San Miguel prison – Dark Nights

Chile: Autonomy and Persistence Against Prisons: Words from compañera Mónica Caballero

Posted on 2024/06/19 by darknights

June 8, 2024

Almost a month ago I was transferred to the prison where I will have to serve my sentence, the CPF of Santiago. This prison has a rather atypical structure in comparison to other prisons in this territory, since in some areas it maintains the foundations of the old convent that fulfilled the “correctional work for bad women”, from there different modules and sections have been built. Among the sections that were built to segregate specific groups of women prisoners are the following: Special High Security Section (SEAS), New Hope and Direct Custody.

SEAS was created mainly to house prisoners for crimes of political violence in the 90’s. In those years, those prisoners belonged to political/military/subversive groups (FPMR, MIR, Mapu-Lautaro1). With the release of the political prisoners, little by little, those with a history of escapes and/or refractory to the prison regime and leaders of trafficking gangs began to occupy the High Security Prison. It was not until 2010 that the women prisoners for political violence returned to the SEAS, the first “Bomb Case2” allowed the first anti-authoritarian women to take up the thread of struggle left by the first political prisoners. Over the years the SEAS continued with the same dynamic, until a few years ago where this section is used to keep prisoners while another permanent space is enabled for them.

Upon my arrival at this prison, I was informed that the SEAS would return to the place of yesteryear, so if or if I had to be in it. All this came to nothing because today there is a group of approximately 60 women brought from the San Miguel prison, these women live in deplorable conditions.

Another of these special modules is “Nueva Esperanza”, which has only and exclusively women for crimes against humanity, all these prisoners were responsible for some of the many atrocities that occurred during the dictatorship, I am referring to torture, disappearances, permanent kidnappings, murders, etc. Most of these women are former members of the F.F.A.A.*** and of the security forces. Although I do not know the living conditions of the torturers, since special care is taken in everything that surrounds them, but even so I would dare to say that they live in a place more like a rest home than a prison.

Finally, there is the module that I am currently in, Direct Custody. This section was born out of the need to segregate prisoners for violent and high-profile crimes, and over the years this has been maintained to some extent. This section has also been used to keep very specific cases of women for political violence, among these was a former militant of the FPMR and now me.

Since I entered this prison, both my comrades and I have requested through the different bureaucratic instances of the gendarmerie the authorization to continue my university studies, which I started in 2022 in San Miguel prison. This has not been authorized.

A little more than two years ago, I became the first inmate in Santiago to start university studies while I was in preventive prison. A matter that was not without problems, which one by one were solved thanks to the set of solidary wills that made that until today I am studying my third year as a student in the career of Law.

In this prison I have not been able to resume my studies because according to the information provided by the gendarmerie staff, the only thing missing is the authorization of the Regional Director, who can take as much time as he deems convenient to simply manage the continuity of something that has been going on for years.

It seems incredible that the facilities are not given and that obstacles are put in the way of something that seems to be as basic and essential as studying, we cannot ignore that the power structures are capable of breaking their own rules over and over again, according to their convenience.
What is it that the high command of the gendarmerie fears in order to give course to the authorization that does not allow me to study? Do they have direct orders from the Ministry of Justice or another organism? Or is it that they are apprehensive that if they give the authorization the prison population knows that there is no legal impediment that does not allow them to have higher education while in prison? Or perhaps they are exhausting all instances to prevent a prisoner (which they call common, but they maintain quite “uncommon” regimes) to have legal knowledge? Whatever the answer is, I demand that they comply with their own laws and allow me to maintain my university studies.

For this I appeal to all forms of solidarity that can pressure the regional and national directorate of gendarmerie to give course to the relevant authorizations so that I can continue my studies.

With all this I reaffirm that for greater degrees of autonomy the only option for those of us who choose the path of denial against domination is the persistent struggle, which would remain within these walls if it were not for the dozens of hands of solidarity.

Mónica Caballero Sepúlveda
Anarchist Prisoner
May 2024.

Source: Informativo Anarquista

DN Notes

1. – Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (in Spanish: Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez, FPMR). Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organisation, the military wing of the Communist Party of Chile, created with the goal of a violent overthrow of the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

– The Revolutionary Left Movement (Spanish: Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, MIR) is a Chilean far-left Marxist-Leninist communist party and former urban guerrilla organization.

– The Lautaro Youth Movement (Spanish: Movimiento Juvenil Lautaro, or MJL) also known as MAPU Lautaro was a left-wing armed organization in Chile. During the military junta in Chile some members of the Popular Unitary Action Movement formed the Movimiento Juvenil Lautaro to pursue guerrilla warfare. The MJL was named after Lautaro, leader of the indigenous resistance in Chile. MAPU Lautaro continued its armed struggle even after the return of democracy to Chile and democratic elections.

2. ‘Caso Bombas’ 2010: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/caso-bombas

3. The Chilean Armed Forces.

$hile: Words by Mónica Caballero in solidarity with Marcel Villarroel

Posted on 2023/09/21 - 2023/09/21 by darknights

For those of us who choose not to accept the discourse of the powerful, we know that the legal principles that underpin the legality of the State are not applied to everyone in the same way. Paper can hold a lot and can show us a vision far removed from reality.

The reality of power denies us that there are people punished for being openly hostile to its dominating forms, and that in pursuit of being the most implacable they violate their own laws. I do not pretend that the Powers That Be act correctly, but I will not lose the opportunity to evidence the use of their dirty tools against those who confront the oppressors.

As of today, Marcelo Villarroel is serving almost 29 years in prison in 3 periods and for years he has not been able to access prison benefits, all because of the sentences he has pending from the military prosecutor’s office. He still has 13 years to serve in prison before he can run for office.

The authorities deny the special treatment that Marcelo has, if he were treated as a common prisoner he would be on the street today.

Down with all the cages!

subversive and anarchist prisoners to the street!

– Mónica Caballero Sepúlveda

Anarchist Prisoner

San Miguel Prison.

Santiago, September 2023.

Source: https://informativoanarquista.noblogs.org/post/2023/09/09/chile-palabras-de-monica-caballero-en-solidaridad-con-marcel-villarroel/

Italy: Juan Sorroche and Marco Marino – Words of solidarity of anarchist prisoners in AS2 in Terni prison in response to the words of anarchist prisoners, subversives, fighting from Chilean prisons (August 21, 2023)

Posted on 2023/09/01 - 2023/09/01 by darknights

WORDS OF SOLIDARITY FROM ANARCHIST PRISONERS OF AS2 TERNI IN RESPONSE TO THE WORDS OF ANARCHIST PRISONERS, SUBVERSIVES, IN STRUGGLE FROM CHILEAN PRISONS

“Your struggle is ours, every gesture against this world has your imprint… because we are one pack that never forgets its own and its own, regardless, of where we are” – Public letter by Marcelo Villarroel, September 14, 2019

– Internationalist solidarity for the end of the sentence and freedom of comrade Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda, arrested in Argentina in 2008 after nearly 16 years in prison. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Pinochet’s military “coup” in Chile, wanted and created by North American imperialism as in Ukraine today, the comrade is sentenced by Pinochet’s legacy military justice. Today this legal aberration is applied, which coexists comfortably with the consensus democracy of the Chilean state, now ruled by the Boric left. Democracy and reactionary fascism are two sides of the same coin, tools of the Imperialist-State.

– Solidarity in the face of the beginning of the trial against comrades Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar [the judicial hearing, the main trial phase, began on July 18], the vengeance of state rule does not stop against those who go on the offensive by attacking its untouchability and impunity.

– Solidarity with Comrade Juan Aliste Vega, also convicted by Pinochet’s military justice, and Comrade Joaquin Garcia Chancks.

– Solidarity for the downgrading of anarchist Alfredo Cospito from 41 bis. Against 41 bis, out everyone, and for the abolition of life imprisonment.

– Solidarity with comrade Anna Beniamino and Alfredo Cospito convicted in a political trial on the abnormal charge of Article 285 c. p. p., massacre against the security of the state, or commonly called political massacre, this is the first time a massacre without massacre against the internal enemy has been used in this way in Italy. Article 285 c. p. c., massacre against the security of the state, has not been applied to the massacres that have been perpetrated in this country, Piazza Fontana, the Bologna station, Piazza della Loggia, since the 1970s of the so-called strategy of tension, massacres carried out by the Italian state, but, like Pinochet’s “coup”, wanted and created by North American imperialism in its struggle to keep the world under its control. Continue reading “Italy: Juan Sorroche and Marco Marino – Words of solidarity of anarchist prisoners in AS2 in Terni prison in response to the words of anarchist prisoners, subversives, fighting from Chilean prisons (August 21, 2023)” →

Chile: Claim of incendiary attack on RED bus outside the San Miguel Prison

Posted on 2023/08/07 - 2023/08/07 by darknights

Received by e-mail:

Incendiary attack on RED bus outside San Miguel Prison

When we visualize the face of the enemy, we immediately recognize the prison and its penitentiary system, with all its apparatuses and officials, as a focus to destroy, since it is there where historically they have sought to imprison revolutionary minds and actions.

Both in the past and in the present, we know that our comrades in prison have had to resist on a daily basis the constant harassment of their bodies, as the gendarmerie tries to systematically provoke the demoralization of our comrades in prison, through humiliation, punishment, torture, threats to take away their visits or orders in the face of any act that alters the codes of domination within the modules.

That is why, by means of a precision attack, we have set fire to a RED bus with an efficient incendiary device outside the San Miguel Prison, with the aim of altering the passivity that can be smelled in the streets in the face of a society that watches and controls behavior, longing for submission and building a false belief about the impossibility of fighting it.

A special greeting to comrade Monica Caballero, who is in a new trial against her together with Francisco Solar for several explosive attacks against repressors and powerful people. Insurrectional solidarity with Monica and Francisco!

A warm embrace for Itamar Diaz who recently experienced the punishment of the San Miguel jailers after confronting their authoritarian dynamics. Also for the comrades in Santiago 1 who were dispersed to different modules after showing solidarity with Itamar.

For all of you, a gesture of solidarity turned into fire, trying to oxygenate the daily life in prison, know that you are with us in every action. A speedy recovery to comrade Zukato.

For the abolition of prisons!
To multiply the autonomous action!

Seditious Cell Santiago Maldonado – New Subversion (Célula Sediciosa Santiago Maldonado – Nueva Subversión)

$hile: In response to the repressive onslaught of the state against the comrades imprisoned in Santiago 1 and San Miguel. Words from Monica, Joaquin, Marcelo, Juan and Francisco.

Posted on 2023/06/24 by darknights

Prison reality is constituted by a permanent tension where our convictions and the certainty of our position at all times come into play, inevitably.

This reality implies always bearing in mind that the jailer can dispose of our lives at any moment and that our strength lies precisely in having the certainty that we will face each of these adverse situations always with dignity.

Increased restrictions, transfers and sanctions are part of these impositions that today affect our comrades locked up in the prison-company Santiago 1 and comrade Itamar in the CPF of San Miguel.

The comrade today in the punishment zone is faced with threats of transfer and the crafty tricks of a jailer with pretensions of making a name for herself. It is necessary to emphasize that this situation is due to the fact that the comrade, together with other prisoners in Tower 5, has spread the word about the abusive practices of the jailers during the raids, in a clear attitude of struggle and confrontation.

The comrades, for their part, are fighting for their regrouping after they were removed from Module 1 with the excuse of dismantling it and were distributed among different units, and today several of them are in Module 88 of punishment. Continue reading “$hile: In response to the repressive onslaught of the state against the comrades imprisoned in Santiago 1 and San Miguel. Words from Monica, Joaquin, Marcelo, Juan and Francisco.” →

$hile: Words for compañero Punki Mauri by Joaquín García Chancks, Marcelo Villarroel & Mónica Caballero

Posted on 2023/06/05 by darknights

Words for compañero Punki Mauri by Joaquín García Chancks

From the other side of the walls, I extend an affectionate and anarchic embrace to all those who participate in this already historic activity.

It is incredible the passage of time, it would be terribly false of me to speak of a closeness to anarchist circles back in 2009, I think I felt part of an anarchist collectivity, if you can call it that, shortly after, enough for the loss of a comrade to still be felt so close to the surface.

Mauricio Morales transcends, he is an inevitable reference for many -no matter how hard one fights to destroy that idealized and stereotyped image that this same anarchic “we” has been in charge of propagating through time- that is the truth, one cannot think of May without considering this date, one cannot whisper attack without thinking of Mauricio, one cannot conspire to attack without the palpable experience that sometimes things do not work out well; It is what endows history with reality, what makes us shake off all the theory and put our feet on the ground, the seriousness of what confrontation means, the knowledge that what may be so costly for us will not be so costly for Power…. To assume that no action will bring us an anarchic tomorrow, that the becoming is lived day by day, and that the only way to obtain a little bit of freedom is to embrace antagonism as a present, of theory and praxis, word and action, morality and attack. If we are to find something clear, almost undeniable in Mauricio, let it be this symbiosis.

Joaquin Garcia Chancks
La Gonzalina” Prison/company, Rancagua
May 2023

Words by Marcelo Villarroel in subversive memory of Mauricio Morales

“I will seek at the risk of my life the best, the authentic freedom…”

Mauricio Morales.-

– From prison and 14 years after the death in action of comrade Mauricio Morales, a greeting of insurrectional memory and an eternal war cry for all those who walk the same path of struggle.

On the night of May 22, 2009, a powerful explosion shook the surroundings of the Gendarmerie School, a prison repressors’ factory, in the Matta neighborhood, in the south-central area of Santiago de Chile.

The explosion mortally wounded the Punky Mauri, who was on his way by bicycle to attack with an artifact, the main redoubt for the formation of penitentiary officers, seeking to strike with anarchic vengeance the place from where the most detestable beings that prison society can produce are mass-produced. Continue reading “$hile: Words for compañero Punki Mauri by Joaquín García Chancks, Marcelo Villarroel & Mónica Caballero” →

Chile: Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar’s words in view of the upcoming trial

Posted on 2023/04/15 - 2023/04/15 by darknights

Justice is already fine-tuning all the details for his big celebration, he will choose his best clothes and meticulously sharpen his sword. Nothing can go wrong at the moment when he will show himself as he is: the executioner of the powerful.

The sword of justice has been kept in storage waiting for the key moment to strike the right blow to our bodies. That moment translated into punitive punishment will find its climax in the oral trial, which is already set for May 19. This trial is expected to be a long process of several months.

During the month of March we were in the preparation of the oral trial – an instance prior to the trial – where the court, which until now had conducted our criminal proceedings, decided the basis of what will be our next trial.

Basically, the trial will use against us all the legal process for which we were convicted for the placement of an explosive device in the Basilica del Pilar in Zaragoza, as well as practically all the documented evidence of the prosecution, ranging from pamphlets to anarchic books found in our homes.

The recycling of the case already completed in Spain is part of the stubborn insistence of the prosecutor to validate all the antecedents that position us as repeat offenders of the same crimes. Continue reading “Chile: Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar’s words in view of the upcoming trial” →

Chile: Words from Monica, Mawvnhko and Itamar on the occasion of another March 8th

Posted on 2023/03/18 - 2023/03/18 by darknights

Today 8M millions of women fill the streets of large cities around the world, we gather here again in this space of commemoration and struggle. We wish to keep alive the flame that those rebellious women decided to ignite hundreds of years ago and that today comrades continue to embody day by day from different trenches.

Over the years the struggle against heteropatriarchy has sprouted, resisted and persisted in many territories. Heteropatriarchy is present in multiple areas of our lives, both in our interpersonal relationships and in ourselves, we are constantly learning and unlearning, inhabiting new experiences that make us question and reflect from different realities and environments.

The heteropatriarchy hits harder to those who resist the subjugation of their nature, that which the system defines as normal, it is not the same experience that we live indigenous, intersex, trans, gay, non-binary, pans, lesbians. Above all, it is not the same for those who decide to attack every bastion that seeks to dominate and destroy us. For the same reason we do not raise the banners of passive victimhood, on the contrary, we aim at constant confrontation against everything that seeks to subdue us.

Today we want to remember different comrades who with their struggle have nurtured the antagonistic path that we have decided to embrace. Herminia Concha, Luisa Toledo, Cláudia López, Aracely Romo, Jill Phipps, Guilly Peachy. We also wish to emphasize those comrades who have fallen in confrontations or have been assassinated for their fervent commitment to the defense of land, water and territories and animal liberation. Nicolasa Quintreman, Macarena Valdes, Emilia Baucis, the three Mapuche weychafe comrades. Nicolasa fought hard against the installation of ENDESA’s Ralco project in Pehuenche territory. At the age of 74, she was found dead in the artificial lagoon of the same project. Macarena Valdes, seed guardian, defender of water and forests in the Newen-Txagil community, was found dead in her own home at the hands of hired killers from the companies RP Global and SAESA at the age of 32. Emilia Baucis, defender of water and territories, anti-speciesist, part of Lof Llazkawe, was murdered at the age of 25 by hired killers from the Riñimapu condominium in the context of a territorial recovery in Riñiwe Lewfu.

We remember every compañera/e who has been killed for fighting against the killing of animals and the devastation of their habitat. Because we recognize speciesism and patriarchy as two oppressions that share the same system. One seeks the subjugation of other species, considering them inferior, despite their capacity to feel. And the other seeks the oppression and invisibilization of women and dissidences, considering them inferior beings that can be violated and commodified. Therefore, we believe that it is not possible to fight for the liberation of human women and dissidences and ignore the violated females of other species. Continue reading “Chile: Words from Monica, Mawvnhko and Itamar on the occasion of another March 8th” →

Chile: Before the preparation of the trial against Mónica and Francisco

Posted on 2023/03/14 - 2023/03/16 by darknights

The police station of Huechuraba after the explosion

Before the preparation of the trial against Mónica and Francisco

On March 14, 2023 a series of hearings will begin in the so-called preparation for the oral trial against the anarchist comrades Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar. In this instance, which we expect to last a month, it will be decided which evidence will be brought to trial and which will not.

Both are accused of the explosive attack against the Tánica Building in the midst of the revolt (2020), while Francisco is accused of sending explosive packages against former Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpetter and the 54th police station (2019). The prosecution requests 30 years in prison against Monica and 129 against Francisco.

The comrades will be taken from the San Miguel prison and the Rancagua prison to the justice center for the first hearing, from then on, they will face this judicial instance telematically.

In this next step of the judicial process, it is still more necessary than ever to leave aside victimist speeches to open debates on the vindication and legitimacy of political violence in all its scales, not only from the applause in the box but from the concrete support and solidarity to those who face justice for such actions.

Without any room for indifference: Solidarity and complicity with those who attack the powerful and repressors!

Monica and Francisco to the streets!

Anarchist and subversive prisoners to the streets!

Source: Publicacion Refractario

Chile: Text from San Miguel prison in solidarity with Alfredo Cospito

Posted on 2023/03/01 - 2023/03/01 by darknights

Every day that Alfredo Cospito continues his hunger strike to stop the torturous regime of 41bis, is another day in which he shows us how strong his convictions are and how far he is willing to take his coherence. Every day that Alfredo spends on hunger strike, more and more indomitable people around the world take action in solidarity with him. As anti-authoritarians kidnapped by the Chilean State, with these letters we intend to make a small gesture of solidarity with him and a call for solidarity actions to continue to multiply. Day by day we become aware of attacks, radio broadcasts, meetings, etc. that in their essence seek to pressure and/or publicize Alfredo’s situation, it is crucial for him that we correspond to his struggle with the same integrity that he embraces and faces it.

Our hands and our hearts are concerned about the current repressive scenario that Alfredo is living, especially knowing that every day that passes is more and more critical for him. We are filled with rage, hatred and frustration to know that these words will not be read by our comrade, but we are comforted to know that perhaps these letters will be transformed into action in other restless hands. Actions absolutely necessary before the hearing that the comrade will have to face on February 24, where his permanence or not in the 41bis regime will be decided. Alfredo will never be alone. Despite the miles and walls that separate us, our hearts are intertwined in the complicity of action and the idea.
Let the night light up in solidarity with Alfredo!
An end to 41 bis and to all exceptional regimes of isolation!

Monica Caballero, anarchist prisoner
Mawvnhko, anarchist prisoner
Itamar Diaz, anti-speciesist prisoner (One of the Susaron case accused)

Source: Publicacion Refractario