March 15-23, 2012
Standing with the Chilean Student Movement for the Right to Education and with the Mapuche People in their Struggle to Recover Ancestral Lands
In Chile, massive and growing student protests are captivating hearts and minds throughout Latin America. Courageous high school and college students are challenging the Pinochet-era privatization policies in education.
In a national plebiscite of a million voters, 80% supported the students' demands for free public education.
In a parallel struggle, the Mapuche indigenous people -Chile's original peoplecontinue trying to recover their ancestral lands. They currently have access to only 5% of these lands. Many have been imprisoned and mistreated. Currently there are 18 Mapuche political prisoners and 44 on conditional release.
Both the student and Mapuche protests have been brutally suppressed by Chilean security forces. During the seventeen-year Pinochet dictatorship, 3000 people were killed or disappeared by SOA graduates. Now a new generation of Chileans is leading the country in the continuing struggle for just and lasting change.
The Chilean branch of SOA WATCH will host a delegation from March 15-23, 2012, to experience the hopeful resistance of students and the Mapuche people. The rich history of Chilean culture will include a focus on poet Pablo Neruda and singer/songwriter Victor Jara. Participants will visit Santiago and Valparaiso, led by SOA WATCH Communications Coordinator for Latin America, Pablo Ruiz, a former political prisoner and survivor of torture under the Pinochet regime.
Cost: $1,200
For more information, please contact Lisa Sullivan: lsullivan@soaw.org
Source: SOA Watch