Argentine Activist Milagro Sala Pens Open Christmas Letter

Indigenous Argentine activist Milagro Sala has penned an open letter expressing her wish that Argentina "have a happy Christmas for everyone, not just for the few."

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Recently acquitted of criminal charges involving alleged threats against law enforcement in Jujuy province, Sala posted her Christmas message on a number of social networks.

In it, she says that this is the second consecutive year in which Argentina has observed Christmas while the country's 44 political prisoners – held "unfairly for defending their ideals of social justice" – remain behind bars.

Sala also makes reference to the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, along with artist Santiago Maldonado and Mapuche Rafael Nahuel, both killed by Argentine police.

The letter by the head of the Tupac Amaru Neighbourhood Organization, which has spearheaded numerous protests against President Mauricio Macri's government, also takes aim at Jujuy Governor Gerardo Morales’ condemnation of social leaders as "delinquents."

"(President Mauricio Macri) sends his deputies and senators to put their hands in the pockets of retirees; mothers who are charged a universal allowance per child, former combatants of Malvinas and the disabled," Sala writes.

"Macri, Morales and his friendly businessmen do everything to benefit the few. They did it 20 years ago, and they do it again now. They plunder the country, they give benefits to those who already have more than most, and they let the rest of the people go hungry.

"At this point it is impossible for them to conceal the fact the arrests are political persecution of Kirchnerism and the opposition... We are not going to lower our arms. Ever onward to victory!"

The case against Sala was launched more than three years ago by the son of now-governor Gerardo Morales. Charges were first brought in December 2016, when she was accused of threatening two policemen by phone in the Alto Ventadero neighborhood.

Earlier this month, Oral Court No. 2 absolved the social leader of all charges due to a lack of merit in the submitted evidence.