Argentina's Indigenous Tupac Amaru organization said Friday that three people with automatic weapons stormed their headquarters and demanded they cease their struggle to free their leader, Milagro Sala.
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The organization pointed blame at President Mauricio Macri and demanded an immediate explanation from the government.
The incident occurred after the Committee for Freedom of Milagro Sala installed a tent in Plaza de Mayo to demand President Macri comply with a resolution issued by the United Nations' Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions free Sala.
An Indigenous activist and lawmaker, Milagro Sala was arrested on Jan. 16 after staging a month-long sit-in against Jujuy governor Gerardo Morales, an ally of President Macri.
As leader of the Tupac Amaru organization, which has 70,000 members, Sala led the protest against the government’s neoliberal policies alongside other activists. The Indigenous leader faced charges of inciting unrest, which were later dropped.
Before she could be released, however, a new warrant was handed down for charges of illicit association, fraud and extortion.
Since Argentine President Mauricio Macri supports her arrest, Sala is now dubbed the first political prisoner of Macri’s administration. She alleges that justice bends to the “whims” of the president and his governors.
Sala is also a representative in Parlasur, the parliament of the South America subcontinental bloc Mercosur. Numerous human rights defenders and organizations have slammed her arrest as illegal.
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