Through a public statement sent to “all the Mapuche nation people”, the machi Celestino Córdova and the community that supports him called on the government of President Gabriel Boric, to take responsibility for “any agreement that has been taken previously” , since they point out that it is the State that assumes the final responsibility and, therefore, they ask that progress be made in “concrete and fully achievable gestures in terms of guaranteeing Rights.”
Otherwise, they say, the machi Celestino Córdova will join the different mobilizations that are taking place in various prisons in the country, starting a hunger strike again “as a legitimate tool to defend our rights as belonging to original peoples.”
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In the letter consigned by the media mapuexpress, The community emphasizes that since 2013 the ancestral authority has been demanding and developing a work proposal around the prison situation of those deprived of liberty belonging to original peoples. They remember the 107-day hunger strike that Celestino Córdova carried out in 2020 and that was widely supported by the Mapuche nation people, by non-Mapuche organizations and individuals, and even with international support of all kinds.
Although they recognize that on that occasion a series of advances and tools were gained in terms of cultural relevance towards those deprived of liberty belonging to indigenous peoples, today they demand that they be fulfilled in three fundamental aspects:
- Exempt Resolution No. 3925 of July 29, 2020, which highlights the recognition of free spiritual exercise, as stipulated in article 12 n°1 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of indigenous peoples, in the same sense, article 18 of the Declaration of Human Rights, also in article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and, finally, in the rules No. 2, 66 and 68 of the United Nations.
- The Agreement of August 18, 2020 between the Ministry of Justice and Machi Celestino Córdova, of which they highlight that points 5 and 6 continue to be complied with. And they emphasize full compliance with points 7 and 8 that say relationship with the Enabling of modules with cultural relevance and subsequent implementation of the Reintegration Program with cultural relevance and in point 8 that the modification of Regulations 518, 943 and 703 be complied with.
- According to the Mandela Rules, rule 2 No. 2, which is related to the principle of non-discrimination. With this they ensure that there has been discrimination against the machi Celestino Cordova in relation to access to the rights that are accompanied by the fact of being in a CET. Situation that was stipulated in point 2 of the agreement of August 18, 2020.
They maintain that so far no “benefit” has been granted to machi Celestino Córdova. And with this they also publicly call for the following “guarantors of this process” to make a statement in this regard: Medical Association, National Institute of Human Rights and Representative of the United Nations Organization.
“We call on all our Mapuche nation people, the communities in territorial claim, the weichafe, non-Mapuche society to act accordingly, leaving them free to act.”
Subsequently, Cristina Romo, spokeswoman for the machi Celestino Córdova, reiterated the summons: “We call on this government to take responsibility for any agreement that has been taken before, since it is the State that assumes the final responsibility, and therefore advances into concrete gestures and fully achievable as soon as possible in terms of guaranteeing rights,” Romo told Radio Biobio.
And he added that “otherwise, our machi Celestino Córdova will join the various mobilizations in various prisons in the country, starting a hunger strike again.”
