Chile: Indigenous leader on hunger strike hospitalized: Machi Celestino Córdova
The health and life of Mapuche Indigenous spiritual leader Machi Celestino Córdova, imprisoned since 2014 in Temuco, central Chile, is at risk after having spent more than 90 days on hunger strike, which he started in protest after the authorities denied him access to his ceremonial altar.
UA: 75/18 Index: AMR 22/8251/2018 Chile Date: 19 April 2018
URGENT ACTION
INDIGENOUS LEADER ON HUNGER STRIKE HOSPITALIZED
The health and life of Mapuche Indigenous spiritual leader Machi Celestino Córdova,
imprisoned since 2014 in Temuco, central Chile, is at risk after having spent more than
90 days on hunger strike, which he started in protest after the authorities denied him
access to his ceremonial altar.
Machi Celestino Córdova is a spiritual leader of the Indigenous Mapuche people who has been confined in the
Prison Compliance Centre of Temuco, Chile, since his conviction in 2014 in connection to the Luchsinger-Mackay
case. He is a Machi, who are the highest religious authority of the Mapuche people.
His role as a Machi requires that he periodically visit his rewe (or ceremonial altar) to carry out renewal
ceremonies, which are essential to guaranteeing the Mapuches’ psychic and physical well-being. However, the
Chilean Gendarmerie (prison authorities) have denied several times his formal requests for a 48-hour transfer to
his rewe for these purposes.
In response to this, Machi Celestino Córdova began a liquid hunger strike on 13 January 2018, to demand the
authorities grant his request. He was hospitalized in the Regional Hospital of Temuco on the afternoon of 18 April
because of his serious health condition. That same day, he announced his intention to begin a dry hunger strike -
refusing to consume any liquids - in an effort to force the authorities to recognize his right as a Machi. This situation
is extremely worrying due to his complex medical condition.
In its 2016 country visit report on Chile, the United Nations Sub-committee on Prevention of Torture expressed
concern about the denial of Mapuche detainees’ rights to practice their beliefs in accordance with their worldview
by, for example, using ancestral methods to heal ailments, and recommended the Chilean authorities guarantee
cultural tradition and customs in accordance with international standards.
Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:
■ Calling on the authorities to allow Machi Celestino Córdova to visit his rewe for the 48-hours he requires, to
ensure that his right to observe his spiritual beliefs, cultural traditions and customs is protected;
■ Calling on them to review his prison conditions to further facilitate him and other imprisoned Mapuche
people the right to live according to their beliefs, customs and culture while they are imprisoned;
■ Calling on them to ensure that any and all medical treatment provided to Machi Celestino Córdova is done
with his informed consent and wishes, and that no unwanted treatment or force feeding is executed that may
amount to torture and other ill treatment.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 31 MAY 2018 TO:
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights
Hernán Larraín Fernández
Morandé 107
Santiago de Chile, Chile.
Tel/Fax: +56 (2) 2674 3100
Email: srios@minjusticia.gov.cl
Salutation: Dear Minister/ Estimado
Señor Ministro
Gendarmerie National Director
Claudia Bendeck Inostroza
Rosas 1264, 4° piso
Santiago de Chile, Chile
Tel/Fax: +56 (2) 2916 3250 / 3251
Email: patricia.roman@gendarmeria.cl
Salutation: Dear Director/ Estimada
Señora Directora
And copies to:
Amnistía Internacional Chile
Email: info@amnistia.cl
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
INDIGENOUS LEADER ON HUNGER STRIKE HOSPITALIZED
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
On 4 January 2013, the elderly couple Vivian Mackay and Werner Luchsinger were killed in an arson attack by a group of
individuals that reportedly entered their property in the Araucanía Region. Minutes later, the Machi Celestino Córdova was
detained near the scene, and was later accused of homicide under the Chilean Counter-Terrorism Act. In 2014, the judiciary
dismissed the terrorist charges and condemned him to 18 years imprisonment for homicide induced by arson.
Since then, the Machi Celestino Córdova has formally requested a transfer several times to visit his rewe or altar, a spiritual
action essential for all Machi people. The continuous refusal to grant him permission has caused him several physical afflictions
and ailments.
Even though there are records of previous cases where the Gendarmerie has granted the transfer to imprisoned Mapuche
people, in the case of the Machi Celestino Córdova, the authorities have proved to be reluctant. They have argued that the
Chilean Decree on Prisons does not allow such actions, and that the officials’ physical safety could not be guaranteed due to
the climate of violence in the area where this religious ceremony would take place.
Amnesty International considers this approach to be inconsistent as well as an infringement of international human rights
standards as established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 27); the International Labour
Organization Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (art. 5); and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (arts. 11, 12, 31 and 34).
The Mapuche people are an American Indigenous group that inhabits southern Chile and southwest Argentina. They have been
fighting in defence of their ancestral lands throughout Chile’s history. Even though the State of Chile recognizes the existence of
Mapuche territories, their size has been progressively reduced, which has severely increased tensions in those regions such as
the Araucanía, where Mapuche people continue claiming the ownership of their territory and the respect to their cultural identity.
Name: Machi Celestin Córdova
Gender: m
UA: 75/18 Index: AMR 22/8251/2018 Issue Date: 19 April 2018