Letter from Mexican political prisoner Fernando Barcenas

Letter from Mexican political prisoner Fernando Barcenas

Fernando Barcenas is an 18 year old political prisoner from Mexico who has been detained since December 13, 2013 for allegedly setting the Coca Cola tree in Mexico City on fire during a protest against transportation fair hikes. Fernando economically supports his mother, so his incarceration has affected his family’s ability to  make ends meet.

To donate to Fernando, please wire donations to Banco Azteca: 78731304951452 to the name  Ana María Castillo (Fernando’s mother). Below is a translation of an open letter he wrote from prison.

December 27th, 2013

To the student community
To all freedom fighters who fight with heart
To the people of Mexico .

I am writing this communique as a cry for help,  amidst all the injustices . It’s been 14 days since my detainment and I am still cloistered between the four  walls of this cell that represents my current situation. I have been removed from the short term entry area , which bring me increasingly further away from  fighting for my freedom . Reconnecting my situation to the larger social framework is to realize that I am I am crucified by the system that is increasingly oppressive.

I call for gestures of solidarity  to emphasize my situation as a political prisoner of the state, as well as  to communicate my  full support of the struggle towards freedom that imprisoned comrades of October 2^nd  are undertaking, who also find themselves  incarcerated in seclusion.

Being imprisoned is like being  living dead, as one’s life is kept underground  via  false accusations and fabricated grievances that profile us as  criminals.

That is why with this statement I pronounce that I am a free student, a  social warrior, and above all a humanitarian.

I appreciate the support of all those still in struggle against the injustices of the system and all the people who have not left my side.

 

Thank you so much

To your health and freedom,

Political Prisoners to the streets !
Down  with  the prison walls !

Fernando Luis Barcenas Castillo

Mapuche Resistance defies siege

from metiendoruido.com

A challenge to the state of siege imposed by the chilean state in Wallmapu, is how one could describe this new sabotage against the chilean occupation and its capitalist plunder, which occurred on the morning of December 31st in Malleco.

One forestry helicopter was burned and another partially damaged, events which occurred near Angol a small distance from a police station.

Additionally during the event a policeman was injured after being cornered by the “assailants”, as reported by several official media channels.

We remember that the government of Chile had ordered, a few days ago and for the umpteenth time, the increase of police presence in all Mapuche territory and the use of surveillance planes, deployed with infrared cameras and heat sensors, in order to control and monitor people’s movements especially at night.

None of this worked, nor the permanent police presence, to prevent unknown individuals from entering the site where a corporation that provides services to Forestal Mininco maintained two aircrafts and proceeding to corner one of the cops and set fire to one helicopter and partially dammed another.

Second attack on helicopters in the region

This is the second act to occur in the zone of Malleco which affects aircrafts of forestry companies, in another incident a helicopter which supplied water was hit by a bullet in a rural sector of Ercilla.

Forestry, the ugliest face of Capitalism in Wallmapu

The forestry corporations represent the worst face that capitalism can display to the mapuche citizens of Wallmapu, their unrelenting extraction activity produces only disaster for neighboring communities, toxic fumes, the disappearance of rivers, streams and ground water, as well as the extinction of all the natural flora and fauna of the region which serve as food and medicinal base for mapuche life, among others are the effects of this antisocial business financed by the chilean state through law decree 701.

On the other hand the huge tracts of land that the forestry companies currently own are lands stolen from mapuche communities, forest ownership cannot be understood without its direct relationship to the territorial dispossession of the Mapuche People.

Three families against a People

But this is not a business carried out only against the Mapuche People, but is exclusionary even for thousands of chileans whose taxes have financed it for over 20 years. Forest ownership is so concentrated that only thee families almost completely dominate the sector, Angelini, Matte and Carey, owners of Bosques Arauco, CMPC and Masisa respectively.

Only Bosques Arauco certifies almost 1,200,000 hectares this year while Forestal Mininco did so for almost 700,000, without counting lots that could not be certified. According to official information, the forestry companies own almost three million hectares in the south of Chile, that is, in Wallmapu, this is almost 30% of our Mapuche country, all the mapuche citizens, meanwhile, together do not have 700,000 hectares, which is nothing more than 7% of our historical territory.

Sabotages in Wallmapu unleash hysteria in the chilean government and its police apparatus

from paismapuche.org

At least three new sabotages against chilean occupation have occurred in the last week, the arson of a private resort site on lake Lleu Lleu, a manor house in Vilcún and a forestry encampment in Lumaco, which has unleashed a hysterical reaction from the chilean government and its police apparatus in the region, as well as the wrath of businessmen and their political lackeys who have not hesitated to criticize their own government for the failure of its repressive policies against the mapuche movement.

This hysterical reaction generated by the resurgence of actions of resistance at various points in occupied Wallmapu, has brought police headquarters and the government to modify their plan of occupation, using state-of-the-art equipment like at least two spy planes to safeguard the peace of the occupants and control people’s movements especially at night in the region, while significantly increasing the number of police (120 new police officers) which is already high in Wallmapu.

These types of spying aircrafts, planes and helicopters are used officially for control of narcotrafficking, especially in the north of Chile, and their use in the containment of mapuche resistance had not been acknowledged until now by the chilean government. However, mapuche citizens from different communities in Wallmapu, since at least a year ago, have reported having seen or heard on several occasions the flyby of aircrafts almost imperceptible to the naked eye but that can be heard especially at night, such aircrafts could be drones of Israeli origin recently acquired by the Chilean government, and which are utilized widely by the terrorist army of Israel in the repression of the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Burned cabins on lake Lleu Lleu

One of the last private resort sites remaining on the southwest shore of lake Lleu Lleu was burned on the morning of december 23rd by unknown individuals.

According to press reports there were pamphlets found at the scene making reference to mapuche demands.

With this the north side of the lake is practically free of chilean investors and private interests and the reclamation of lakeside space for mapuche communities advances a few meters. And a few years ago lake Lleu Lleu was highly privatized and was practically foreign to the mapuche citizens in the area.

Since the beginning, in the early ’90s, of the new mapuche venture to regain control of the Lleu Lleu lakeside so far several estates have passed from private ownership to the hands of mapuche communities in various ways, some are still legally owned by forestry companies, however comuneros maintain firm territorial control of them.

Fire at manor house on Vilcún estate and burning of forestry encampment in Lumaco

On the morning of this past Friday December 27th, as stated in various official media, unknown individuals set fire to a manor house and a vehicle on the Santa Ana estate in Vilcún, usurped by a certain Gaston Escala, former president of the Chilean Chamber of Construction.

Furthermore on that same morning there was also the burning of a forestry encampment with various industry machinery on a property in Lumaco.

Matias Catrileo continues to struggle

These new actions of sabotage occur within the context of the emblematic antimapuche trials developing in various places in Wallmapu, as well as in the scenario of insane repression by the antimapuche military police against the peaceful marches of the communities and on the eve of the commemoration of weichafe Matias Catrileo being shot and the back and killed.

On January 3rd, 2008 Matias Catrileo was participating along with other comuneros in a peaceful occupation of the Santa Margarita estate in Vilcún when he was shot in the back by a machine gun, fired by ex sergeant Walter Ramirez, who has so far not spent a single day in jail for this treacherous crime.

Information on the situation of Hermes González and Alfonso Alvial, arrested December 11th in Santiago.

from hommodolars.org

On December 11th comrades Hermes and Alfonso were arrested, in the comuna of Pudahuel, allegedly charged with participation in the assault on a Banco Estado in that comuna, where there was also murdered at the hands of a bastard and cowardly guardian of capital, the comrade Sebastián Oversluij Seguel. Later they were taken to the 26th precinct of Pudahuel, where they were informed that they would be transferred to court the next day.

On Thursday the 12th they were taken, to the anticipation and curiosity of the disgusting bourgeois press, to the Center of Justice, where at about 11am they were processed in the 1st Warrants Court of Santiago. In that hearing the prosecutor requested to expand the detention for three days in order to delay the formalization of the investigation for lack of antecedents and pending expertise, however, the defense opposed, and the court ordered that it be deferred until the afternoon.

At 4pm our comrades were entered into a new hearing where they were told the acts for which they were being investigated, formalized as robbery with intimidation and carrying prohibited firearms. Also, the prosecutor requested preventative detention arguing that the comrades were a danger to society, and of escape. The court granted the request, and decreed a 90 day period of investigation. The defense was entrusted to a Public Defender.

They were entered into the Maximum Security Section of the High Security Prison, where Hermes is on the third floor south, and Alfonso, on the third floor west. They have three hours in the courtyard together, two visits a week, and can receive packages on thursdays.

Donations for packages are being received at La Hiedra Library (Portales 2615) during Library hours (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 7pm to 9pm). These donations can consist of nonperishables (vegetarian), and personal hygiene items (soap, razors, deodorant, toilet paper, and the like).

We call for solidarity in all forms with our imprisoned comrades!

Down with the prison walls!

for more English-language information, see translations available on War on Society and ContraInfo

Mobilizations in Cañete and Tirúa put forestry companies and chilean authorities on alert

from paismapuche.org

Diverse highway blockades were reported on monday on the route that connects Cañete with Tirúa in the south of Arauco, this to protest the violent and irrational police repression suffered by almost a thousand people who marched in Angol on monday in support of the werken Daniel Melinao.

The blockades were reported in Quidico, Tranaquepe and San Ramón in Tirua and in Lleu Lleu and Huentelolén in Cañete, where chilean police arrested a comunero identified as Adrián Cipriano Huaiquipán, who was released on tuesday the 17th, with monthly sign-in and a 60 day probation period.

Permanent mobilization

During the din of last week and amid a preelectoral environment, the territory around lake Lleu Lleu was stained with smoke from a huge number of fires, as much in the riverbank north of the lake, as in the interior and south, this is the sector of the La Puntilla farm, and the El Canelo farm.

These are actions of resistance against the violent advance of the forestry companies that suffocate the communities. Companies like Arauco, Mininco and Volterra occupy mapuche territory in this region with impunity, pressing chilean authorities to do away with mapuche life and consolidate their profits, through deception, repression and imprisonment.

Clashes

Fires were also reported in the lands of Rihue de Huentelolén, after an eviction raid by police.

Official media like Radio BioBio say that during the night on tuesday there were reports of confrontations between unknown individuals and police, as much in the Rihue farm as in El Canelo, in the latter there were five people injured, attended to inside the communities.

This police onslaught was orchestrated by police General Iván Bezmalinovic, responsible for the murder of Jaime Mendoza Collío and author of criminal attacks on the communities of Malleco, where women, children, and the elderly were injured.

note: although the editors of La Semilla Negra take issue with the sexist language in the last sentence of this piece (the equation of women with children and the elderly as a weaker demographic), we have chosen to translate and publish it in full for its overall content and importance.

Sabotage against trucks in response to the conviction of youths of Chekenko

from paismapuche.org

A new action of sabotage against capitalist interests was carried out by unknowns in the vicinity of Collipulli. They burned two trucks in the estate of the Prosecutor and according to press information would be linked to the sentencing of mapuche youths from Chekenko last week.

Let us remember that the peñi turned themselves in after finding out that they were being accused in the death of landowner Gallardo Aillapan in order to prove their innocence. This act of good faith did nothing in the face of the racist antimapuche prejudice of the chilean justice system which convicted them in spite of a shortage of evidence against them and the contradictory evidence presented by the prosecutor.

This action against chilean interests in Wallmapu comes to demonstrate the rage of the mapuche of the region in the face of this new outrage against mapuche dignity and the good faith of the convicted youths.

In Cordon Macul don’t vote! Get in the streets!

from hommodolars.org

On the 18th, 20th and 22nd of November, in light of the recently ended electoral farce, we raised barricades and confronted the police (0s9, policía) in conjunction with comrades at 3 universities (UTEM, Uchile, Pedagógico), at the intersection of Macul and Grecia.

In the days of the next presidential election, Bachelet and Mattei, they speak to us through their means of communication (tv, radio, newspapers), about participation, equal opportunity, rights that lie ahead, the acclaimed progress… But knowing that they govern for the businessmen, exploiters and oppressors that drag us into a life of misery and death, why do they still govern us? Because “the people” keep voting, legitimizing their mandates… “We have been elected by the people and our right to govern (them) is legitimate…”

And is it only the elections that are why we live in this terrible way? If we don’t vote, will we stop living in misery?

And we are citizens whenever we behave as such, that is to say, whenever we do our part and what is expected of us: working, consuming… Voting every four years is not so important. It is through our behavior in the day to day, that we really reproduce this life we have been given.

The citizen today is the fundamental piece of “democracy”, the most important, most secure form of control and domination, and we live thinking we can move with total freedom, that we are free to choose, but we do nothing other than reproduce our misery.

But where is the resistance to precarity, to this exploitation and oppression, in not dressing like the rest, not eating this or that, in thinking differently, in saying that everything is bad, in stealing instead of buying, in taking from someone who has everything to give it to someone else?

And has this been sufficient? Have we stopped living in misery?

Today there is only unrest, this impossibility of expressing common resistance facing the daily conditions of precarity and misery in which we live.

While we still live in this capitalist society there will only be misery and death.

Some will say that there can be peaceful change, but history has demonstrated the contrary and continues to confirm it, when they repress and murder those who rebel against this life that pulls at us. But we know that in the end we will encounter the armed appendage of the state, military and police. They will do anything to stop the open conflict that is inevitable. The insurrection gets closer every day. Its causes and attempts to stop them, don’t depend on us or the government.

Despite their entire mobilized police contingent (November 22nd; 15 cazadores, 3 water cannons, 2 gas cannons, 2 vans and endless cars, motorcycles and civiles), despite all their preparation, their daily harassment, they did not manage to silence our unrest, our struggle. And we are ready to be in the struggle until the end, there is no other way. They will not be able to stop our discontent and our rage against those who have exploited and oppressed us day after day.

This is why we salute the comrades detained in Barcelona, by the spanish police, Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar and the other comrades. To Hans Niemeyer and Celestino Córdova imprisoned by the chilean police for their struggle against this life of misery, against the businessmen and the latifundistas.

Our struggle against capitalism is global, and should be acted out in all possible scenarios, in every moment, everywhere.

Today we speak with the strength of anonymity that lives in each of us and we are learning to name the enemy .. To point him out. They have names, we have the power of anonymity… that discontent becomes action, in the force of anonymity lies the possibility that action could be done by anyone, we are the anonymous strength in everyone.

But remember, that we are here, waiting, but the moment will come, the insurrection advances and becomes inevitable… Your life becomes an act of sabotage.

The day’s results among others: blockades, an attack on the barracks of Os9, clashes with police, a zorrillo damaged by engine fire, among others.

That the insurrection become permanent, we cease to be citizens, to foster civil war

Cordón Macul, Santiago, Chile, November 27th, 2013