Crisis in Chile: complaints of sexual violence and police abuse are on the rise

While the president of Chile, Sebastian Piñeratries to unpack the political and social crisis of the country with the announcement Tuesday night of a powerful set of social measures, his government is facing a new conflict: complaints about the excessive use of police force and to the army. With half of a country under the control of the army since the proclamation of the state of emergency, the crisis is killing 18, and this Monday and Tuesday only, 3,284 inmates, according to the Ministry of the Interior of this country.

The unions were added to the impetus that citizens are keeping on the street against the government. Students, professors, officials and members of the public health services, among other groups, have been summoned for a strike that will last until Friday. The main signs of unemployment were felt on the streets of Santiago, where massive demonstrations took place. The President of the Unitary Workers' Confederation (CUT), Barbara Figueroa, which brings together some 800,000 workers, said that "Wednesday was the most massive concentration of those days"." Divisions of the Codelco copper company, private miners, the public sector and commerce, among others, have been added, "he said.

Of the 18 dead who have registered since the beginning of the crisis, 11 dead during hundreds of looting in supermarkets and shops, where there were intentional fires. In the past few hours, a four-year-old boy and a 37-year-old man have died after being beaten by an apparently drunk man in the middle of a demonstration in San Pedro de la Paz, in the Biobío region. in the south of the country. But there are other deaths attributed to the actions of the army and the police. In at least four cases, the government has acknowledged the involvement of soldiers. Three were produced by bullet impact and one by impact.

The National Institute of Human Rights (INDH), an independent public law organization whose existence is guaranteed by law, has filed five complaints of killings executed by the police or army and eight for sexual violenceout of the total of 46 interveners resulting from the crisis. According to the agency, a man died Tuesday in a hospital in Santiago de Chile, apparently because of beatings by the police. According to the indictment, the agents they let him die near a subway station in the municipality of Maipú, west of Santiago de Chile.

In addition, the INDH ensures that there are 269 wounded – 137 by firearm – and denounces cases such as that occurred at dawn in the municipality of Peñalolén (east of Santiago) where after being arrested, three adults and one child under 14 years old.were crucified in the metal structure from the police station antenna, hanging from the handcuffs. Then they put the pepper gas in the solid state, "says the organization's memoir. They were also beaten and one of the detainees was injured in the head.

INDH Director Sergio Micco met with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera on Wednesday in La Moneda. At the meeting, the president promised to guarantee the organization "full access" to hospitals and detention centers. A few hours earlier, Under Secretary of the Interior Rodrigo Ubilla said: "The state of exception we know does not justify or constrain [malos tratos], neither the abuses nor the less the death of people by the violence of agents different from the State ". "The government condemns everything that is separate from the law," said Ubilla, who explained that institutions continue to operate in Chile. "NHRIs file complaints and prosecution begins to investigate."

As the authorities have acknowledged, acts of violence diminish over time, but mass demonstrations are intensifying throughout the country. Monday, 42 marches were recorded and on Tuesday 54which according to the government were peaceful and gathered around 220,000 people. This Wednesday, the mobilizations were particularly numerous after the call of the general strike. The prosecutor's office has requested that police and army abuses be reported and the INDH asked the people to respect the curfew so as not to expose themselves to more dangerous situations. In any case, Micco stated that during the arrests, "the police and military forces must exercise their physical strength in a proportionate and discreet manner".

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) also issued a statement Wednesday on the Chilean crisis, condemning the excessive use of force and rejecting all forms of violence in demonstrations: "While the state has a legitimate duty to ensure security and public order, the use of force must be governed by the principles of legality. , strict necessity and proportionality ". The IACHR added that "any social protest is legitimate as long as it develops peacefully".

In one of the complaints filed by the NHRI for police brutality, a woman was reportedly arrested on Saturday for breaking the curfew in the municipality of La Florida, south of Santiago. At the police station, according to the victim's account, "she was completely undressed and forced to do squats ". He received degrading treatment and was the victim of sexual violence. "We are going to throw you (co …) CuliaThey shouted. In addition, they did not let her leave the prison until 11 hours after ordering her release.

In another complaint alleging "illegitimate constraints and other cruel, inhuman or degrading cases", the case of a woman arrested by an army command in the middle of a looting in a supermarket is detailed. "They immobilized his hands behind his back, using plastic ties, pointed his gun on his face and laid it on the ground, in the trash, telling him that he was moving, they would shoot. " Then, according to the letter of the NHRI, they touched his body with the rifle and threatened to penetrate with his weapon.

The director of the Center for Human Rights of Diego Portales University, Lidia Casas, said that "lawsuits have been initiated for torture, homicide, police violence, illegitimate constraints". "We have returned to certain practices of the dictatorship, which is extremely worrying in a democratic state. When the authorities indicate that Chile is at war, as the president said, the armed forces and the order understand that they have an enemy on the other side, " he declared.

INDH reported other cases, such as that of a 36-year-old man who, on Sunday, was trying to buy items for his home, protested and protested that he was not did not participate in the demonstrations. received two shots with riot gear on his face by the police who dispersed the protesters. One wounded him in the right eye. Although he bleeds, the police "forced him to kneel and hit him on the ground," according to the complaint. He was taken to the police station and then to a hospital. As the doctors could not see him because of his sickness cover, he was again taken to the barracks. "At this place, he was bleeding and throwing blood clots through his mouth", indicates the judicial appeal. The man will not be able to recover his vision normally.