Facundo Jones Huala, leader of the Mapuche Ancestral Resistance (RAM), has been extradited this Thursday from Argentina to Chile to comply with a pending sentence that he had with the Chilean justice system. The operation takes place a month after the Argentine Supreme Court confirmed a decision initially made by the Bariloche Court, which had been appealed by the defense.
Jones Huala was transferred from Esquel airport, in the southern Argentine province of Chubut, to the city of Valdivia, in southern Chile, where he arrived around 10:40 a.m. In Chile, he must go directly 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 Judiciary. The complete process was ordered by the Argentine Ministers of Security, Patricia Bullrich, and of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, as published by Clarion.
The 37-year-old man, born in Argentina, was sentenced in 2018 to nine years in prison for setting fire to a house and carrying firearms in the Chilean town of Río Bueno, in the Chilean region of Los Ríos. In 2022 he was granted conditional freedom, in a resolution that was revoked by the Chilean Supreme Court. He was then a fugitive until he was arrested in January 2023 in southern Argentina. Jones Huala intended to serve his sentence in Unit 14 of Esquel, carrying out various demonstrations—including a hunger strike—to prevent his transfer to Chile.
The left-wing government of President Gabriel Boric a few months ago activated the extradition request for its Argentine counterpart so that Facundo Jones Huala could be sent to Chile to face the remaining months of his sentence. “Of course we are interested in ensuring that there is no impunity. Therefore, we want him to be extradited so that he can serve the corresponding sentence,” said the Chilean Undersecretary of the Interior, the socialist Manuel Monsalve, in August. Five months ago, when the Argentine justice system decided to accept the Chilean request and extradite Huala, the Chilean Prosecutor's Office agreed with the decision and expressed its hope that the Argentine Supreme Court would resolve as soon as possible.
The man has been accused of participating in various sabotage actions carried out 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 located in the Patagonia area. “We are tired of oppression, the dispossession of taking our lands and having them kill us and arrest us whenever they want. “My cry of resistance generated some hope in the people who began to mobilize to recover their lands,” he said.
In Argentina, Huala became known for leading the Mapuche occupation of 500 hectares of the more than 900,000 that the Italian businessman Luciano Benetton owns in Patagonia. The conflict in Patagonia generates constant conflicts, many of them violent, over the land claims made by the native communities.
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