Doctors have hospitalized Patricia Troncoso, a Chilean Mapuche activist, after 74 days of hunger strike during which she has lost about 25 kg, Troncoso's relatives told media on Sunday.
Hector Llaitul, another one of five jailed Mapuche, will be likely to join Troncoso in Santiago's Angol Hospital. Both have been refusing food since Oct. 10, protesting a 10-year terrorism jail sentence for burning a tree farm in December 2001.
The five, who have been jailed for more than three years, oppose their sentence, saying it is based on laws inherited from the nation's 1974-to-1990 military dictatorship.
The United Nations has called for the nation's anti-terror laws to be repealed and convictions under these laws to be re-examined.
The other three jailed Mapuche -- Jose Huenchunao, Jaime Marileo and Juan Millalen -- abandoned the hunger strike last week and agreed to negotiate with the government.
Camilo Vila, the archbishop of Temuco who has been mediating in the case, told media that freeing the five is all but impossible, but they may have better jail conditions or reduced sentences.
Source: Xinhua
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