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News > Argentina

Argentina: Sala Turns 4 Years as Prisoner of the System

  • Social activist Milagros Sala in Argentina.

    Social activist Milagros Sala in Argentina. | Photo: Twitter / @futurockOk

Published 16 January 2020
Opinion

The iconic leader of the Tupac Amaru neighborhood association is hopeful that her country will live better days.

Argentina's social activist Milagro Sala Wednesday turns four years of political persecution and arbitrary detention due to accusations that have not been proven.

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In an interview with local outlet Pagina 12, she explained how her detention has harmed both her life and Tupac Amaru, a neighborhood association that works in favor of women and the poor at the Province of Jujuy.

Although authorities allowed her to remain under house arrest since Aug. 2019, Salas lived more than three years in jail under very difficult conditions to cope with.

"Being in jail is horrible. Imagine that the jailer isolates you and doesn't let you see the sun. Or imagine the director telling you that it is preferable to throw a bread piece away rather than give it to someone who needs it," she recalled.

The Tupac Amaru leader, who is the adoptive mother of twelve children, gained nationwide notoriety for her fight against powerful conservative politicians in Jujuy.

"Tomorrow, social organizations will protest Milagros Sala's unfair conviction. Our government must show it is not like the previous ones and will review the unfair conviction of a social leader who only did the right thing. Let's go to the obelisk to ask for her freedom."

She was arrested in January 2016 after leading a rally which was summoned in response to budget cutbacks and anti-worker policies.

Sala was accused of illicit association, fraud, extortion, and attempted murder. While many of these accusations were not proven, her case has kept a political nuance.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (GAD) stated that Sala's detention was arbitrary and requested her immediate release. Nevertheless, Argentina's government said that the GAD report was not binding.

"Now I enjoy watching the sunrise from my balcony... And I talk a lot with my comrades because I want them to get an education and become better leaders than me," the 55-year-old Indigenous woman says.

"Argentina has regained its joy" with the presidency of Alberto Fernandez, said Sala keeping hope that things will change for the better in her country.

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