The young man blinded by Carabi fire …

Gustavo Gatica, the young man blinded by police violence in Chile, will be the protagonist of a series that aims to “raise international awareness” on the massive violation of human rights during the 2019 marches. This was expressed by the director of The epidemic, Hernán Caffiero. The series, produced by Mexican production company BTF Media, will address the nightmare Gatica and her family have lived through ever since. On November 8, 2019, an officer fired two pellets in the face a few meters away in the context of the greatest crisis experienced in Chile since the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

“Gustavo is a person who must have gone through a very brutal event but, thanks to this family imprint, he has come to terms with it in a way that none of us would have assumed, refraining from any kind of hatred, from rage”Explain Caffiero. 2018 Emmy winner for the series A necessary story, the director assured that Gatica has become a kind of “national icon” and that the expected production will seek to contribute to the search for justice.

The six-part series is still in the filming phase and its producers are negotiating its exposure with various global platforms, aware that it is a series that will “disturb” the Chilean authorities. Artists, said Caffiero, “must take responsibility for the historical moment in which they live”.

According to the first trailer released by the production, Gustavo Gatica’s older brother, Enrique, will be the narrator of the series which will combine the student’s case with the recent history of Chile, with academics and experts explaining on camera the circumstances that led to the social epidemic of October 2019.

In una entrevista con la agencia EFE el pasado cinco de abril, Gustavo Gatica lamentó el escaso repudio de otros gobiernos de la region contra la brutal represión con la que las fuerzas de seguridad sofocaron las protestas, que dejaron una treintena de muertos y miles de heridos in Chile. “There is a lack of condemnation in the world. Maybe if the foreign organizations had spoken louder, things wouldn’t have been like this, ”said the 23-year-old.

On this occasion, Gatica, a psychology student, added: “My goal is to expose what happened here and see justice done from the outside. I have spoken with many survivors of the revolt and we would like to see an international trial and that (President Sebastián) Piñera be jailed“The case provoked strong criticism from various organizations such as the UN and Amnesty International, which accused the security forces of having committed serious human rights violations.

The Santiago Court of Appeal confirmed on April 9 the preventive prison of ex-lieutenant colonel of the Carabineros, Claudio Crespo, syndicated as the perpetrator of the shootings that caused Gatica’s total blindness. The court based its decision on “the need to ensure the safety of the victim and / or of society as a whole, to remove a possible danger of flight and, also, any certain disturbance of the success of a certain action. ‘investigation”.

In addition to the young university student, The other person who lost her sight is Fabiola Campillai, a 36-year-old woman who was hit by a tear gas canister while waiting for the bus. to go to the night shift at work in Santiago. Their stories, as well as the more than 400 victims of eye trauma during the protests, contradict the official version of the government of Sebastián Piñera What he always called the excesses of the police an “isolated event”.