Supporter of Mapuche protest camp disappears after being arrested in Argentina

[sandensea]

Members of rural Mapuche community of Cushamen, in southwestern Argentina, and the Chubut Province Remembrance Commission (CPM) reported yesterday that an activist has disappeared after a protest crackdown last Tuesday by the National Gendermerie, the country's federal militarized police force.

The activist, 28 year-old Santiago Maldonado, had arrived at the site the previous day to lend his support to the Mapuche protest camp, which had been organized last week to demonstrate against the arrest of their leader Facundo Jonas Huala in June.

Witnesses report seeing Maldonado beaten by officers as he clung to a tree, and then taken away in a Gendarmerie vehicle.

The protest camp was ordered cleared on the day of Maldonado's arrest by Judge Guido Otranto. Otranto had been condemned by the Mapuche Community and human rights groups for ordering a similar crackdown in January which injured numerous protesters with rubber bullets.

Nine other protesters had been arrested that day; but were later released. Despite inquiries by his family, Maldonado's whereabouts remain unknown.

The CPM filed a Habeas Corpus petition for Maldonado, and wrote a formal letter of inquiry to Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and President Mauricio Macri. Bullrich's chief adviser, Pablo Nocetti, personally supervised the August 1 crackdown, according to witnesses.

"Santiago's disappearance is the responsibility of the national and provincial governments," CPM president Víctor Mendibil said.

Argentina's Mapuche community has protested over the last two years against ongoing land purchases in ancestral areas by Italian businessman Luciano Benetton. Benetton has reportedly purchased over 3,400 mi² across the windswept Patagonia region since 1991; the disputed area covers around 1,500 acres (2.3 mi²).

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicargentina.com%2Fnotas%2F201708%2F22064-una-comunidad-mapuche-de-chubut-denuncia-que--hay-un-desaparecido-tras-represion-de-gendarmeria.html

Santiago Maldonado

[Judi Lynn]

1. Oh, wow. He's probably not going to surface, either, is he?

Beaten while trying to hold fast to a tree to keep from being snatched and driven off to be tortured, just like the good old days.

This will probably have absolutely no humane ending at all.

They have been through this living hell before in Argentina.

Who is Benetton?

The Italian fashion brand Benetton is well known for it's 'provocative'
promotion campaigns that appear to be socially critical.

But the internationally operating company is itself involved in dirty deals.

In south Argentina, Benetton has bought almost one million hectare of land.

The local population, mostly Mapuche indigenous people, are forcefully removed from this area.
They are calling for solidarity and action against Benetton.



Mr. Luciano Benetton.
“We’ve opted for a concrete quality and quantity contribution”, said the businessman.


However Argentine Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel has consistently claimed that the Benetton group “usurped” territory from the Mapuche Indian.

“You have taken advantage of your money and the complicity of an unscrupulous judge to deprive land from humble Mapuche families”, said the Argentine human rights campaigner who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1980.

A contentious involving 385 hectares out of a total 900.000 purchased to the Argentine government was favourable to the Benetton group. Mr. Perez Esquivel argues that the Mapuches are the “legitimate proprietors, even when they don’t have the documents crediting possession”. Benetton invited Perez Esquivel to talk about the issue and rejected the “feudal lord” adjective used by the human rights activist. “Our investment in Patagonia represents a challenge for us which will contribute to develop the regio

More:
http://www.mapuche.nl/english/benetton.htm






https://www.biography.com/.image/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_300,q_80,w_300/MTE1ODA0OTcxODk0NjA1MzI1/luciano-benetton-12127596-1-402.jpg

Luciano Benetton. Or is it George Washington?





Long Island home of Ira Rennert, owner of Doe Run Company in La Oroya, Peru





Why, when people steal land, use it in evil ways
in the Americas, do they look like George Washington?

SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
Is One of the World’s Richest Men Also One of Its Worst Polluters?
by Sam Savage

Read more at http://www.redorbit.com/news/entertainment/1568159/is_one_of_the_worlds_richest_men_also_one_of/#GDzfOYTv6RW4Q2jD.99

[sandensea]

2. Signore Benetton no doubt wishes Patricia Bullrich had been more careful

A disappearance at the hands of Bullrich's thugs, in a country known for having 30,000 disappeared within living memory, is terrible PR indeed - seeing as it was done at his behest.

Businessmen would do well not to ask Frau Bullrich for any crackdowns, as PepsiCo learned recently. They just bring out the Nazi in her.

As your links noted, Benetton has 900,000 hectares (2.4 million acres) across Patagonia; that's like Delaware and Rhode Island combined. These 600 ha (1,500 acres) in dispute should have been an easy call for him - especially seeing as they're sacred lands.

Thanks as always for your research, Judi. I'll post an update if the activist surfaces - though after four days, it's starting to look as though he was in fact killed, and Bullrich is trying to hide it.