The Falun Dafa Association in Argentina has raised concerns about incidents of violence, harassment, and foreign interference
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Falun Dafa is a religious belief of the Buddha School that originated in China in the early 1990s, combining meditation and qigong exercises with moral teachings based on the principles of truth, benevolence, and tolerance.
In just a few years, the discipline gathered tens of millions of followers in China, until in 1999 the Chinese Communist Party declared it illegal and launched a broad persecution campaign. Since then, international human rights organizations have reported arbitrary detentions, torture, forced labor, and even forced organ harvesting against its practitioners.
In Argentina, Falun Dafa has official recognition as a religious faith and keeps an active presence in various provinces. However, its representatives report that the transnational persecution driven by the Chinese regime has also extended to the country.
El régimen chino atacando a practicantes de Falun Dafa.
In this context, the Falun Dafa Association in Argentina released the following open letter, warning about acts of violence, harassment, and foreign interference against its members during public events.
OPEN LETTER
Violence, persecution, and religious discrimination against Argentine Falun Dafa practitioners in their own country due to interference from Chinese communists
To whom it may concern,
We address you as Argentine citizens, spiritual and peaceful, practitioners of the ancient discipline of the Buddha School, Falun Dafa, to inform you of serious acts of violence and violations of our essential rights to religious freedom and freedom of expression.
These acts, which constitute foreign interference on our own soil, occur systematically. In order to provide you with a clear overview of the situation, we present some alarming facts and data:
Since 1999, Falun Dafa has suffered brutal persecution in China at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By virtue of the principle of universal jurisdiction, these crimes have been reported to the Argentine judiciary and, since 2005, are under judicial review as crimes against humanity.
There are another 7 open cases in the country related to that file, concerning acts of violence committed in the last two decades against Argentine practitioners in Argentina, sometimes with the cooperation of local authorities.
In our country, the Chinese Embassy keeps a registry with personal data and a large number of photographs of Argentine practitioners. At every activity or practice site where we freely teach the exercises, people are often sent to secretly film and take photos.
On repeated occasions, during Chinese New Year celebrations, the Argentine civil police have forcibly removed us and then demanded our identity documents, which were recorded and obviously sent to CCP agents and the Chinese Embassy.
These regrettable actions carried out by a totalitarian foreign power constitute an affront to national sovereignty. As officials of our country, you should feel outrage at these events and express your condemnation.
It is important to note that violence against peaceful believers is contrary to Article 14 of our National Constitution, which establishes the right of every inhabitant to freely practice their faith within the framework of the laws that regulate its exercise.
Falun Dafa is officially recognized as a religious faith — under Registry 8464, electronic file No. EX-2024-133595596 — by the Secretariat of Worship and Civilization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, and Worship.
THE MOST RECENT EPISODE
A new, even more violent episode of persecution, carried out this year by resident Chinese citizens against Argentine practitioners — under the direction of the Chinese Embassy and in full view of local authorities and the police — made it imperative to turn to the judiciary and draw attention to this reality that persists in our country.
On January 26, 2025, during the Chinese New Year celebrations in the City of Buenos Aires — an event officially open to the entire community — what had happened on previous occasions was repeated: after being quickly identified as Falun Dafa practitioners, peaceful Argentines who participated as any citizen with their families and children were violently beaten by people of Chinese origin linked to the event's organization.
All of this occurred in full view of the City Government authorities, present on stage, while the local police provided institutional support to the aggressors, among whom were people in civilian clothes. The security forces, instead of fulfilling their duty to protect safety and public order, were used as instruments against law-abiding people (you can access the full report and videos here).
OUR CONCERN
We believed that, with the inauguration of the new national government — which has emphasized the values of freedom and respect for the Constitution — concrete measures would be taken to address these events.
However, due to widespread misinformation and intense propaganda promoted by the Chinese Embassy and its local contacts — especially the defamation and slander against Falun Dafa —, the government has not been informed based on the truth and is not acting with the proper rectitude, which is the reason we are writing this letter; we are deeply concerned and fear living under religious persecution merely for believing in God, as happens in atheist-communist China.
It is also public knowledge that several provinces and the City of Buenos Aires maintain their own "agreements" and close ties with resident Chinese communists in Argentina and with the CCP. This relationship with Beijing leads some public officials to neglect their duty to act, ultimately acting against their own conscience and becoming almost accomplices to crimes against their compatriots in pursuit of personal interests, while failing to fulfill the obligations inherent to their office.
The majority of countries and their government representatives defend their sovereignty and freedom of belief and do not allow themselves to be overwhelmed by these corrupt practices. Unfortunately — and shamefully —, this is not the case in Argentina, which presents itself as a free and democratic nation, but in reality allows the intrusion of perverse foreign interests. This would be inadmissible in those nations that truly honor such values.
As Argentine Falun Dafa believers, this letter constitutes a new effort on our part so that the authorities and representatives of our country become fully aware of this abhorrent situation and can take a dignified stand before the world. We can no longer remain silent or accept that violence perpetrated by agents linked to the Chinese communist regime against peaceful religious people continues to occur with impunity on Argentine soil.
OUR REQUEST
We ask that you review the attached documentation and evidence — information that is already public knowledge in many countries — and take a clear, upright, and conscious position.
In addition, we urge you, from your position, to take concrete measures to ensure that Argentine Falun Dafa practitioners can carry out our religious, peaceful, and culturally and socially beneficial activities with full freedom, without fearing the actions of a communist regime located thousands of kilometers (6,214 miles) away. Believing and peaceful Argentines must receive proper protection against any form of harassment or discrimination carried out by foreign forces in the Argentine Republic, as is appropriate in a State that respects human rights and guarantees freedom of belief.
It is shameful and outrageous that in a country that proclaims itself free and democratic, and as law-abiding citizens, we must demand something so basic from our officials: that the authorities fulfill their essential duty to guarantee freedom of belief.
Sincerely,
Liwei Fu, President of the Falun Dafa Association in Argentina.
