Carabineros overhaul project reopens tense debate in Chile

The mere wording of this article sparked once again a polarized and harsh debate over the possible overhaul of an institution that accumulated, for decades, complaints of abuse and excess, but which was definitely under scrutiny afterwards. human rights violations documented by the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) during the 2019 social outbreak in Chile.

The government of Sebastien Piñera he immediately rejected the initiative.

The minister of the Interior, Rodrigo DelgadoHe assured that the Carabineros “have a history that does not fade overnight” and, in this sense, he asked “to be very careful when you want to make a point sometimes political”.

He even spoke in a press conference of a process of “reform” of the institution – which could depend on a new ministry which seeks to create the government with a bill which it sent to Congress this week – but not a “refoundation.”

The carabinieri, according to complaints from the NHRI, committed torture and other human rights violations against people detained in the context of the social breakdown of three years ago, a wave of massive protests that was strongly repressed and resulted in more than 20 deaths and more than 3,600 injured.

The current director general of the Carabinieri, Ricardo Yáñez, argued this week that the force is already in a process of “modernization“, But he clarified:” Nobody asked me to close a barracks or to eliminate the police officers where they are. Everyone asked me for more police. “

During a press conference, the vice-president of the convention, Jaime Bassa, warned that “If the Constituent Assembly decides to re-found the Carabineros, the Carabineros will be re-founded“And that the plenary, elected in elections barely a few months ago”, will take important decisions on the powers of the State and will not allow itself to be governed by the established power.

Manuela Royo, independent treaty member and coordinator of the organization’s Human Rights Commission, defended the proposal and explained that it was born “as a guarantee of non-repetition”.

Support was even born outside the Constituent Assembly.

The Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples of the House of Representatives, Emilia Nuyado, argued that “it is absolutely right and valid to rebuild an institution tainted with abuse”.

In contrast to this debate, the Government sits alongside the conservative sectors, but also the constituent delegates of certain forces of the exaggeration who warn against a excess in the functions of the organism.

Marcela Cubillos, constituent of the Pinochetista Independent democratic unionHe asserted that the commission does not have the power to refound the riflemen and that this action “increases the loss of prestige and does not help people to have more confidence in the work which is being done here”.

Christian Democrat constituent Fuad Chahín agreed that the proposal is “outside the scope of the powers” of the convention.

On Tuesday, the coordinator of the constitutive regulatory commission, the independent Amaya Alvez, tried to put an end to part of the legal discussion on the powers by announcing that the reforming proposal of the carabinieri will not be included in the general regulation full. This, yes, it can be one of the subjects of debate on the content of the future Constitution.

“They could be a contribution for the final commissions of fundamental rights, but they are not standards which enter into the regulation of the Convention”, he explained, according to the newspaper El Mercurio.