The hunger strike of the jailed Chilean fighters continues


Santiago, December 4, 2008. Public communiqué.

For a long time now, there has been a significant number of fellow political prisoners on hunger strike in the prisons of Chile and Argentina. This is the current situation of the following companeros:




 MARCELO PATRICIO ZULUAGA SALGADO, ALBERTO OLIVARES FUENZALIDA, SERGIO VASQUEZ BARRIENTOS: prisoners in Santiago, Chile; on hunger strike since October 23, 2008.

 MARCELO DOTT and ESTEBAN HUINIGUIR: incarcerated in Santiago de Chile High Security Prison, on hunger strike since November 10, 2008.

 MARCELO VILLARROEL, FREDDY FUENTEVILLA: prisoners in solitary confinement in the unit No. 11 of the Prison of Neuquen, Argentina; on hunger strike since November 17, 2008.

 AXEL OSORIO: imprisoned at the High Security Prison, on hunger strike since November 24, 2008.

Due to the severe situation and to the profound ignorance about the issue, fostered by the media trying to hide the open repression over social activists and to misinform about the terrorism of the police state, we denounce that the fellow-prisoners locked up in Chilean jails are constantly harassed, tortured physically and psychologically, receiving a totally undignified and abusive treatment, punished in a permanent fashion, and without access to none of the rights that any imprisoned person in these places are supposed to have guaranteed.

Within the present context, our demands are the following:

1 . Reunification of all political prisoners and inmates with subversive links in the past within the same section, where they can live as long as their convictions last, which is a demand of particular relevance because among them there is a historical affinity that would benefit both their everyday life as a whole as well as their integrity with respect to the rest of the prison population.

The latter would also mean an opportunity for them have access to workshops, study in the library and academic visits as well as benefit from certain advantages within the prison which can not be accessed by inmates on punishment modules.

2 - End of social isolation in which they find themselves, through the extension of visits by friends, acquaintances and family members which are not being currently permitted.

3 .- Availability of mineral water, juices and other critical elements needed to successfully carry on with the hunger strike without exposing themselves to vital risks which has been repeatedly denied by the guards and the repressive forces.

4 .-The appointment of an independent medical team to check in detail and
reliably the health state of these political prisoners on hunger strike.

5 .-To hold a hearing with the Director of National Gendarmerie, Alejandro Jimenez, in order to raise the requirements mentioned above, right in theory awarded by law to
theory, any prisoner, but that has however, been denied to them.

With respect to the fellow prisoners in Neuquen, Argentina, we know that they are
detained in solitary confinement and in precarious conditions, permanently tortured and punished at any time whether during the day or night; subjected to a 20-hours a day confinement in a “container of people” called "el buzon" (the mailbox); without the right to stay in spend some time in the courtyard; without access to daylight; isolated from the rest of the prison population, without having any access to information from the press, newspapers, magazines, radio, etc.;

They have also been denied visits from organizations and institutions intended to verify the situation, such as the International Red Cross and other human rights organisations. To make it even worse, the lawyer who represents them is only allowed to visit them for 30 minutes a week and separately (one by one).

Before all that has been said above, we demand they to be treated under dignified conditions of detention while their cases are seen, and that they are granted political refuge in Argentina, since in Chile there are no guarantees for any sort of proper trial and they are being prosecuted and incriminated on the grounds of loads of false evidences, fabricated by military prosecutors, backed by civilian judges and aired by the mass media circus of official and private press.



THE HUNGER STRIKE CONTINUES UNTIL OUR FRIENDS MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD, UNTIL THESE OBJECTIVES ARE ACHIEVED.

THEIR STRUGGLE IS FOR A NEW AND BETTER LIFE IN A CLASSELESS SOCIETY, AND FOR THIS AIM THEY GIVE ALL THEY HAVE, THEIR OWN LIFES.

FIGHTERS TO THE STREET!!!!

COORDINATION FOR FREEDOM.