Facundo Jones Huala, leader of the Mapuche Ancestral Resistance (RAM), was extradited from Argentina to Chile this Thursday to comply with an outstanding ruling by the Chilean justice system. The operation comes a month after Argentina's Supreme Court confirmed a ruling originally made by the Bariloche court, which the defense had appealed.
Jones Huala was taken from Esquel airport in southern Argentina's Chubut province to the city of Valdivia in southern Chile, where he arrived around 10:40 a.m. In Chile he has to go straight to prison to serve “the remainder of the sentence,” which is one year, four months and 17 days. During the trip he was accompanied by Carabineros personnel and representatives of the Chilean justice system. The entire process was ordered by Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and Interior Minister Guillermo Francos, as published by Clarín.
The 37-year-old Argentine-born man was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2018 for setting fire to a house and carrying firearms in the Chilean town of Río Bueno, in Chile's Los Ríos region. In 2022, he was granted conditional freedom in a decision that was revoked by Chile's Supreme Court. He then went on the run until he was arrested in southern Argentina in January 2023. Jones Huala intended to serve his sentence in Unit 14 of Esquel and staged various demonstrations – including a hunger strike – to prevent his transfer to Chile.
The moment in which the Mapuche activist Facundo Jones Huala (right) prepares to be extradited this Thursday in Esquel, Chubut province (Argentina) – (EFE/Argentine Ministry of Security)
The left-wing government of President Gabriel Boric activated the extradition request for its Argentine counterpart a few months ago so that Facundo Jones Huala could be sent to Chile, where he must serve the remaining months of his prison sentence. “Of course we are interested in ensuring that there is no impunity. That is why we want him to be extradited so that he can serve the appropriate sentence,” Chilean Interior Minister, socialist Manuel Monsalve, said in August. When the Argentine judiciary decided five months ago to grant the Chilean request and extradite Huala, the Chilean prosecutor's office agreed with the decision and expressed the hope that the Argentine Supreme Court would decide as quickly as possible.
The man is accused of participating in various sabotage operations by extremist groups from both South American countries. He was first arrested in Argentina in 2017 and extradited to Chile a year later. In an interview with EL PAÍS in 2017, the Lonco (as the Mapuche chiefs are called) justified his actions against the companies and landowners based in the Patagonia region. “We are tired of the oppression, the dispossession that takes away our land and lets us be killed and arrested whenever they want. My cry of resistance gave some hope to the people who began to mobilize to reclaim their land,” he said.
In Argentina, Huala became known for leading the Mapuche occupation of 500 hectares of the more than 900,000 hectares owned by Italian businessman Luciano Benetton in Patagonia. The conflict in Patagonia results in ongoing conflicts, many of them violent, over the land claims of native communities.