Chile Solidarity

 

The following letter was created by: Exile Members of the Chilean Navy, Wallmapu Support Committee, La Peña Cultural Center, Ex Political Prisoners from Chile (San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland), University Students, Professors, Artists, Union Members, Cultural Workers and Activists in Northern California.

October 28, 2019

Chileans in the United States in Support of the Peoples’ Uprising in Chile 

It is with great sadness and concern that we witness the repression, militarization, and criminalization by which President Sebastian Piñera and his government have been responding to the people’s uprising in Chile. 

People in Chile are expressing their frustration, anguish, and discontent with the Chilean socio-political and economic system, which has failed to overcome the structural inequality that pervades the country. What we are witnessing is a  legitimate crisis of the institutional structure that should have been working for the people, but has instead served as the principal means through which the traditional political parties have protected their power over the past thirty years.

We, a community of Chileans and allies living in the United States, many of whom experienced first-hand the atrocious consequences of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, are deeply worried about the human rights violations perpetrated by the police and, especially, by the military against the people in Chile. According to the information provided by the National Institute of Human RIghts (INDH), there are more than 3200 detainees; more than 300 of them are children or teenagers. There are more than 90 lawsuits presented by the agency against illegal detentions, 17 of which are for sexual violence against female detainees. But even worse, there are more than 20 human beings that have lost their lives, at least five of which were perpetrated by state agents. 

We are also dismayed by the impressive and bleak inability of the government to respond to the people’s demands and manage the crisis. We express our total rejection of the government’s decision to deploy military troops to respond, fight, and repress their own people, and we demand their immediate return to the barracks. 

The organizations that sign below wish to express their support and solidarity with our people. We also acknowledge that the abuse of power and human rights violations we have witnessed the past week, have been the reality lived by many Mapuche communities in the past two decades. We demand that President Piñera end the war strategy it has imposed by criminalizing the legitimate demonstrations today throughout the country, as well as the end of militarization in the Mapuche territory. 

It is the responsibility of the government to ensure a space for dialogue in which the Chilean people can express their legitimate demands. These include, but are not limited to, a new constitution drafted and adopted through a democratic process and significant reforms to the tax, pension, health, transportation, and educational systems, among many other institutional and social changes that need to be implemented. We also demand that proper investigations be conducted to establish the criminal and political responsibilities of all deaths and human rights violations. 

With this letter we seek your support to pressure the Chilean government and its political and economic elites. The world is watching and we will not hesitate to denounce injustices and take action in support of our fellow Chileans.

Signed by the following organizations and individuals of Northern California: 

La Peña Cultural Center 

Wallmapu Support Committee

Exile Members of the Chilean Navy 

Ex Political Prisoners from Chile (San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland)

University Students, Professors, Artists, Union Members, Cultural Workers and Activists

 

Co-signed by:  

– Latino Community Foundation – San Francisco

– A Day Without Immigrants SF – San Francisco

– Do No Harm – San Francisco

– Colombia Conexión – San Francisco

– CARECEN –  San Francisco

– Boricuas en Berkeley – UC Berkeley

– UAW Local 2865 – Berkeley

– Steven C Pitts, Associate Chair, UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education – Berkeley

– Peace and Justice in Wallmapu Working Group – UC Berkeley

– La Peña Community Chorus – Berkeley

– Diversity Studies at California College of the Arts

– NYU Graduate Student Organizing Committee-UAW 2110

– Columbia Academic Workers for a Democratic Union – New York

– No New Jails – New York

– Frente Amplio – New York

– Stand with Wallmapu – Philadelphia

– Collective Indigenous 215 – Philadelphia

– Food Chain Workers Alliance – Chicago

– Growing Together -Chicago

– Justicia en Ayotzinapa – Chicago

– Pilsen Alliance – Chicago

– Seattle Revolutionary Socialists 

– Stop Veolia – Seattle

– Solidarity without Borders – Seattle

– Eugene for Chile and Wallmapu Solidarity Committee (EFCHWSC) – Eugene, OR

– Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution

– Edelo Migrante

– American Indian Movement West – California

– Wallmapu Support International   

– GAIA USA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) 

– Chiapas Support Committee – Oakland