Elena Varela, Chilean Documentary Maker, Put On Trial As 'Terrorist'

Elena Varela, a Chilean documentary film-maker, is to stand trial on January 8, days before the second round of the country's presidential election in which the billionaire candidate of the Right is expected to gain. Elena was arrested in May 2008, charged with consorting with an armed revolutionary group and sent to a high security prison. She was then subjected to a media trial which pounced on her for being a "terrorist".

Released after three years, Elena maintains that she has been framed for taking sides with the Mapuche Indians fighting the powerful timber companies in southern Chile. She started looking into the Mapuche cause after the death of a young activist in the struggle to reclaim ancestral land. Her documentary, Newen Mapuche, was intended to record the unequal battle of the Mapuches against Chile's repressive state. The secret police confiscated all her footage and material for the film and charged her under sections that carry a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment. At least 50 Mapuche political prisoners in Chile also face the terrorist tag.

Elena's cause has been taken up Chile's leading documentary film-makers and she is being defended by some of Chile's most prominent lawyers. She received funding from the state and has won previous awards. A musician who set up a children's orchestra and worked with child education in southern Chile, Elena has a 17-year-old daughter. Amnesty International has interceded on her behalf and expressions of support are most welcome at the blog set up to publicise her cause: http://libertadaelenavarela.blogspot.com
A trailer of Elena's documentary is available for viewing here and, although in Spanish, is worth a look if only to see the force that the Chilean state employs against the Mapuches:
http://www.ojofilm.cl/newen.html