«The Prosecution Strikes Again»: 74 Organizations Demand Justice and Truth for Julia Chuñil and Her Family

Original article: “La fiscalía lo volvió a hacer”: 74 organizaciones exigen justicia y verdad para Julia Chuñil y familia

Organizations Accuse Prosecutor’s Office of Framing Similar to ‘Operation Hurricane’ in Case of the Children of Missing Mapuche Defender

In a statement (which will be shared in full later), the coalition «Day by Day for Julia Chuñil» and a broad network of national and international organizations denounce a new judicial and media framing against the family of the environmental defender and Mapuche leader, who has been missing since 2024.

The announcement highlights serious inconsistencies in the investigation led by Tatiana Esquivel, who allegedly relied on questionable confidential witnesses to formally charge three of Chuñil’s children with parricide, while ignoring key investigative leads concerning prior threats from conflicting economic actors over the land. The organizations demand a truthful and transparent investigation, linking the case to the historically controversial “Operation Hurricane” and other similar manipulations.

See also / Interview with Karina Riquelme, Lawyer for Julia Chuñil’s Children (El Ciudadano)

The declaration expresses solidarity with the children involved – Pablo and Jeanette, currently under house arrest, and Javier, who is in preventive detention – as well as with their granddaughter Lyssette, condemning what they describe as criminalization due to their Mapuche identity and their demand for justice. They remind that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has already urged the Chilean state to intensify the search for Julia Chuñil. The text concludes with a strong call to expose this «scare tactic,» to remove the prosecutor in charge, and to persist in the search for the defender under the rallying cry, «Until We Find You, Julia Chuñil.» The public is invited to review the complete statement for all details of this serious accusation.

Public Statement

Day by Day for Julia Chuñil and supporting organizations

FROM OPERATION HURRICANE TO A NATIONAL TERROR SOAP OPERA

The children of environmental defender Julia Chuñil, a Zomo and Mapuche leader, have been charged and are under precautionary measures, despite their mother’s ongoing disappearance. We take a stand on this matter.

1. Truth and Justice for Julia Chuñil Catricura and her family. We express our support for her children and grandchildren, especially for Lyssette, her granddaughter. In the faces of Jeanette, Pablo, and Javier, Julia’s children, we see the faces of hundreds of families who are victims of false accusations. We recall that during the recent Operation Hurricane, police intelligence officials have been sentenced to prison for their falsehoods, and we do not forget the fabrications of the dictatorship, which denied justice to families of the disappeared and politically executed individuals. Thus, we tell Julia Chuñil’s family that we share their pain and indignation. We are summoned, driven by the strength of their mother and grandmother. There is a silent energy that supports those who defend life against terror. This energy comes from the land for which Julia fought, from the woods with their freshness, from the seed that she nurtured, along with the power of water and the spirits that inhabit these territories.

Pablo San Martín Chuñil, spokesperson for the family, and Jeanette Troncoso Chuñil are currently under a total house arrest ordered by the guarantee court, requested by the defense to avoid hindering the ongoing investigation, confirmed by the Valdivia Court of Appeals. Their brother, Javier Troncoso Chuñil, is in preventive detention at the Llancahue prison in Valdivia. The defending attorney is still within the legal timeframe to request new changes to the precautionary measures.

The family is recognized internationally as victims of their mother’s disappearance. In July 2025, after complaints lodged concerning the state’s inaction at an international level by human rights and environmental defense organizations, the IACHR, through precautionary measures, demanded that the Chilean state intensify the search and keep the family informed. However, for seeking justice, for being Mapuche, for being poor, they are subjected to public ridicule after a morbid framing rejected by grassroots media and those who uphold critical thought.

2. Inconsistencies and Violations of Due Process. The prosecution strikes again: we are facing a new “Hurricane,” with a narrative filled with lies and dubious confidential witness statements as the only evidence to support the parricide accusations. The regional prosecutor of Los Ríos, Tatiana Esquivel:

   a) Achieved the detention of Jeanette Troncoso, who had previously filed a complaint against the prosecutor for unlawful pressures in 2025. Jeanette’s attorney, Karina Riquelme, reported to judge Andrés Riveros a conflict of interest that should have disqualified the prosecutor. However, since National Prosecutor Ángel Valencia confirmed Esquivel in her position despite the ongoing lawsuit, she could act in her own interest.

b) Arrested Pablo on the day he was to meet with international representatives regarding the Escazú Agreement, accompanied by his attorney.

c) Presented the sale of Julia’s animals as profit-seeking, omitting that the Prosecution and the PDI ordered the family to remove their animals from the property «La Fritz» as it was private land.

d) Accused the motive for the murder as the transfer of 2 hectares to Pablo San Martín’s name, with usufruct for his mother. This land, financed by him, allowed Julia to apply for INDAP subsidies, a common practice in Mapuche territory. In contrast, Esquivel never mentioned the 900 hectares of the estate, linked to corruption at CONADI and businessman Morstadt, or the more than 1.1 billion pesos not refunded to the Chilean state when CONADI returned the estate previously sold back to Morstadt.

e) Obtained a confession from Julia Chuñil’s son-in-law hours before the hearing with the judge, without the presence of the public defender and under the threat of sending his young children to SENAME.

f) Failed in her attempt to accuse the detained individuals of domestic violence. Attorney Karina Riquelme demonstrated before the judge that the cited complaints were against José Luis, another son of Julia Chuñil, who was in prison at the time of his mother’s disappearance.

g) Omitted to investigate the prior threats against Julia Chuñil by businessman Juan Carlos Morstadt, who disputed the lands she protected. His script, presented as a soap opera over three days on television, showcases the racist and classist bias of the investigation.

3. Denial of the Environmental Defender Role of the Missing Individual. By presenting the territorial defender, the papay Julia Chuñil, solely as a head of household, the prosecutor stripped her of the protections conferred by instruments that Chile claims to respect. The television and mainstream media joined this narrative, questioning the human rights and environmental organizations seeking justice.

Mocking a historical slogan, prosecutor Esquivel concluded her account by asserting that now the children must answer the question: «Where is Julia Chuñil?».

This formalization reeks of a warning to those seeking to expose the corruption surrounding ancestral land purchases by CONADI or in the notarization systems of land registration, as well as in the corporate lobbying of extractive mega-project operators.

The diverse organizations involved in this effort and the undersigned will not be intimidated by this discourse aimed at neutralizing social movements, nor by new legislative projects that seek to restrict the rights and actions of civil society.

We ask: Who does Esquivel protect? Are there other interests in Los Ríos linked to the Public Ministry?

We will uncover this framing to find out where Julia Chuñil is and continue demanding a thorough, truthful, and transparent investigation.

UNTIL WE FIND YOU, JULIA CHUÑIL!

NO MORE MONTAGES: REMOVE ESQUIVEL!

NATIONAL PROSECUTORATE IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE!

The coalition «Day by Day for Julia Chuñil» is a horizontal, diverse, national, and international space created in December 2024 to bring visibility to her disappearance. From one of its working groups, support was solicited from organizations and individuals who share the necessity to take a clear stance regarding the recent events related to Julia Chuñil’s disappearance and the charges against her family members.

ORGANIZATIONS THAT SUPPORT (in alphabetical order)

1. AFEPDD Valparaíso
2. Agrupación Cultural El Rodezno
3. Agrupación de DD. HH. y sitios de memoria de Macul
4. Agrupación de Usuarios y Familia de San Joaquín
5. Agrupación por la Memoria Histórica Providencia Antofagasta
6. Al Sur (Francia)
7. Asociación de Ex Presos Políticos de Chile en Francia
8. Asociación de pueblos originarios LIF KO Villa Alemana
9. Cadena Informativa DE RADIOS Salvador Allende
10. Casa Salvador Allende Toronto, Canadá
11. Centro de Documentación Rucadungun
12. Chile Mejor sin TLC
13. Chile Sin Ecocidio
14. CODEPU
15. Colectiva de jaraneras en Chile (son jarocho, música y tradición de México)
16. Colectiva Lesbipulli
17. Colectiva Plurinacional Abya Yala SMANDES (Argentina)
18. Colectivo ComuniCAOS
19. Colectivo Cueca Sola
20. Colectivos rojo y negro MIR
21. Comisión Ética Contra la Tortura
22. Comité Ambiental de Tucapel
23. Comité DD. HH. Litoral
24. Comité de DD. HH. y Ecológicos de Quilpué
25. Comité Óscar Romero – Sicsal Chile
26. Comité por una internacional de los trabajadores CIT
27. Coordinadora Nacional de Inmigrantes Chile
28. Coordinadora Nacional de ex Prisioneras y Prisioneros Políticos
29. Coordinadora por Palestina
30. Cordón Feminista Antofagasta
31. Cordón Miramar
32. Corporación Artistas Pro Ecología
33. Corporación Vida y Memoria Casa Varas Mena 417 SJ Sitio de Memoria y Resistencia
34. Diario Digital Werken Rojo
35. Editorial Quimantu
36. Escuela Permanente PRAIS
37. Escuela Popular Campesina de Curaco de Vélez
38. Federación de Sindicatos de la Ingeniería y Servicios, FESIN
39. Feministas del Abya Yala FAY (Internacionalista)
40. Foro Latinoamericano Växjö (Suecia)
41. FOROCIUDADANO.CL
42. Fuerza Ecologista Verde (Fev)
43. Fundación Constituyente XXI
44. Fundación Movimiento Salud en Resistencia
45. Gráfica Solidaria Melipulli
46. Judíxs Antisionistas contra la Ocupación y el Apartheid
47. La Internacional de Escritoras y Escritores Insurgentes (LIEI)
48. La Mesa Palestina
49. Lesbofeministas antirracistas-Red de Terapeutas Tierra y Territorio
50. LUDOTECA BIOSFERA
51. MOSACAT
52. Movimiento Acción Migrante
53. Movimiento de Mujeres de Kurdistan en Abya Yala
54. MOVIMIENTO IZQUIERDA CRISTIANA DE CHILE
55. Movimiento Solidaridad
56. Núcleo de Estudios en Conflictos Socioambientales – NECOSOC
57. Observatorio de Derechos Humanos y Naturaleza
58. Ojo Poblador
59. Partido de Trabajadores Revolucionarios
60. Plataforma Anticapitalista y Popular
61. Puño rojo y negro MIR
62. Radio Miño
63. Radio y canal La Comuna
64. Red de Autoabastecimiento de Peñalolén- RAP
65. Red de Apoyo a los Presos Políticos en Chile – RIAPPECH (Francia)
66. Red de Apoyo y Alianzas en Solidaridad con el Movimiento de Mujeres del Kurdistán – Chile (REDAAS)
67. Red de Mujeres Mapuche
68. Red Internacional de Apoyo a los Presos Políticos de Chile – RIAPPECH (Suecia)
69. Sobrevivientes de Tejas Verdes
70. Somos Cerro Blanco
71. Tierra y Libertad para Arauco – Wallmapu (Francia)
72. Trawunche Madrid (Coordinación de Apoyo al Pueblo Mapuche) (España)
73. Viajando y Acompañando – VIA (Honduras)
74. Yaguel Lavkenche