Several Mapuche communities have denounced a COVID-19 outbreak in the Lebu prison’s cells compounds where several Mapuche political prisoners are on hunger strike.

According to a statement, the prisoners have been suffering from serious symptoms such as arrhythmia, dyspnea, and headache. The community members have denounced that those symptoms have been hidden or handled by the Gendarmerie in order to lower the profile of the prisoners’ condition.

The statement indicated that "after days of several and cumbersome postponement actions a medical team was able to enter the prison, and was able to verify that, at this moment, there are three prisoners with COVID-19 symptoms."

They accused the Chilean Gendarmerie of "grave negligence", an institution that has prevented the entrance of trusted doctors to the prisons holding Mapuche prisoners on hunger strike.