Volume 1 Number 1
APRIL 1996
The Mayor further noted that students are not prepared for secondary education, have no technical capacity and, after school, there is little
future which leads to a high incidence of alcoholism. "We need help urgently," he said. There is no center for treatment, no psychologists,
psychiatrists, nor counselors. All students study Rapanui but there are no books in the language. In 1989 only 12% of islanders spoke Rapanui
Governor Hey said a port is needed to solve the problem of cargo coming to the island (four ships come each year). Hey stated, "We will
have one! I don't know when, but we will."
The "Ley Indigena" angers many islanders; outside the church are signs attacking this law, and demanding that land be turned over to the
natives. One part of the "Ley" defines a Rapanui as anyone who practices the culture. "That means that anyone who learns the language and
knows how to dance can become certified in court. It is really stupid," says Edmunds. "All of a sudden we could start to see 'new' Rapanui."
The islanders want a congressman for the island, more understanding from those on the continent, and more resources. No more than
$122,000 is spent caring for the archaeological patrimony but it is estimated that at least a million dollars should be available each year.
- Rapa Nui Journal Vol. 10 (1) March 1996
The following article appeared on Sunday, April 21 in "El Mercurio de Santiago":
A group of 40 islanders assaulted the Court of Letters of Isla dePascua injuring the
court secretary and rescuing the leader of the movement "Messengers of the Moai of Peace", Mateo Tuki Atan, who had been put at the
disposition of the court for
trafficking drugs.
The grave incidents occurred This afternoon, and since then there has been
continued tension among the 3000 people on the island.
The protagonists are mainly youths that, despite two years ago having
organized with a laudable objective, acted contrary to their original intent.
Faced with the growing consumption and selling of marihuana cultivated on the
island, whose narcotic effects are supposedly superior to that produced on the
continent, something that had interested European drug dealers, on Wednesday, the police
carried out an operation headed by the national chief of Antinarcotics and
Dangerous Drugs, Hugo Pinochet {probably a distant relative of General Augusto}.
They were able to destroy and burn 600 live plants and an unspecified quantity
of the product being dried and packaged in aluminum foil.
In the operation were detained two men, one of whom regained his liberty
since he was judged to be mentally disturbed, and a woman.
On Thursday morning the woman also was freed leaving only Tuki in custody. In
the afternoon a large group of youths gathered in front of the tribunal with
sticks and machetes in their belts shouting the demand for the release of Tuki.
At the time three carabineros, one a woman, were on duty but were unable to
prevent the entry of the group into the building. While the carabineros were
blocking the entrance to the courtroom, the youths struck the secretary of the court, Bernardo Toro,on the forehead with a blunt
instrument , who ended up
with a lump on the head, and striking
a functionary of the police who was guarding Tuki -- they then fled with
the detained person.
Later a larger number of people gathered at the open market on Calle
Policarpo Toro where they yelled protests against the judicial functionaries and
the police personnel.
The secretary of the court, who has lived 6 years on the island and who is a Notary
and the curator of real estate on the island, said that what occurred Thursday is
very grave and has no precedents on the island. He recalled that it is the
obligation of the authority to surpress drugs and for that reason they would not
tolerate the action of rescuing a prisioner from the court, injuring people and menacing administrators.
The president of the Consejo de Ancestrales (Council of Elders), Alberto Hotus said that the group lives on the
margin of reality and it is indispensible that the government concern itself with
public education.
He explained that, to the members of the group, growing
marihuana is no different than growing squash since they have private land and
that growing the marihuana harms nobody. They feel that they are in their right to harvest and sell the stuff
because there are few alternatives for making a livelihood. Hotus lamented that he had
personally helped form this group but since that time they had changed their mentality and
introduced the marketing of the drug. The injured secretary, Bernardo Toro, indicated that the "Moai of Peace" had been
transformed in a short period of time into a kind of belief or doctrine led by
people who are deranged. He announced that he will study the legal actions that
he will personally follow for the injuries that he received last Thursday. As the
victim, he will declare himself disqualified as secretary of the tribunal.
Meanwhile, Judge Ricardo Soto initiated prosecution for the assault on the tribunal and gave corresponding
orders to the Carabineros and the Police of Investigations. At the same time he
informed by fax the Court of Appeals in Valparaiso and will report the affair to the
National Association of Magistrates.
The two principal Island authorites, Gov. Hey and Mayor Edmunds, were not on
the island during the incident.
There is no prison on the island nor prison guards. Prisoners are taken to
an annex of the Sixth Commisary of Carabineros. The police unit under the
command of Major Patricio Ulloa Ortega is made up of a small contingent of about
20 functionaries who, beyond their specific duties which they carry out in three
shifts, must complete the functions of Customs every time a plane lands, and
they must take the detained prisoners before the tribunal.
The Police of Investigations also have limited personnel with only 6
functionaries on the island.
* * * * *
(An accompanying photograph shows five men "burning marihuana
on Rapa Nui ... In the photo, police personnel are burning the plants.")
The latest news is that Sr. Tuki turned himself in voluntarily and now is in
custody.
- Courtesy of William Liller
Other Stoned Heads from Easter Island
LEADER RESCUED
SECT ASSAULTS COURT ON EASTER ISLAND
- Last Thursday forty youths violently interrupted the court injuring the court
secretary .
- The escapee headed a group that called themselves "Messengers of the Moai of
Peace"
He recalled that two years ago some Frenchmen arrived on the island from
Tahiti who proposed the carving of a moai one meter tall which could be sent
around the world to promote tourism for the island. The stone sculpture they
called Moai of Peace which is currently is in Paris. From this grew the idea of
creating the movement "Messengers of the Moai of Peace" headed by Mateo Tuki. The
group returned to Rapa Nui and began to smoke marihuana and dedicated themselves
to its cultivation and exportation. Under the influence of the narcotic, the
group began to transmit and receive "messages" from the Moai of Peace
transforming them into a weird sect.
Hotus related that on a recent date a woman approached him with wild eyes to
deliver to him a message from the moai, namely that he should stop whatever he
is doing and he should return to his ancestors. 'Truthfully, they are living in
another reality', he commented.