SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Four Chilean opposition lawmakers yesterday joined a hunger strike by indigenous Mapuche inmates protesting “terror” charges, increasing pressure on the government to talk to the prisoners.
An anti-terror law established during Chile’s 1973-1990 military dictatorship allows state prosecutors to define as terrorism a variety of acts including arson, destroying private property and clashing with police, bringing harsh sentences.
The leftist lawmakers, members of a human rights commission in the lower house of Congress, have demanded President Sebastian Pinera’s conservative government begin talks with 34 inmates to end a two-month fast that has caused them to lose up to 40 pounds (18 kilos) each, congressional aides said.
Pinera proposed legislation to Congress this week that aims to forbid civilians and minors from being tried in military courts, and to reduce sentences under the anti-terror statutes.
However, his government has refrained from direct talks with prisoners to avoid setting a precedent, officials said.
The Mapuche strikers want their charges under the anti-terror law dropped and called for even deeper reforms to the law, which has been subject to broad interpretation.
Clashes between Mapuche villagers and the police have become increasingly violent in recent years with some indigenous people setting fire to crops, trucks and forestry machinery in their battle to reclaim ancestral lands.
Chilean police action against the Mapuche has drawn the criticism of some human rights groups, who blame authorities for discrimination and using undue force.
