Chile: Fasting Activist Hospitalized
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iaCjPGEQ80XEww8-4bym-tReSUZQD8U53CU80

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) —

An imprisoned Indian-rights activist who has beenon a hunger strike for 93 days was sent to a hospital early Sundaybecause of her deteriorating condition, authorities reported.Patricia Troncoso, 39, has lost nearly 55 pounds since starting herhunger strike to demand better prison conditions for the activistsconvicted of violence in their fight to claim land.

She also demands anew trial, which officials say is not legally possible.Troncoso, imprisoned in 2002, is serving a 10-year sentence forparticipating in a group that set a fire on a farm claimed by MapucheIndian activists who say the property belonged to their ancestors.

The prison service said Troncoso, who is not herself Mapuche, wastransferred to a hospital in the southern city of Temuco.On Jan. 3, a 22-year-old Mapuche student was killed in a clash withpolice after some 20 Indians invaded a farm and started a fire thatdestroyed some grass stored as feed for livestock.

President Michelle Bachelet on Friday appointed a commission, includingthree Cabinet members, to seek solutions to the conflict.


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