Villa Mascardi: criticizes the government’s plan to cede state land to the Mapuches

The national government’s proposal to cede land to the self-proclaimed Mapuche community of Villa Mascardi attract criticism in Rio Negro Political Arc and among neighborhood residents, who are anticipating a legal attack to prevent it from happening.

The initiative establishes the delivery of 10 fiscal hectares at the neighborhood of william lake10 kilometers from the conflict zone, and the return of the spiritual authority of the group Lafken Winkul Mapou A Villa Mascardiwhere the state plans to build houses to house the “machi” and its environment, in what they consider a sacred site.

The Mapuche referents rejected the installation of the group in the new property because it is “a space Too smallfor the development of the group’s community activities.

This same space had already been offered by the National Parks Administrationmonths ago, in an attempt to decompress the conflict of Villa Mascardi although the Mapuches had already anticipated their rejection. This is a property known as Veranda of Torrontegui although he is himself” insufficient to ensure the development of the community.

The government’s offer was conveyed by the Secretary for Human Rights, Horace Pietragalla Cortias part of the second dialog table held last week in Bariloche at the request of the President of the Nation, Alberto Fernandez.

The official highlighted the “progress” of the meeting to “peacefully resolve” the Mapuche territorial conflict, despite the fact that the proposal was target of criticismnot only the inhabitants of Villa Mascardi who want to prevent the return of the Mapuches there, but also various political figures in the province.

The President of the Villa Mascardi District Council, Diego Fruitssaid the government’s proposal “is a disgrace, a disparate total. The ‘machi’ is not going to return to its famous rewe, let them be very clear on that”.

The governor Arabela Carreras He said that “in the case of Mascardi, the evicted property should not be reoccupied because it would revert to the pacification that we achieved on the spot.”

Orlando Carriqueospokesperson for the Mapuche Parliament, criticized the position of the president and assured that “she leads a government with which we have no dialogue, proof of her racism”.

You may be interested: The government has proposed to the Mapuches to build houses, cede public lands and preserve a sacred altar at Villa Mascardi

The project drawn up by Nación plans to keep the sacred altar – called “rewe” – on the land evacuated from Villa Mascardi and to build three buildings there to house Bethiana Colhuan – the self-proclaimed “machi” community spirit guide – to its collaborators and assistants and to set up a “healing” office.

Colhuan stays with house arrest since the eviction last October and your companion, matias santanaHe has been a fugitive from justice ever since.

It also establishes the installation of a safe, although the Mapuches rejected the idea.

A requirement to be able to move forward in the agreement is that the community Lafken Winkul Mapou regularize your situation before National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI) and discuss its legal status. However, its members do not agree with the proposal because they are registered in another Mapuche community – lof Colhuan Nahuel – that he has a property in the Virgen Misionera neighborhood, 7 kilometers from Bariloche, so his inclusion in another community would be incompatible.

Despite this, the national government insists with its kind plan to grant them land and benefits, ignoring this obstacle and also the multiple legal proceedings that involve them.

Moreover, in the proposal Pietragalla it raises benefits for the community, whose members are detained or fugitives from justice.

While the dialogue tables are being held – which could have a new edition on February 24 in Bariloche – the federal judge Hugo Greca accepted a request from the executive branch to postpone the trial for the usurpation of national park properties, in 2017, of the so-called “maternal cause”

The measure also received a strong rejection, as it was considered a “clear interference of politics in a judicial process”.

“Once again, I am seen with the object delivered to me regarding the defense’s renewed attempt to avoid the start of the trial they allegedly had in the past. At this stage, in the opinion of this ministry, there is no longer any doubt that the sole purpose of the delay is to avoid Eternal the final closure of these actions and, in the future, to obtain the prescription of the criminal action that in my capacity as representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, I have the obligation to protect, “said the prosecutor of Bariloche. Candida Etchepare.

Continue reading: