Chile: Mapuche Machi Celestino Córdova Announces Dry Hunger Strike

Machi Celestino Cordova, the Mapuche leader has asked the Chilean government to allow him to attend his Rewe (sacred altar) for 48 hours but has not received any response. 

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Celestino Córdova announced Wednesday that he will begin his dry hunger strike on Monday as he awaits answers from the government of Sebastián Piñera about the permission to renew his spirituality in an ancestral ceremony. 

The Mapuche leader who has been on his second liquid hunger strike for more than 50 days, demands that the government allow him to leave Temuco prison for just 48 hours to renew his Rewe (sacred altar) and maintain his spiritual balance.

The representative of the support network of the Mapuche spiritual authority, Cristina Romo, stressed that the spiritual leader's health condition is serious and that his life could be at risk. 

Romo made a call to the Chilean president to intervene but he hasn't received a response yet. Romo's requests were joined by thousands of people who marched Sunday and Monday in support of Cordova protesting the Indigenous activist's deplorable health conditions. He has emphasized that the dry hunger strike could prove lethal to the spiritual leader.