The trial began in Bariloche against six members of the Lof Quemquemtrew community accused of "usurping" communal land. The land is being claimed by a forestry businessman whose employees murdered Elías Garay, a member of the community.
Bariloche will host two trials that reflect the current climate: two Mapuche communities that suffered evictions, violence, and the death of two young people will be tried for the territories they have been claiming for years in the province of Río Negro.
Matías Santana became known to the media through the Santiago Maldonado case, a crucial witness in a case that the courts recently ordered reopened. He was caricatured as "the Mapuche with binoculars," but his activism began several years earlier. He has been held in pretrial detention for three months at Unit 14 in Esquel. Mapuche communities are calling for his release.
The trial has begun in Bariloche accusing members of the Mapuche people of occupying Lof Buenuleo, their own territory since the beginning of the last century and recognized in the Territorial Survey of Indigenous Communities.
Matias Santana has been detained in Bariloche since Saturday. His lawyer says it's a fabricated case. The plot involves Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel, the Ministry of Security, and a series of stigmas against the Mapuche people.
Who benefits from the fires in Los Alerces National Park? This special report, in partnership with the Telúrica News Agency, reveals the key elements to understanding the situation, the accusations against the Mapuche-Tehuelche people, the real estate interests involved, and a historic struggle to defend their territory.
“They came in shooting, they came in to kill. Nothing mattered, whether there were children, pregnant women, or elderly people,” says Celeste Guenumil, one of the detainees. Also heard are the voices of the machi Betiana and Romina, who was 40 weeks pregnant.
The court upheld the forced eviction of the Mapuche community by ruling in favor of the forestry companies claiming the land.
Indigenous women are a crucial part of the resistance in the Lof (community) Quemquemtrew. Chronicle of a territorial reclamation in Patagonia and a death foretold. A month later, they receive an eviction notice.
The Esquel court acquitted Gloria Colihueque Catriman, a Mapuche-Tehuelche human rights defender, and her uncle Gregorio. The judge acknowledged that there was no evidence against them and that, since the justice system did not listen to them, they acted in defense of the territory they inhabit.
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