Lautaro Youth Movement

aka Lautaro Faction of the United Popular Action Movement (MAPU/L), Lautaro Popular Rebel Forces (FRPL)

Named for a famous Araucanian Indian warrior, the Lautaro Youth Movement (MJL) is a militant Chilean leftist group that became active in the 1980s. Now said to be largely disbanded, the MJL has been linked to robbing banks, killing policemen on the beat, and attacking Mormon churches.

The movement was formed as a splinter of the political party United Popular Action Movement (Movimiento de Accion Popular Unitario; MAPU). The breakaway group called itself the Lautaro Faction of the MAPU Party, and developed a separate youth movement, the MJL, and a militia, the Lautaro Popular Rebel Forces. A major goal of the MJL and its sister organizations was to overthrow the Pinochet regime.

After Chile returned to democracy in 1990, the MJL continued its militancy. On April 29, 1992, the MJL assassinated Domingo Sarmiento, a member of the [Page 214]Party for Democracy who had left armed resistance for mainstream politics. In 1990, a foiled rescue attempt turned tragic for the MJL. On November 14, guards transferred Marco Ariel Antonioletti, a top MJL militant, from the public jail to a hospital for treatment. International human rights groups have said that Antonioletti had been beaten and tortured by the police and was taken to be treated for injuries. A MJL commando team burst into the hospital and began firing at the guards and police officers watching Antonioletti. The officials returned fire; the gunfight left four guards and one police officer dead. Manuela Rodriguez, the MJL member known in the right-wing Chilean press as the mujer metralleta, or “machine gun girl,” was in charge of taking Antonioletti from the hospital and driving him to a safe haven. In the exchange of bullets, however, Rodriguez was shot in the back and gravely wounded. Her companions fled, and she was arrested. Police later shot Antonioletti in the forehead, killing him.

Paralyzed by her injuries, Rodriguez underwent multiple surgeries. In 1999, despite being confined to a hospital bed, Rodriguez was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Appeals for her pardon by various human rights groups and the Chilean Catholic Church moved the Chilean government to allow her to serve her sentence outside of the country.

Many top leaders of the MJL are in prison, and members have scattered. In recent years, MJL members imprisoned in Chile's high-security prisons have engaged in hunger strikes demanding better conditions for prisoners.