Chile, December 23 - ANTIPRISON AGITATION IN SOLIDARITY WITH PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE

source: culmine

CALL TO SOLIDARITY ACTION WITH THE ANARCHIST AND REBEL PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE IN THE VARIOUS PRISONS OF THE COUNTRY THURSDAY, 23 DECEMBER

BECAUSE YOU DON'T HUMANIZE JAILS YOU DESTROY THEM. PRISONERS IN WAR IN THE STREETS

The Chilean miners: fake solidarity in the land of "every man for himself"

Like millions of others, I was absolutely delighted to see the trapped miners in the San José mine in Chile getting out alive from their stressful, claustrophobic confinement which they'd been in for almost 70 days as a result of negligence on the part of the mining companies. I could only be thrilled to see this terrible story of grief and suffering come to a happy ending and see tears exchanged for bursts of laughter. But at the same time, mixed with my joy at seeing these 33 condemned men return to life, I still had a feeling that was a mixture of revulsion and anger at the show put on by the very people who had dug what could have been these men's graves. I have no wish to be a killjoy, but when the natural euphoria that has engulfed the country calms down, a great many questions will need to be asked.The first is that although the government is blatantly attempting to reap political credit for this miracle of the rescue of 33 men who were buried alive under tons of rock, 700 metres below the surface, the reality is that they never should have been buried in the first place! The mine had been closed for safety reasons and was reopened precisely because of the government policy that sacrifices workers' safety, workers' lives for the benefit of the entrepreneurial class. Moreover, at a time when both the government and the bosses were taking these men for dead, it was the tenacity of the miners themselves and their workmates who provided information and the benefit of their experience, that were responsible for keeping the search alive until they were found. The miners are alive not thanks to the Piñera government, but to the perseverance of the workers who pressured them into making the rescue a reality, and thanks to the expertise of the miners themselves who knew how deal with their situation underground. If it had been down to the government and the bosses, these miners would have been forgotten and abandoned like hundreds of other workers who every year are forgotten and abandoned when they die in accidents, the vast majority of which are preventable.
But once the cameras arrived, the indifference was immediately forgotten, replaced by an almost feverish concern; the country and its ruling classes were struck by "Telethon syndrome", all smiles for the cameras and hugs for the victims. But this is the sort of solidarity that tricks us, because it makes us forget that we live in a country where there is very, very little solidarity, a country where the "every man for himself" mentality was imposed on the inhabitants through the blood and fire of nearly four decades of rampant neoliberalism. It is fake solidarity because it is used to their own advantage - to increase their popularity ratings, for the sake of propaganda and marketing, to make political capital. Apple will give them I-pods, Farkas gives them 5 million pesos each [1], some have offered holidays in the Greek islands, others the chance to see Real Madrid or Manchester United play, a third-class politician (who, incidentally, is the president) poses for pictures with them... everyone using them quite blatanly as propaganda for their product, sports club, country or government. I can't stop feeling a bad taste in my mouth when I see how they are exploiting them in such a way.
This is the extent to which the manipulation reaches, with Piñera calling on the world to remember Chile as the country that rescues and forget about the Pinochet dictatorship - which made him a billionaire, with wealth far beyond what the vast majority of people can even imagine. Think how the world would react if German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked the world to forget about Hitler. I cannot help feeling deep disgust at the vile opportunism of it all. But I'm not surprised. For better or for worse, it is part of the plans by the ruling block to wipe out the "original sin" of our exemplary democracy, to forget the authoritarian-dictatorial "slip up" that drowned the hopes of three generations of Chileans in blood, part of the imposed collective amnesia by this country's propertied class. All this was was another opportunity to flog what they have been flogging us for the past twenty years.
This is a country which lives on fiction, where the rescue becomes a form of reality show, with of course no shortage of spicy stories about lovers and other scandals to divert the hoi polloi. A reality show where the reasons for this tragedy are conveniently forgotten, where the reason these men were entombed goes unmentioned - an economic model which seeks the maximum profit for the least possible cost. It is an economic model which puts subcontractors, workers in conditions of terrible danger, in the mines and other places, making them carry out risky work which in many cases costs them their lives, while their employers amass enormous fortunes.
This is only a fictitious solidarity, solidarity which exists in front of the cameras, for show, but which disappears in the anonymous day-to-day interaction of our grey cities. This fake solidarity is handed out like aspirin to feed the inflated image we have of ourselves. But above all it is fictitious solidarity because this solidarity between buried and buriers disappears amid a sea of inequality in a country where neither the society as a whole nor the economy holds solidarity as its guiding principle. A quick example: while the miners are being offered millions in contracts by all and sundry, the company is refusing to pay them for the time they spent underground. Now with the miners themselves rolling in money, they are probably not too concerned about receiving their miserable wages, but there are thousands of other, less fortunate workers who are languishing in one of the country's Workers' Hospitals, to the indifference of their companies, without any wages as long as they remain unable to work due to injuries they got on the job. That's capitalism...
But let's not forget that 439 workers died in workplace accidents in this country in 2009, and where was the solidarity for them? Where were all the efforts to save them from their mines or from all the various workplaces they died in? For them there was only the indifferent gaze of the authorities or the criminal entrepreneurial class. 439 human beings with the same abilities, the same right to live, laugh and enjoy the good things of life as the 33 miners brought back from the dead.
So that's why I have all these conflicting feelings about the rescue and the coverage of it. Because beyond the happiness we all feel for the good fortune these workers have had, escaping with their lives, beyond the plastic, showbusiness smiles, beyond all the presidential visits and hugs, beyond all the "generosity" being paraded before the cameras by certain companies (or more accurately, by their marketing departments), I still think of the thousands of unfortunates who are sacrificed year after year on the altar of profit, whose fate is only met with indifference. I cannot help thinking that if those same workers had organised themselves to fight against the dangerous conditions they were (and still are) forced to work in, if they had resisted allowing themselves to be buried, they would have been treated like criminals. I cannot help thinking that in a country which boasts of its solidarity, at that very moment there were also 32 Mapuche political prisoners, some under the age of 18, who were considered "terrorists" and who were left to waste away on a hunger strike which was hidden from the eyes of the national and international press, and who are being treated in a disgracefully paternalistic way by the government. I cannot help thinking of all this, despite my immense joy at seeing the miners returning to us.
What a shitty, hypocritical country.
José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
15 October 2010

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Note:
1. Leonardo Farkas, a billionaire businessman and mine owner known for his appearances on TV Telethons and handing out money on the street. 5 million Chilean pesos equals approximately US$10,000.

Madrid - attack in solidarity with Chilean anarchists

cette semaine

Madrid, 21/10/2010 - Yesterday October 20, the windows of a Santander bank in the south of Madrid were pelted with stones, and a tag was left: "Solidarity with the anarchists of Chile".
This bank was chosen for its connection with the Chilean State and bourgeoisie, being present over a large part of Chilean territory, and involved in the exploitation of its inhabitants.
Let's come out into the Streets! May the rage spread!
To our Chilean brothers! To those who fight!
We do not want to deal with this misery, but to destroy it!
TIERRA SALVAJE

solidarity from berlin!!

(in German with English traslation / der Vortrag auf Deutsch gahalten)

Basque writer Asel Luzarraga deported from Chile

24 09 2010 From Hommodolars Contrainformación (September 22, 2010) via CALPU (September 17, 2010):

Conviction requires Mapuche sympathizer to leave country despite all evidence pointing to political set-up
By Hedoi Etxarte
On December 31, 2009, Basque writer/translator Asel Luzarraga was arrested in Chile at his home in Padre de Las Casas. At the time, he was accused of four attacks carried out between December 2008 and December 2009. From the beginning, Luzarraga denied any connection to the attacks. In fact, his passport showed that he was out of the country on the dates of two of the attacks. Nevertheless, Judge Alejandra García sentenced him to preventive detention for the duration of the investigation.
Then the charges were modified: The Prosecutor’s office stopped investigating Luzarraga as the perpetrator and instead charged him with possession of explosive material. Found in his home—without a single fingerprint—were an empty fire extinguisher, less than ten grams of black powder, a fuse, and adhesive tape. Luzarraga spent forty-two days in preventive detention and was under house arrest until his sentencing at trial on September 7. The following day, according to regional newspaper El Austral, Cautín governor Miguel Mellado said that he would be appealing “to the International Police to take this character and drop him off at the airport so he can leave the country.” Based on his statement, it’s clear that Luzarraga’s prison sentence was symbolic and that the ultimate objective was to deny the renewal of his residence permit.
Luzarraga will have to leave Chile by September 22, fifteen days after sentencing. In determining the sentence, the judges considered the chemical evidence submitted on behalf of the defense by Analab and Temuco Catholic University to be insufficient.
Police also confirmed the detection of nitrate ions at Luzarraga’s home. Their evidence indicated the presence of nitrate ions in the city water supply, especially in the water and shampoo at Luzarraga’s home. According to a statement made by Luzarraga’s attorney Jaime Madariaga to the Autonomous University of Chile television station, that “explains why they found nitrate ions on his back.” In the same statement to the media, Madariaga added that the data invalidated what “the Attorney General’s office had made the public believe.” The Prosecutor’s office was also unable to explain the absence of fingerprints on the material seized from Luzarraga’s home.
El Austral took the defense attorney’s statement after sentencing: “It’s hard to feel satisfied when you know an innocent man has been convicted, but he certainly won’t have to go to prison, and that’s without doubt a relief to us.” He added: “As a society we are even weaker, because any one of us can be the victim of someone who leaves a bag containing drugs or a fire extinguisher at our house, and then be convicted regardless of the absence of any fingerprints, e-mail, or anything.”
No fingerprints
In the Basque newspaper Deia, Luzarraga maintained his certitude that neither he, his girlfriend, nor anyone who knows them could have left behind the empty fire extinguisher, fuses, and black powder that were found at his home. He reiterated how strange it was that there were no fingerprints and that the supermarket bag containing everything was missing. The writer had no hesitation in saying that it was all a set-up designed to persecute him politically.

Stop the press! Pinochet is uncomfortable in his grave

Announcement of the Translation Counter-Information Network contrainfo.espiv.net in solidarity with all the politically persecuted by the regime of Chile, for the concentration of the 24th of September, out of the Embassy of Chile, in the context of the international solidarity day with the political prisoners in Chile. In 2009, the chilean state commenced an intensive campaign of persecution against squatters and Mapuche natives, aiming at their extinction. In perfect cooperation with the judicial system, the goal was the same in both cases: accusations of terrorism. …the “Bomb Case” spectacle… Early in the morning of August 15 an incredibly extensive and spectacular police operation took place in various Chilean cities. Police forces invaded squats, social spaces and houses, arresting plenty of people and destroying everything in their way.  This new device of the chilean state is named “Bomb Case”. The new operation of the chilean police intends to find a convenient victim to charge with the 23 bombings that occured in Santiago.  Seven anarchist revolutionaries are imprisoned in the dungeons of the bourgeois democracy at a state of absolute exclusion, facing heavy charges, forged tirades and fake witness testimonies. The chilean press has been laying for months the foundations for certain arrests, by targeting certain spaces and people. Let’s not forget that in 2009  the Basque anarchist writer and musician Asel Luzzaraga who was accused of various bombings, was sentenced to house arrest and finally deported by the chilean state. His only involvement with the aforementioned bombings was his publicly expressed solidarity to the Mapuche people, mainly through texts.  …and that’s not all… The chilean state and pinochet’s dictatorship (who have found a worthy successor in the face of the current bourgeois democracy) have accomplished everything that the inkas and the spanish conquistadors have failed at. Repression, murder, trials based on fabricated tirades, social seclusion, prohibition to use their language, destruction of their social structures etc.  The draining of the Mapuche land and their displacement from grounds that they belong to, for centuries is embedded within a general framework of state strategies that aims at the eradication of every internal enemy in order to restore “national unity” and promote the application of the western “growth” paradigm free of all internal conflicts. The media have once again taken up an important role in this purge through slandering, concealing the role of their corrupted government, the multinational lumber and mining companies who have infringed the Mapuche native ground and are shamelessly preying on it, having as a result the irreversible destruction of the environment as well as the implicit action of mercenaries who have repeatedly attacked Mapuche grounds, burning occupied areas. The concealment of a text composed by 33 miners which pledged solidarity to the Mapuche people exemplifies the media’s filthy role.  The indigenous Mapuche people claim the self-evident: recursion of their land and respect to their right of self-determination. The Mapuche constitute a national liberation movement founded on a national concept different to the classic western bipolar construction of the Nation-State, since their worldview is pertinent to the concept of a stateless nation. During the last few years, this – akin to libertarian views – notion, this worldview and the social tradition of the people have established a fixed link of mutual aid between the Mapuche and the Chilean anarchist movement. There is no doubt that the Mapuche have been criminalized, trialed and sentenced for their thoughts, not for their acts. For more than two and a half months, 35 imprisoned Mapuche are on hunger strike (most of them sentenced according to the anti-terrorist act that is easily applied even in cases of non-violent protests) demanding the cease of persecutions based on the anti-terrorist act and their self-evident right to life and preservation of their culture. http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2010/09/23/announcement-contrainfo/ FOR SPANISH:  http://es.contrainfo.espiv.net/2010/09/23/comunicado-contrainfo/ contrainfo.espiv.net

Mapuche hunger strike enters 65th day 14 September

Mapuche protests are often met with a violent police response

Thirty-four Mapuche prisoners in Chile today entered the sixty-fifth day of a hunger strike. The protest began to highlight the use by the Chilean government of anti-terror legislation to criminalise attempts by the Mapuche to recover their ancestral land.
Although the Mapuche were only conquered in the 19th century after many years of resistance, most of their lands have since been confiscated by logging companies and wealthy farmers.
Several days ago four Chilean MPs who were visiting the strikers in jail announced that they were themselves joining the hunger strike.
The decision to prosecute the Mapuche under Chile’s strict anti-terror laws means that they can be detained indefinitely; tried in military courts; and receive far harsher sentences than would be the case in a civilian court.
In a belated response to the hunger strike, Chile’s President Piñera has proposed some modifications to the anti-terror legislation. The Mapuche, however, charge that these changes were planned anyway, and there is widespread suspicion that the government’s real motivation is to concede just enough to end the protest before Chile celebrates its Bicentennial on September 18th.
Chile ratified the key law on indigenous peoples, ILO Convention 169, two years ago, but has made little progress in implementing its provisions.

Chile - Riots and arrests on the anniversary of the 11 September 1973 military coup

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221 arrests. Four civilians and nine policemen injured in Santiago and other parts of the country.
...In the Santiago Metropolitan Region, 85 people were arrested, with many of the arrests occurring late at night. Three police were injured after being shot with pellet guns – two were shot in the eye and one was shot in the face.
In lower income areas of Santiago such as the Peñalolen borough, stones were thrown at passing cars. Special police forces had to intervene in the Villa Francia neighbourhood to stop a gas station from being looted. Power outages affected 104,000 households – as many as last year – after lines were cut during demonstrations.
A march from Plaza de Los Heroes to the General Cemetery in the Recoleta Borough started off peacefully, but ended in riot-like conditions near the cemetery.
The march began at 10 a.m. and was led by the Relatives of the Disappeared Detainees Association – a group representing the more than 1,300 people who were disappeared (and killed) during the 17-year Pinochet regime.
More than 8,000 people participated in the march, which culminated with the hanging of a wreath inside the cemetery.
However, just as the wreath was being hung, a mob appeared in the streets near the cemetery. Authorities did not intervene right away, and the protestors managed to destroy trash cans, tear down traffic lights, throw stones at police officers and assault two TV news cameramen. The police then stepped in with water cannons and tear gas.

Clashes in Chile on the anniversary of the coup (11/9)

“we deeply condemn this situation” said the substitute minister of interior of chile Rodrigo Ubilla referring to the attack on journalists and cameramen, the day of the protest on september 11th, anniversary of the coup. The protesters in Santiago overcame the funeral atmosphere that the state creates, and attacked those who are to blame for the oppression and manipulation. Banks, luxurious shops, cops, journalists and other symbols of the state and capital became a target of the protesters. “We do not mourn, neither do we demand better justice” comrades in Chile declared, denying to participate in the leftist festivals. The struggle for freedom continues...

Bomb Explodes Outside Church in Southern Chile

SANTIAGO – A small bomb exploded early Tuesday outside a Catholic church in the southern Chilean city of Temuco, destroying the front door and shattering windows, police and press reports said.

The blast occurred at 3:05 a.m. outside the Iglesia del Buen Pastor in downtown Temuco, the capital of La Araucania region, some 672 kilometers (about 420 miles) south of Santiago.

The explosion also damaged some nearby houses, Radio Cooperativa said.

Some pamphlets from a group calling itself Kaos Nativo Orquestal were left outside the church, investigators said.

Initial indications are that bomb was fashioned from a fire extinguisher packed with explosives.

The bomb was similar to those used in previous attacks in Temuco and Santiago that were blamed on anarchist groups.

A bomb damaged a bank branch early Saturday in the capital.

More than two dozen bombings have been staged in Chile in the past few years.

Responsibility for the blasts is usually claimed by anarchists or anti-globalization groups, some of them linked to Chile’s disgruntled Mapuche Indians.

A member of one of the anarchist groups linked by authorities to the attacks died in mid-2009 in Santiago when the bomb he was carrying in a backpack exploded while he was riding a bicycle.

A special prosecutor is investigating the bombings, which occur periodically.

The detonator on a bomb planted at the Regional Justice Secretariat in Temuco failed on New Year’s Eve.

Asel Luzarraga, a Spanish writer and front man of an anarchist punk group, was arrested in connection with the failed bombing.

Luzarraga participated in protests supporting Mapuche land claims in the region. EFE

SANTIAGO – A homemade bomb caused damage but no injuries at El Mercurio newspaper’s regional bureau in the coastal city of Viña del Mar, Chilean police said Thursday.

Bomb Damages Offices of Chile’s Major Daily

The explosion occurred at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday and the blast wave extended 30 meters (98 feet).

“The device was placed beside a column of the building and it reached windows of the El Mercurio offices and of contiguous apartments,” police Col. Fernando Bywaters told reporters.

No one was hurt and there has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing, he said.

The blast took place one block from Viña del Mar city hall and in the vicinity of two educational institutions.

Fifteen Chilean anarchists – including one serving time for other offenses – are currently accused of carrying out 23 bombings in Santiago and other cities.

The attacks targeted banks, offices of foreign companies, embassies, churches and police stations, mainly in the capital. The sole fatality was an anarchist killed when a bomb exploded as he was transporting it on a bicycle.

Santiago-based El Mercurio is Chile’s most influential newspaper and a pillar of the Andean nation’s conservative establishment. EFE

Condo development attacked, bank sabotaged in Seattle

www.anarchistnews.org/?q=node/12133

A Bank of America's atm slots were superglued, and a nearby vacant condo development was decorated with graffiti reading:NO CONDOS, NO PRISONS, FOR CHILE (A) An outside hose was also left running into a sliding door in order to flood the lower level. DWELL Development tears down existing homes and replaces them with expensive "eco-friendly" condos that further the gentrification of Seattle's neighborhoods. We find it ludicrous that these condos are located mere blocks from one of the most recent sites of Nickelsville, Seattle's tent city. And, in a world of dying ecosystems, the construction of "extremely energy efficient and environmentally friendly" condos means absolutely nothing.

Bank of America is one of the three joint financial advisers (including Merrill Lynch and Barclays Int.) for GEO Group Corp. The GEO Group Corp. is a private prison firm that is paid millions by the U.S. government to detain undocumented immigrants and other prisoners. This corporation runs the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.
We hold no illusion that these acts of sabotage will cause these corporations to financially collapse tomorrow. Instead, we attack in order to bring about a small rupture in the social fabric of our daily lives, allowing us to express our own personal rage, and knowing that to remain on the offensive is crucial to both our struggle and our spirits.
In solidarity with all prisoners,
In solidarity with our comrades facing heavy repression in Chile,
In solidarity with the victims of police violence in Seattle and everywhere,
- some anarchists

Chile An explosive device was found outside Banco Estado bank in Indepedencia. The device was seen by a man who went to use the atm and called the police who came and disabled it.

CENA Abeneficio de los compañeros presos en Chile +

- FERIAS DE PROPAGANDA - PROYECCIONES VARIAS - NUEVA EDICIONDE: EDICIONES ANARQUIA Y COORD. ANTICARCELARIA DEL RIO DE LA PLATA Título: Autobiografia de un Irreductible Autor: Claudio Lavazza Pags: 188 Precio: $30 CC LA SALA Avellaneda 645 (Caballito) DOMINGO 05/09 – 18.00hs

Hunger Strike Mapuches Demand Negotiations With Government

Monday, 30 August 2010

Physical problems reported Thirty-two imprisoned Mapuche activists reached the 50th day of their hunger strike over the weekend. The Mapuches were jailed for acts of violence under an anti-terrorism law created during the regime of dictator Augusto Pinochet.      The majority are members of CAM (Arauco Malleco Co-ordination), an organization formed in 1998 known for its ongoing attempts to recover Mapuche territory. The activists are held in prisons in Concepción, Temuco, Canete, Lebu, Angol and Valdivia. Some of the prisoners now suffer physical problems. Dr. Nelson Reyes told Radio Co-operativa that several Angol prisoners have colds and pharyngitis, an inflammation of the throat. Prisoners Haiquilaf Cadín Calfunao and Elvis Millán were recently transported to hospitals in Angol and Temuco for urgent medical exams. Both were reported suffering from heart problems. Following treatment they were returned to prison. Rodrigo Curapil, spokesperson for the families of the activists, has asked for negotiations with government officials to bring about a solution to the conflict.  The prisoners have lost between eight and 12 kilograms. On Friday, Amnesty International asked the Chilean government what it was doing about the crisis. The letter, signed by AI’s secretary general, Salil Shetty, said, “This is an occasion that demands that the government takes action in line with its obligation for human rights.”

Tinkunazo Solidario in spanish sorry no english this time...

     Hoy se realizó el Pasacalle por el Barrio Yungai, en solidaridad con lxs compañeros procesadxs y secuestradxs por el capital, anarquistas y mapuches. La actividad contó con un gran número de personas que se sumaron al recorrido en apoyo a lxs compañerxs; se repartieron paskines y se extendieron lienzos que proclamaban la libertad inmediata de quienes están secuestradxs a consecuencia de la aplicación de la ley antiterrorista que tanto aman los guardianes del estado.

     La policía estuvo hostigando todo el tiempo, incluso impidieron, en primera instancia, hacer el recorrido original, que pasaba frente al Centro Social Okupado y Biblioteca Sacco y Vanzetti, pero de todos modos, se consiguió llegar hasta la casa e informar a lxs vecinxs el porque de tan golgorioso carnaval. Se hicieron ollas comunes y varios compañerxs acompañaron la instancia con hip hop, cumbias, trovas y poesías.

     Una vez más, conseguimos demostrarles todo nuestro apoyo a lxs compañerxs, dejando muy en claro que nunca han estado solxs y que les acompañamos en cada momento, con gestos tan pequeños como este.

Porque nadie nunca será tan poderoso como para detenernos.

Que el miedo no destruya la solidaridad…
que la solidaridad destruya el encierro
SECUESTRADXS POR EL ESTADO A LA CALLE !!

Communiqué from Mónica Caballero, anarchist prisoner in Chile

Friday, 27 August 2010

translated from culmine with rage love and solidarity, to be read, corrected and circulated without delay.    sysiphus-angrynewsfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/communique-from-monica-caballero.html

27/08/2010 - Chile
All the insurgents:
The hegemony of power came on the scene on August 14, around 7 am, when agents of the GOPE enetered the place where I live or lived, the squatted house "La Crota", destroying the gate of our library, the CDAI (Centro de Documentación Anarquista Itinerant) by linking it to a machine and pulling it away. Hearing the noise I just made it in time to go into the courtyard where police, armed to the teeth and with their characteristic arrogance, blocked me.
Later I was taken to a room where they read out the accusations for which I continue to be held. During the same procedure my hands were submitted to an examination, in search for traces of explosives. This examination was carried out without my knowing anything without anything being explained: a huge mistake on my part. The same examination was made against two other people who were in my beloved home: Vinicio Aguilera and Diego Morales, and is the only evidence that they have to accuse them. I tried to greet my fellow humans, canines and felines. One of my 4-legged comrades never stopped barking at the police. He never moved away from us. I stroked him and headed toward the front of the house, Biblioteka (CDAI), which was destroyed like a classic postcard of the totalitarian regimes. At that moment I was handcuffed, handcuffs that were my company for several hours on several occasions. In coming out from my beloved place, that the prosecutor would have described as "power centre", the press try to snap the perfect photo of the "bombers". They just received our deepest contempt. With my head never bowed I took the opportunity to shout slogans for the Mapuche prisoners, those who are currently on hunger strike. In the police car I was able to pick up on what news was being spread.
When I reached 33 ° Commissariat I found several others in my same situation and more who were continuing to arrive. There are 14 of us. The courtroom hearings for the control of the generalities was full of comrades, friends, affini, relatives, brothers, who like us felt uncertainty. Illicit terrorist association and placing of explosive devices are the accusations against us. The formalization will be Tuesday. In coming out of the courtroom we managed to hear cries full of rage and anger from our people. Cries that deeply moved us and gave us strength for what was to come. We are not alone! Your actions and your attitude fills me with pride! Waiting until the formalization of the charges was eternal. Isolated, without any news, and not even a pencil. When the day arrived after Power had tried to leave us as long as possible in prison, through bars and handcuffs we managed to touch the hands of our comrades and shout a few words. During the hearing only one family member was allowed entry for each accused. The Church has associated with the Fiscalía Sur (the prosecution - NDT) and the Ministry of the Interior. The Prosecutor Alejandro Peña began with eloquence to expose the foundations of the Illicit Terrorist Association (which only exists in his head). According to him, the organization is informal, democratic and horizontal. At least this definition made us smile. So many years of investigation for such a complicated resolution?
What a precarious mentality for such honourable officials. Then, they continue with the evidence for each defendant: items such as books, photographs, written words, phone tapping, computers, pens, videos, posters and probably this same statement will be at the root of our dangerousness. As if the circus was not enough already, in a gesture both Machiavellian and morbid the respected attorney shows photos of Mauricio Morales who died after the explosion of the device destined for the school for prison screws in May 2009. He tried to wound us, but has only fueled our hatred.
A great element of proof would be the declaration of Gustavo Fuentes Aliaga, alias "El Grillo" narco-trafficker who on 31 December 2008 stabbed the comrade Candelaria Cortez-Monroy seven times. The court ordered 180 days of investigation.
But already we are no longer 14, but 8. 6 comrades remain kidnapped in the cells of capital. A strong hug to them. Four judges and years of investigations were not enough to find new items to mount an artifice of such proportions, leaving us in prison like this.
Currently I'm in SEAS (High Security Section) of the CPF (Female Penitentiary Centre) of Santiago. I shall continue with my vegan diet. The struggle against domination does not compromise up until the final consequences.
Proud of what I am and of my comrades, I embrace every act of solidarity and rebellion. They will not silence me. No more than the individual can and must fight for their freedom, nothing can move them but their heart.
May the wilderness protect the dear felines running on the rooftops and may a night of black auspices never come.
To everyone today and always: "Neither God nor master"
With a heart in pieces, but beating stronger than ever!!
By putting an end to all exercise of authority and power, make anarchy live.
Mónica Caballero, SEAS, CPF, Santiago, Chile, Anarchist Prisoner

SOLIDARITY ACTIONS FOR THE COMRADES IN CHILE

-On thursday 19^th august there was a gathering outside the consultant of Chile in Buenos Aires Argentina of anarchists and anti-authoritarians in solidarity to the 14 arrested. The road was blocked for half an hour, slogans were sprayed on the walls and leaflets were read with a megaphone for the 14 and for the Mapuche on hunger strike.

Also on thursday the 19^th of august an explosive device was deactivated, made from a fire extinguisher and explosive substances, left outside the 21^st police station in Santiago, Chile.

While in a shopping mall in in the city centre 4 sound bombs went off and leaflets were found near by calling for solidarity to the 14 arrested. 

 On friday 20^th of august there was a gathering outside the consultant of Chile in Cordoba, Spain. 5 people were arrested. -In Barcelona early the same morning, there was an attack at a a prison architecture event and a architects union. Paint was thrown and damage was made.

 The Chilean state has put on guard its embassies and consultants in Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Italy and Greece, since there has been attacks before on some of them.

solidarity to our comrades in Chile! actforfreedomnow! 

Chile - Comunique from prison of arrested comrade Andrea Urzua

sysiphus-angrynewsfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/

translated from culmine with anger, love and solidarity

24/08/2010 - Comrades, friends, brothers, family,
A week has passed since the aggressor of women, the honourable Attorney Peña's, media show, (an allusion to a domestic violence complaint concerning the Chilean Marini - NDT). These have been hard days, far from my family, seeing a science fiction show on TV legitimised by audiences who have only shown how inefficient, ridiculous and barely credible the justice of the rich is.
It all started Saturday, August 14, at 6.50 am. While I was sleeping with my companion and my little daughter I heard a noise that made me think of an earthquake. But no, they were agents of the GOPE that ... were searching the place where I live. It was all very violent, while they were beating, blocking and handcuffing my companion I and my little one had weapons turned on us. A lot of shouting, excited police told us: "quiet, collaborate ... don't move, don't talk ... don't make it difficult" ... in those long seconds I thought I might be killed by those wretches with the little one in my arms ... we didn't understand what it was about ... we asked them to calm down, to show us the search warrant, what were the accusations ...
There was no reason for all the fuss ... we asked them not to aim their weapons as I was with my baby ... we tried once blocked, to calm them down and get them to explain to us what was happening ... a cop appeared, like the others, armed to the teeth, asking me my name, when I tell them who I am he looks satisfied to know ... everything was very stupid, they knew perfectly well that I lived there, knew where I work, the places I frequent, I saw them, they were too obvious ... about two months ago an RP came asking for me to my in-laws' house (where I live) with the excuse that I was a 'victim of VIF', it was obvious that the persecution that had gone on for years had not ended, that strange visit was intended merely to confirm my address. I do not want to present myself as a victim, but nothing can explain the violence of pointing a gun against an 11 month old baby girl,this action is at best despicable and without justification. At 7:45 in comes the Captain ... the one who was in charge of the searches and arrests. Only then did things calm down a bit ... forensic police in white overalls shut themselves in the bedroom where I sleep with my family (a room which, like the rest of the house was searched more than 6 times) they took away books, the computer, our telephones and an infinite number of things that really I do not understand what function they could have in “Operacion SALAMANDRA”. While they were searching every room of the house they were filming us, taking photos ... the captain tells me that my arrest is part of the investigations carried out by the comedian Attorney Peña, the famous Bombas case, investigations going on for four years, with four successive prosecutors, with arrests that led nowhere, that rely exclusively on the declaration of a schizophrenic, narco-trafficker and woman beater called Gustavo Fuentes Aliaga, alias "El Grillo". The accusations against me are: "transport of explosives and illicit terrorist association".
Between 9:30 and 10 they transferred me to 33 ° commissariat where I am "genteelly" received by a high-ranking policeman (without identification) who shouting asks me my name and threatens me with: "Now you'll see that this is not a game" ... the situation started to get heavy when I see "my friends" there too ... the press ... the jubilant cops ... the truth is, the situation was too much ... they try to subject my hand to an examination for signs of explosives, but I refuse because there was no lawyer present ... the show went on, other reporters, other cops, other people ... We are moved (in that place we were already 10) to the control of the arrests. There both the prosecutor and the Ministry of the Interior appear as complainants, for a judge there is donna Alejandra Apablaza who not only did not take our concerns into account, but left the investigations open until Tuesday 17.
I am taken to the high security section of the CPF (central Female Penitentiary) of Santiago, isolated from the other prisoners. On Tuesday, at the hearing for the validation of the arrests, the Catholic church associated itself as a complainant, after the preparation of the police programme that Peña had prepared shows us the "evidence" with which we are accused of illicit terrorist association. Telephone conversations that say nothing compared to the usual calls you can have between friends, videos that can be found on the Internet (made from TV programmes), leaflets, posters ... all public things in anyone's possession. They say we are an illegal association that has an "informal, horizontal and democratic" structure. That the leaders are Pablo and Garza. All the others, we would have a horizontal position, without intermediate leaders or any other position. It is said that our goal is the elimination of capital, the bourgeoisie, the church and any kind of power ... all with only 300 Chilean pesos.

The picture of the body of Punky Mauri after the explosion was shown to us in a Machiavellian sadistic way... and so on without any logic but to arrest us, trying to close the space of solidarity with political prisoners, counter-cultural spaces ( some of them defined by the prosecutor as "power centres") and all that is against the government, the system and power. I always thought that with the rise to power of Piñera all those against the fascist government of the bosses would be struck, but I never imagined that this would happen with such stupid, vulgar tricks. In fact the evidence is so rude and crude that it would not surprise me if this letter was seen as another proof against me. There are many things in my head, there are many ideas, so much anger and so much love ... kidnapping is the word I have in mind, I am another who has been kidnapped ... they are keeping me away from my family and friends only for being what I am: one that is convinced of the idea, an ironclad solidarity, one that thinks, one that criticises ... actually, as I once read: "Solidarity is a powerful weapon" and it is obvious that they fear it. When I got to know the struggle I fell in love with her. You can speak of madness, but it is my beautiful madness ... I struggle for emancipation, I love freedom with my whole being, with all my strength ...
Now it remains only (for the time being) send you much newen (strength in Mapuche language - NDT) thanking you for each one of the demonstrations of affection and support. I ask you to keep your eyes open, because it does not end here, that's obvious. A strong, close and fraternal embrace to each one of you.
ONLY THOSE WHO STRUGGLE LIVE, AND WE ARE MORE ALIVE THAN EVER!!! (I have heard this in these parts)
AKTIVE EFFEKTIVE SOLIDARITY!!! INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!!!
Andrea Urzúa Cid
P.P S.E.A.S. C.P.F.

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY with the 14 kidnapped by the Chilean ’democracy’.

libertadalos14a.blogspot.com/
Welcome to Chile, society of jails and jailers.
This past Saturday the 14th of August, in the cities of Santiago and Valparaíso, an action coordinated by police of all types (special task forces) violently raided three squatted social centers and many private homes in fives communes. The police intimidated people with weapons of war, broke windows and doors, and took many personal items with them from all of the houses.
14 people were detained being informed of the reason for their detention for three hours.
Later? Six people were released on probation for lack of evidence against them. As for the people that remained imprisoned, they were put in isolation cells in maximum security jails where they were awaiting a 180 day long investigation process and potentially a 20 year sentence for alleged illegal terrorist association. They have alleged that these people were involved in making and blowing up the bombs that have erupted lately in the capital. According to the prosecutor, this association was a hierarchical organization directed by key ringleaders.
This supposition is in absolute contradiction with anarchist ideology - most of the kidnapped people have been labeled as anarchists- which is opposed to the concepts of “leaders” and “hierarchies”…
Furthermore, this charade, a perfect outcome for the puppeteers and jailers who desire to keep their power. Above all, this has been the result of those citizens, who like their peace so much and through their deafness and silence, are helping to erase the oppressed, the masquerades, jails, and resignations.....
"The bombs case" is the title that keeps appearing in the headlines of the newspapers like a bad novel, in which the main characters, the Minister/Secretary of the Interior, the prosecutor and his police henchmen are trying to catch the ’undesirable’ anarchists. The beginning of the ’bombs case’ is a police persecutions saga that dates back to the 10th of September, the eve of a historic date in Chile, on which people mourn their dead and disappeared ones from the dictatorship, while others display their discontent with the falseness of a democracy that has not changed much from a dictatorship.
In this context, a molotov bomb was thrown at the house of the government. The images went around the world; the symbol of the concord of democratic parties was blown into pieces; the fraternal unifying factor of the left has been altered. Two weeks later, a vast police contingent raided the squat "la mansión siniestra" and arrested 6 people, who, to their own surprise had become, thanks to the distorting role of the press, an illegal association of "molotov bombs makers", "violent criminals", "vandals". This scenario is the one that the 14 accused comrades were facing.
Back then, the police never thought that evidence was necessary, because the things they seized as alleged bomb making materials were no more than common domestic utensils. These molotovs never existed. During the judiciary process, the 6 antagonists of this story were allegedly the worst moral aberrations; public opinion has given legitimacy to the sentence of up to five years in jail … But OOPS...’mistake’! The accusations were fake, the police’s masquerade had been revealed. Finally, these 6 people did not serve the time they were sentenced. But that’s only after spending 11 days in a high security prison. Just as expected, no institution was held accountable for the irreversible physical and psychological punishments and damages inflicted on the detainees, nor for the personal belongings that were seized from their them and their comrades.
Four years have gone by since this incident, and with its passing, the travesty of justice, the inequalities and the repressions remain the order of the day.
Only to talk about JUST A FEW concrete examples:
According to the survey of "national socio-economic characterization" (CASEN) the economic gap has increased from 13% to 15% since 2006. Meanwhile the administration of the government wants to spend 135 thousand millions of pesos to build, starting this year, 10 new prisons, which would add to the total of more than 16,500 new vacancies in the prison system. It is important to note, according to the sources of the mideplan, that 64% of the prison population are illiterate or have not finished their basic studies and are the poorest and the most marginalized people in Chilean society. This illustrates that the interest of the system is to imprison the most marginal instead of educating them and providing them with the tools for a better life.
These prisons need jailers…
The alliance of ’democratic’ parties was in charge of the government for a decade after the dictatorship, killing 42 people, and helping, instead of changing, the development of the ’political constitution of Chile’ that was created by the dictatorship, strengthening it with reforms and continuing with its tradition of criminalizing social movements and perfecting the Anti-terrorism Law. One of the modifications to the Anti-Terrorism Law was to give policemen a status of ’witnesses of faith’, whereby they frequently do not have to present concrete evidence against the accused, which gives the legal support to the masquerade/ setups for those who represent a threat to the system. Among other barbarities, now in 2010, the turn of the ’coalition for change’ with Sebastian Piñera in power. This regime is pro-dictatorship and a huge collaborator with the establishment of the neoliberal model. Let’s not forget that he was also the one that gave the Chileans the opportunity of having credit cards to live working in order to pay their debts. But above all, nowadays M. Piñera is famous for his campaign ’the Battle against Delinquency’, in which he shows us his support for a policy of more ’security’, in other words, and to be less moderate with the term, jailers that secure the power of their friends the businessmen and capitalists. To make sure that things proceed smoothly, the president will reinforce the repression against historically repressed populations, increasing police personnel to 15000 carabineros and increasing the salaries of civilian police, who have had in the last few months their salaries increased by 18%.
This is how, the ’Battle against Delinquency’, is an exemplary example that shows how the inefficacy of the alliance of political parties has erupted tragically in our lives. Today we become its scapegoats, displayed like pariahs in an outlandish play, in order to legitimize their ventures and win ’moral sympathies’ among the spectators and the right. In this hunt to cover up facts, which have been intentionally invisible in the media, the hunger strike of 32 Mapuche political prisoners, who fight the adversity of Chilean justice and demand their natural rights, is being hidden. Or another omission, the use of cheap, insufficient equipment to attempt the ’rescue’ of 33 miners trapped only a few days earlier this week.
Today, these 14 comrades, among them, anarchists, communicators and social fighters, show solidarity to unjust causes, are involved in open squatted social centers where they sustain libraries, video libraries, gardens, and people who exchange and question ideas and actions in forums and activities conducted in a horizontal manner. These people are automatically criminalized; prosecutors have enough ambiguous evidence to take their freedom away from them. For example, a tapped telephone call where a mother demanded that one of the accused people be taken care of; this was used as evidence against her. The open squatted spaces and the people who are committed to denouncing and transforming on a daily basis their own lives and their society have become more vulnerable to the apprehensions of the state and its prosecutions, which illustrates that this prosecution is also ideological.
Now...Who are the terrorists? .
We make a call to build an international support network for the people imprisoned on the 14th of August. Today more than ever! Internationalists of the world to solidarity and action, to face the kidnappings and lies of the Chilean state!.