From Unit 6 of Rawson, where he has been detained for two months, Mapuche lonko Pablo Colhuan Nahuel gave an extensive interview to the media Prosa Urgente, in which he reconstructed the circumstances of his detention and denounced political persecution, institutional violence, and criminalization by the national state and the provincial governments of Río Negro and Chubut. Colhuan was detained in the vicinity of the Ranquil Huao area, while trying to walk about 40 kilometers to see his children. He assured that the harassment continued once he was housed in Unit 6, where he currently shares a pavilion with lonko Facundo Jones Huala. Colhuan also explained that he is going through a process to be recognized as lonko of the Lafken Winkul Mapu lof and that the judicial case against him is for the alleged usurpation of a plot of land adjacent to the recovered territory where in 2017 Rafael Nahuel was murdered during a repressive operation carried out by the Argentine Prefectura Naval. In this context, the lonko explains the context of his detention, framed in a serious situation of collective persecution that his people suffer: "what is sought is to discipline and send a message to those who organize and resist," he pointed out. Colhuan's detention adds to other recent cases in Chubut. Colhuan Nahuel denounced harassment, mistreatment, and the criminalization of his identity and his territorial struggle. The Mapuche lonko Pablo Colhuan has been detained in Rawson for two months and was transferred more than 1,200 kilometers from his place of residence. From there he was taken to the local police station, then to a police dependency in El Maitén, and finally transferred to Unit 6 of Rawson, more than 1,200 kilometers from Bariloche, the city where he usually resides. In the interview, the Mapuche leader denounced that during that operation he was "taken as a trophy" by the State: filmed, humiliated, and mistreated for the mere fact of being Mapuche. According to his account, the police found him dehydrated and transferred him to the Cushamen rural hospital. "It is a decision that has to do with my dignity and the need for my rights to be respected," he affirmed. Complete interview: available on Prosa Urgente.
