Indigenous leader Milagros Sala. Photo: X/@mmorenonoticias.
SOVINTERN cites health concerns and calls for immediate humanitarian action.
On Wednesday, the International Network of the New Socialism of the 21st Century (SOVINTERN) issued a statement demanding the immediate release of Milagro Sala, an Argentine Indigenous leader who founded the Tupac Amaru Neighborhood Organization in Jujuy province in the late 1990s.
Through the organization, she led projects focused on housing construction, education, health care and employment for low-income communities, becoming one of Argentina’s most prominent grassroots leaders.
In January 2016, Sala was arrested after participating in a protest against the newly elected provincial government of Jujuy, which was interested in developing mineral extraction projects through transnational companies.
Prosecutors later brought multiple charges against her in separate cases, including fraud, extortion and criminal association related to the management of public funds for housing projects. She has received several convictions in Argentine courts, while continuing to challenge the rulings through the country’s judicial system.
Government of Argentina Wants Social Leader Milagro Sala to Serve Sentence in Prison
Cases against Sala are politically motivated and have cited concerns raised by international human rights bodies about her detention and due process. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have expressed concerns about aspects of her detention and recommended measures including alternatives to pretrial detention.
Among the dozens of international figures supporting the SOVINTERN petition are Adolfo Perez Esquivel (Nobel Peace Prize laureate), Axel Kicillof (governor of Buenos Aires province), Manuel Zelaya and Xiomara Castro (former presidents of Honduras), Evo Morales (former president of Bolivia) and Fernando Lugo (former president of Paraguay).
🚨 El equipo médico de Milagro Sala denunció un deterioro físico y psicológico crítico en prisión domiciliaria. "Casi no habla, apenas responde", relató su doctor Jorge Rachid. "Me quiero quedar así, sin comer", le dijo la dirigente de Tupac Amaru.
¿Presa política en riesgo… pic.twitter.com/nde7PmSyuN
— teleSUR TV (@teleSURtv) July 9, 2026
The text reads, “Milagro Sala’s medical team reported a critical physical and psychological decline under house arrest. ‘She barely speaks, she hardly responds,’ her doctor, Jorge Rachid, said. ‘I want to stay like this, without eating,’ the Tupac Amaru leader told him. Is this political prisoner in critical condition?”
Below is the statement released by the International Network of the New Socialism of the 21st Century on Wednesday.
“From the SOVINTERN international network, we join our voice to the desperate outcry over the critical health situation facing Argentine Indigenous leader Milagro Sala.
Her current condition is extremely serious, as publicly stated by the prestigious Argentine doctor Dr. Jorge Rachid, who warned forcefully that ‘she feels abandoned and, without freedom, she cannot manage with autonomy to administer her life.’
The health professional has been clear in describing the mistreatment suffered by the social leader, pointing to institutional responsibility for her physical and psychological integrity: ‘She is living a tragic entrapment. The Jujuy judiciary has in effect sentenced her to life imprisonment and now: to death.’
Faced with this alarming reality, which imminently endangers the life of Milagro Sala, SOVINTERN demands an urgent humanitarian gesture from the judicial and political powers of the province of Jujuy, as well as from the Argentine government.
It cannot be allowed that lawfare and political persecution become a silent death sentence. We demand the immediate release and dignified humanitarian treatment for Milagro Sala. So that she does not die in confinement, Freedom for Milagro Sala now!”
(teleSUR)
