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Just days before the trial, which disregards prior agreements with the State and accuses members of the Lof Lafken Winkul Mapu, two Mapuche women learned yesterday, in an unclear manner, that they had arrest warrants against them. They are Romina Rosas and Luciana Martha Jaramillo. The cases were resolved differently. Neither of them was a fugitive. Luciana is currently being held in a Bariloche police station. Romina, however, was released today at 1:00 PM in El Bolsón. 

Luciana and Romina had already spent eight months deprived of their liberty, along with other women from the community and their children. It was after a violent eviction operation from the Lof Lafken Winku Mapu by the Unified Command of the Ministry of Security in October 2022 that led to the resignation of the Minister of Women, Gender, and Diversity, Elizabeth Gomez Alcorta. At that time, Romina was 40 weeks pregnant and was taken to give birth at the Ramón Carrillo Hospital in Bariloche, where her worldview and will were disrespected, and she suffered obstetric violence. The women were only released in June 2023. Since then, they have been required to appear before the courts on the first Monday of each month. The State, for its part, breached a series of agreements to which it had committed.

Romina's detention was lifted

In response to reports circulating in the media and online about the arrest warrants, Romina, who is seven months pregnant, voluntarily presented herself to Gendarmerie Squadron 35 in El Bolsón on Tuesday evening, September 10. There, she was told that they were unaware of any arrest warrants against her. 

This morning, Romina returned to Squadron 35. The warrant did exist. She was released after noon after receiving notification of the trial, which will take place on September 26, 27, and 30 in Bariloche. The trial will be held at a Gendarmerie barracks and accuses her and other members of trespassing . She left with a document signed by the judge, lifting the arrest warrant issued by the Bariloche prosecutor's office. "Prosecutor Siciliano didn't know she was pregnant," a source who accompanied Romina told Presentes.

They call for Luciana's urgent release. 

In Bariloche, on the other hand, Luciana has been detained since yesterday. On Tuesday, Luciana was at the Gender and Diversity Directorate in Cushamen and, according to what she told her colleagues, police officers told her she had to go to Bariloche for a medical checkup. She was forcibly transferred to this city, unable to refuse or communicate with her family. Therefore, they claim she was deceived. 

At the Bariloche police station, she received a visit from other Mapuche women, including the machi Betiana Colhuan. Betiana was also deprived of her liberty with them and faces the same charge in the trial scheduled for late September. “We just left seeing Lamien Luciana . She is in good health. She confirmed to us that at the time of her arrest in Cushamen, she was tricked. They almost forced her into a car, without her being able to refuse. She asked for the arrest warrant, but they didn't show it to her because they obviously didn't have it in hand. The police took her away, without her being able to speak to her children, who were left in the care of her mother and sister, or to her family. She was only able to communicate with them today,” Betiana said this afternoon.

The machi said they were informed that Luciana will be transferred to the PSA (Airport Security Police) to await her release before trial. "She is unjustly imprisoned; the orders are unjust. She has always been subject to the law and has always shown up to sign," Betiana said. She asked those who wish to . "

Racist violence against the Mapuche people

From the Committee for Mapuche Political Prisoners of Puelmapu, which shared the petition, they denounce: " the racist violence perpetrated by the current government and its judicial apparatus against the Mapuche people . They are committing an aberration in terms of human rights, gender rights, the right to motherhood, children's rights; absolutely all rights are being violated with impunity by the justice system."

The statement recalls that " none of the Mapuche women were fugitives . The situation our sisters are going through is dramatic. They have already been repressed by the previous government, tortured, imprisoned, and their children imprisoned. They have suffered terrible trauma due to this institutional violence, and now they are committing the same crime again. Governments change, but the intention to exterminate the Mapuche people remains."

The prosecution had requested the arrest of all those accused by the Lof Winkul Mapu: Martha Luciana Jaramillo, María Isabel Nahuel, Yéssica Fernanda Bonnefoi, Romina Rosas, Mayra Aylén Tapia, Betiana Ayelén Colhuan, and Joana Micaela Colhuan, "in order to guarantee the holding of the trial hearing." The argument is to detain them to ensure their attendance at the trial. In the words of the order: "it would be necessary to guarantee the appearance of the defendants at trial, which would require, in this particular case, ordering their arrests." However, the federal court ruled on September 2 that of all these individuals, "only two of them warrant arrest, considering that they 'may flee': Romina and Luciana."

These arrests occur within a framework of criminalization against the Mapuche people , and not only because they involve non-carcerable offenses. The Lawyers' Association, which supports the community in this case, has been denouncing "the application of the enemy's criminal law": "The only argument is 'to guarantee their presence at trial,' when all of them, like Gonzalo Coña (arrested a few days ago), were already at the court's disposal. It's impossible to be more malicious and deceitful than these judges and prosecutors. We just finished one hearing and set a date for another. Everything is 'normal' and peaceful. The Prosecutor's Office requested the arrest of all the Mapuche women."

"The prosecutor makes all kinds of assumptions and requests the arrests of all of them. Since Luciana and Romina supposedly can't be found at their homes, the judge accepts the release of both of them," explains Laura Taffetani, one of the lawyers overseeing the case.

The "good" Judge ordered only two arrests. Romina Rosas and Luciana Jaramillo will appear in custody. We will leave no stone unturned until we secure their release," the union stated. 

Less than a month ago, the Court of Cassation overturned the ruling that approved an agreement reached by a panel representing the State, including the National Secretariat of Human Rights and a delegation of Mapuche authorities linked to the Lof Winkul Mapu . It included a conciliation agreement with the courts to end the case that kept the Mapuche women—among them Romina, Luciana, and Betiana—deprived of their liberty and granted them a territory belonging to the National Parks Administration for relocation.

But the current president of Parks, Cristian Larsen, has been announcing since taking office that he would ignore the agreement and maintains a stance of non-negotiation, stigmatizing the Mapuche people whenever possible. 

The signed agreement also recognized the rewe (ceremonial space) of the lands from which the Lof Lafken Winku Mapu community had been evicted. However, the sacred space remains militarized.