On Sept. 6, Chile's Senate voted 20-13 with two abstentions against a bill introduced by Socialist senator Alejandro Navarro which would have granted conditional release to jailed Mapuche activists. In May, four Mapuche political prisoners ended a 70-day hunger strike on the promise that the bill would be approved. Navarro said the bill sought to "correct an injustice" imposed on the Mapuche activists when they were given harsh sentences under a widely criticized anti-terrorism law. (Adital, Sept. 11; La Nacion, Sept. 6; El Mostrador, Sept. 6)

From Weekly News Update on the Americas, Sept. 17

See our last posts on Chile and the Mapuche struggle.