by La Vaca, Monday November 01, 2004 at 11:33 AM Selva Sánchez, Elsa Orosco and Sandra Constancio, three of the 6 imprisoned for demanding genuine work have gone on hunger strike since October 26th. They demand better conditions of imprisonment and the agreement, signed by the provincial authorities that promises the creation of 250 work places. Mauricio Pelancho, another of those under arrest, is thinking about resorting to force.


The three women, who are only drinking water, are demanding that the judge (1) overseeing the case, Marcelo Bailaque, allows the transfer of Federico Jorge Mansilla -another of those under arrest-as he is being maltreated in the seccional primera jail of Caleta Olivia where he was living along with normal prisoners. The request had already been put in more than one month ago, but it was never granted. The judge argued that the transfer depends on the availability of police, while the Police argue that they did not receive any order from the judge.

The arrestees also demanded a better deal:

- They can only talk on the phone with their relatives an hour per day between 9 and 10pm, but as that time coincides with the moment of the changing of the guard, they can’t make calls

- Their correspondence is being read or they are forced to read it in front of police personnel.

- The relatives that agree to visit them are prevented from doing so, included their under age children.

Before they began the hunger strike, their defence lawyers had taken these complaints to judge Bailaque, who promised to intercede. But regardless, nothing changed.

The hunger strike is also to demand the fulfilment of the covenant signed by the local government promising to create work-places for the unemployed of Coveta. Between the 19th and 26th of August, 200 more demonstrators occupied the City Hall and the playa de tanques (2) of the oil consortium Terminales Marítimas Patagónicas (TERMAP) with just one demand: genuine work. The two protests were carried out after the agreement with authorities, who promised to hire 250 people (and pay them 840 pesos more each plus family salaries and other rights guaranteed by law) and to implement a public workplan that included the creation of thousands of work- positions for three years and an 10 million peso investment from the Province.

The agreement, which was never fulfilled carries six signatures: those of Constancio, Perancho, Orosco and Sánchez -the four prisoners-; that of María Elena Osses –presently being processed- and the last one is that of the leader Fernando Cotillo, free.

Bailaque processed 44 people after the occupations and -a week after the protests finished- ordered the detention of 21, in a case that rejected the testimonies of those implicated -even of those of Iglesias and Mansilla, who were not even in the occupations- and took as evidence, articles from the newspapers Crónica y La prensa and intelligence reports with photos that were not even taken there, but were scanned from other places.

And so three men and three women were sentenced to preventative prison and are still detained for their ‘determined and leading role’ in the events. In the judgement, they stand accused of ‘usurpation, impediment of public functions, illegitimate prevention of freedom and slowing of economic activity’. If they are denied freedom and all the figures are added up – in what specialists and human rights organizations considered an unacceptable enforcement of the Penal Code – the prisoners could spend 16 years in prison.

anticopyright
these notes can be freely reproduced, wholly or partially (as long as they are not intended for commercial ends) although we would be grateful if you quote the source

translator’s notes:

(1) juez de instrucción. sorry I don’t know how to translate this fully.
(2) I think this is a fuel storage/distribution area.