The four women from the Mapuche community detained in the Villa Mascardi eviction operation who had been imprisoned in the Federal Penitentiary Complex IV of Ezeiza will be transferred again to the city of Bariloche, as ordered on Friday night by Judge Silvina Domínguez in a resolution to which Télam agreed.
The surrogate federal judge thus revised her previous decision, which had generated a wave of criticism for sending the women 1,600 kilometers from their place of residence, and justified the change to “new accommodation quotas” were obtained for these detainees in Regional Unit V of the Airport Security Police of Bariloche.
The magistrate pointed out that about three of the seven detained women, being mothers with children, they would be placed under house arrestthe regional headquarters of the PSA in Bariloche “would obtain new quotas for accommodation”, which would allow them to be taken to that property, “the only place in the federal orbit that has places of detention in the jurisdiction”.
In her resolution, the surrogate federal judge even cited Bangkok Rule No. 4 of the UN General Assembly, which “provides that women deprived of their liberty will be sent, as far as possible, to detention centers close to their home or to social rehabilitation centers, keeping in mind their responsibilities of caring for other people”.
Domínguez underlined in darker letters the phrase “as far as possible” and added that when “the reasons that made the transfers necessary” to Ezeiza cease, the four women must return to Bariloche, understanding that this city “is the place where those mentioned may be in better conditions because of the people who could help them.” while in detention.”
The lawyers of the seven women of the Mapuche community Lof Lafken Winkul Mapu were notified of the decision in the early hours of this Saturday, after the judge took preliminary statements from six of the detainees through the Zoom platform, as confirmed to Télam one of the defense attorneys, Andrea Reile.
“Today Saturday, At 2 in the morning, the judge uploaded a certificate (to the judicial file management system) ordering that she transfer the four detainees who are in Ezeiza to Unit 5 of the Bariloche Airport Security Police“, said the lawyer, who sponsors the detainees along with her colleague Ezequiel Palavecino.
The transfer from Ezeiza to Bariloche would take place this Saturday, judicial sources from Río Negro estimated, and the procedure in principle would be in charge of the Federal Police, since the judge’s resolution instructed the inspector commissioner Sergio Brizuela of that force to that complies with the requirement, or failing that, “to the personnel appointed for that purpose”.
Last Tuesday, federal forces organized in a unified command With the participation of the Rio Negro police, they arrested seven women from the Mapuche settlement Lof Lafken Winkul Mapu, in the vicinity of Route 40.
Four of them -Martha Luciana Jaramillo, Andrea Despo, Florencia Melo and Débora Melo- were imprisoned in the women’s prison of the Federal Penitentiary Service, in Ezeiza.
Asked about the decision that the four be taken back to Bariloche, the defense attorney replied that “With the elements that she has had, the magistrate has reviewed her decision and has understood the best and most respectful of legality was that they were in the place where they have their center of life”.
“The judge decided the transfer (to Bariloche) after taking the inquiries, in which two of my defendants testified about the entire procedure,” said lawyer Reile, and expanded: “The judge’s decision came after she took statement of inquiry to six of the seven detained women, since one of them had already taken an inquiry the day before (on Thursday)”.
Regarding the inquiries carried out yesterday, the lawyer indicated that they were all carried out through the Zoom platform (the judge resides in Bariloche and four of the detainees were in Ezeiza) in a series of statements that began “on Friday at 5 in the afternoon and ended around 10 or 11 p.m.,” he explained.
Once the investigations were over, the two defenders requested dismissals and releasesReile told Télam.
“The crimes for which they are accused have nothing to do with what they have done: everything has been highly exaggerated, out of the ordinary,” he said.
The defender of the women of the Villa Mascardi settlement is a member of the Argentine League for Human Rights (Ladh), one of the entities that repudiated the eviction operation and that questioned -particularly- the imprisonment of the four women 1,600 kilometers from the place where the one they live
“Everything that happened from the search warrant, arrest and kidnapping, and that was carried out with the joint operation between the Nation and the Province (for Río Negro), made the procedure a clear violation of human rights”Reile insisted when making his balance, and added: “Since that order was issued and everything that was done afterwards was a clear violation of human rights by the Argentine State.”
Along the same lines, he continued: “The deployment of forces and resources involved a series of procedural irregularities and clearly violated human rights and international regulations that refer to the rights of women, the best interests of the child and the rights of communities. natives”.
In parallel, the Center for Legal and Social Studies (Cells) announced that “the federal judge in Bariloche had ordered the transfer back to Bariloche” of the four women who had been taken to Ezeiza.
The entity questioned Judge Domínguez by stating that “after three days, now it turns out that the best place is that, from which they should never have been taken”.
[URGENTE] The federal judge of Bariloche has just indicated that the four Mapuche women housed in Ezeiza be transferred again to Bariloche.
— CELS (@CELS_Argentina) October 8, 2022
In addition, he demanded that the authorities “ensure a transfer that this time is respectful of human rights,” denouncing that on the trip from Bariloche to Ezeiza the four detainees received “degrading treatment.”
“All this deployment constitutes a process of evident discipline and contempt for Mapuche women,” accused Cels through a Twitter thread.
In this sense, they demanded from the federal Justice that the imprisoned “not be searched on their bodies, under any circumstances” and also requested that “long registration procedures not be carried out; they are not handcuffed on the trip; give them food and shelter; inform them of the destination, time of arrival; and take all precautions to ensure the dignity of these four women”.
The seven members of the Lof Lafken Winkul Mapu community were detained by federal forces upon completing the eviction of new properties located in the vicinity of Route 40.
The women were charged by the Justice in a case entitled “Fire or other havoc, attack on authority and usurpation.”
Of the seven who were arrested, three remained in Bariloche from the first moment: they are Betiana Ayelén Colhuan, María Celeste Ardaiz Guenumil and Romina Rosas, who have babies a few months old who are breastfeeding (Colhuan and Ardaiz Guenumil) or are pregnant. almost full term, in the case of Rosas, admitted to the Ramón Carrillo hospital.
