafael Nahuel was murdered.

Federal Police officer María Florencia Pérez accused Yéssica of scratching her face when she resisted police intervention. Judge Hugo Greca, after a two-day trial, found her guilty. Meanwhile, the defense, represented by the Lawyers' Association, called the entire process a "fabricated case" based on a "lie . They announced they will appeal the ruling , which also ordered the release of the Mapuche woman. However, this will not happen immediately because she is currently detained on two other charges.

One fact, three causes

“This case should never have been tried separately. It is a single case that began on November 23, 2017, with the eviction and ended two days later with the death of Rafita Nahuel. It concerns the Mapuche territorial recovery, which they call usurpation,” lawyer Eduardo Soares told Presentes. 

“Procedural rules indicate that these are different acts within the same conduct. But they realized that it wasn't in their best interest to have them processed together because the same evidence they had against Jessica was valid regarding Rafita's murder. In other words, the violence they displayed on the 23rd was escalated on the 25th,” he added. 

The main case concerning the alleged "usurpation" of the territory, initiated by a complaint from the National Parks Administration, has been shelved thanks to political agreements reached in dialogue between the community and the national government. This decision has been appealed by prosecutor Rafael Vehils. 

“These are the prosecutors who claim to have experience in human rights trials, yet they don't hesitate to attack the Mapuche. He separated the cases, and he's the one who has to prosecute the Albatros unit for Nahuel's death and the injuries inflicted on his comrades,” the lawyer explained. He added, “The objective was to prevent the evidence in this case from implicating the members of the Coast Guard in the other trial; that way, they're killing us off piece by piece.” 

No witnesses to the alleged assault

During the two days of the trial, Officer Pérez's own superiors testified that they had not witnessed the alleged assault. "How did we end up in court for this when there were other injuries?" Soares asked during his closing arguments, while also calling the case "inexplicable" unless it was a "fabricated case." In his opinion, no witnesses testified at the trial to prove that Bonnefoi was responsible for Officer Pérez's injuries, and he asserted that the police were "lying." 

According to the lawyer, that day "the women were not fighting, throwing stones, at most they were swearing," during an operation that took place before dawn, which meant that the order issued by the substitute judge Gustavo Villanueva was not followed.

Soares, along with lawyer Laura Taffetani, also from La Gremial, will work to secure her release after she requested bail in the third case, number 16,149, in which she is charged. She was denounced by residents of Bariloche for the alleged 2018 squatting at the former Mascardi Hotel, La Escondida, a private property, and in the Los Radales case, where the suspects are "hooded men" and not women. There, a Gendarmerie post was set on fire. 

The eviction that arrested 7 women and their children

Within the framework of that case, on October 3, 2022, the Unified Command of federal forces carried out a brutal operation in the Lafken Winkul Mapu community. There, they arrested seven women with their children, and one of them, who was pregnant, was forced to give birth in captivity. Bonnefoi's indictment in the main case number 26,511 for the 2017 eviction of the community is suspended due to political agreements , and her defense team secured her release.

Yéssica, arrested on August 11, went on a hunger strike that affected her health. She received support from Facundo Jones Huala, the lonko (chief) of Cushamen , who is imprisoned in Unit 14 of Esquel awaiting extradition to Chile to serve a sentence there for arson, a crime he maintains he did not commit.

“I consider myself a political prisoner”

“Beyond not belonging to any community now, 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 was being held. At 35, she is about to become a grandmother because her 18-year-old daughter has just given birth. She explained that she now lives in the countryside with her five children. She had requested house arrest to continue working. She also recounted that she was at a friend's house when “the provincial police burst in shouting, swinging batons and hitting me, and they broke one of my teeth.” 

Prosecutor Vehils Ruiz had requested a six-month suspended prison sentence because he considered the injury to Officer Pérez "proven." The plaintiff, represented by lawyers from the Airport Security Police, requested a two-year prison sentence. They argued that the accused has a criminal record, including the 242 days she was a fugitive from federal justice until her arrest a month ago in Bariloche. The judge opted for a two-year suspended sentence. If the efforts of the union in the other case are successful, Yéssica could be released in the coming days.