Not free& Not Fair

The Human Rights International Project
Chile Today: Not Free & Not Fair
Join the demonstration at 2pm on Friday 4 April
Venue: The Old theatre, Old Building, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE
Nearest tube: Holborn
President Bachelet will be giving a public lecture at the LSE on “Free and Fair: An Agenda for Democratic Transformation in Latin America”.
However the reality is that her government continues to:
- Discriminate, criminalise and victimise Chile’s largest ethnic minority, the native Mapuche people.
- Drive Mapuche’s out of their ancestral lands.
- Promote Pinochet’s policies, allowing the sale of Chile’s natural resources to multinationals that exploit them without consideration for the impact on the indigenous people, workers and the environment.
- Have an appalling human rights record; those responsible and involved in torture, death and disappearance during the Pinochet’s dictatorship are still free.
Human Rights International Project - Londonwww.memoriaviva.com - www.ecomemoria.com
Call Myriam for further information 07903 498 240
Equipo Memoriaviva Proyecto Internacional de Derechos Humanos - Londres (Human Rights International Project - London) www.memoriaviva.com - www.ecomemoria.com

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Chile under Bachelet: Not Free nor Fair

Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile, represents a political coalition who has been in power in Chile since 1990.

Her government continues to consolidate a system that is unfair, discriminatory, and far from democratic. Let’s look at some facts:

The discrimination, criminalisation and dispossession of the largest ethnic minority, the native Mapuche people, continue under the present government. Mapuche are being driven out of their ancestral lands, condemned to poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. They are being labeled criminals for protesting and Pinochet’s anti-terrorist laws are being enforced on them. The police continue to act as they did during the dictatorship by stopping peaceful demonstration, raiding communities and harassing the families. The Police continue to act as personal guards for the landowners. This year, a Mapuche youth, Matias Catrileo, was assassinated by the Chilean police. No one responsible as yet has been tried. The case is being investigated by the military Court set up by the Pinochet’s dictatorship. Only 5 days ago, demonstrators were detained by the police. One of them, Jhonny Cariqueo, was beaten so badly at the police station that two days later he died of cardiac arrest as a product of the beaten. The ILO Convention 169 about the protection to the native people was half approved by the Bachelet government, as it included a clause that virtually invalidates it. So the Chilean government can appear internationally as having approved this crucial convention when in fact nothing will change in Chile.The Bachelet government has continue Pinochet’s policy, to allow foreign capital to buy Chilean natural resources and allow to exploit them without any consideration for the impact on the native people, nor on the environment.

The Government has agreed for a gold mine project “Pascual Lama”, owned by Barrick, to be established in the north of Chile, which will divert two pure water glacials and pollute the rivers. This has been approved without any independent environmental impact study. In the south of Chile, The government is pushing to sell the rich water resources, to companies to build huge presses for hydro energy. This will cause pollution, will drive the native communities out of their land and give no benefit whatsoever to the Chilean people.

The Government allows huge forest, timber and paper pulp companies, to destroy the native forest and its fauna and flora, to plant fast growing foreign trees, which give the maximum yield and profit while destroying the soil and the habitat. These logging and wood pulp companies posses their own private armed guard which are used against the Mapuche people who are claiming to recover their usurped land taken by these companies.

Bachelet’s government allows huge salmon fisheries, to be established in Chile, without any limitations. The workers of such companies are paid low salaries, work in inhuman conditions and have no right to set up trade unions. Salmon fisheries from Norway establish themselves in Chile and deny the Chilean workers any of the work conditions and rights, enjoyed by the Norwegian workers in Europe. The Chilean Government finds this situation acceptable. The human’s right record for this government is not impressive. Most of those responsible involving torture, death and disappearance during the Pinochet’s dictatorship, are actually free. In fact, just a few months ago it was discovered that Bachelet’s Government had promoted to General of the Army an officer involved in human rights violations.

The list can go on, however, if you think that President Bachelet represents a democratic, thriving and fair country, we urge you to spare a thought for those who disagree, notably, the Mapuche people, the victims and relatives of past and present violations of human rights, the Chilean workers, in fact, the Chilean poor, who make up the large proportion of the country.

International Project of Human Rights – London
Please visit www.ecomemoria.com – www.memoriaviva.com