Eye injuries in front of the mega-election: “What’s up …

The repeal of the current Constitution, clearly neoliberal and promulgated by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), was one of the main allegations of the epidemic which for months had President Sebastián Piñera on the ropes. But If this stage of massive demonstrations is remembered for anything, it is because of the “epidemic” of eye trauma, which has led several international organizations to accuse the security forces of serious human rights violations. More than 400 protesters ended up with serious eye injuries: some, like young Gustavo Gatica, lost their sight completely. These young people attacked by state forces went to vote on Saturday and Sunday to elect the 155 citizens who will write a new Constitution.

“I want to invite all young people to vote, I call on the young people who were the protagonists of this fight to vote”, he assured Sunday afternoon Gustavo Gatica, the young psychology student who lost his sight in both eyes because of the Carabineros’ pellet fire during the 2019 epidemic. “Obviously, the constituency will not make all the changes, but it can be a big contribution”Gatica said from her Instagram account after voting this Sunday at the Santa Teresa school in the town of Colina.

“I shouldn’t lose an eye, but if it serves to stir the conscience of people who are not yet wasted … I hope seeing me will help them.”, said the student Dante Davagnino, who was shot by a tear gas canister in his left eye in March 2020. Since then, he has worn a prosthesis to which he has not quite got used to, and has not walked for fear of losing his other eye. “They cracked down on us for silence us, because they don’t want changes. It was calculated aggression “, he expressed.

“I had never voted because I don’t believe in the disastrous politics that perpetuated the inequalities, but this time there is a difference: I don’t want all the suffering to be in vain”, recognized the photojournalist Nicole kramm, attacked on December 31 in Plaza Italia, the epicenter of the revolt. Now, over a year and a half later, she has regained “a little bit of peace” leaving panic attacks behind and has once again documented the violence in the streets, even though she is aware that it will never be “the same as before” again. .

“That Gonzalo Blumel, former Minister of the Interior and politically responsible for having blinded Gustavo Gatica and Fabiola Campillai (the two people who went completely blind), is a candidate for a constituent is aberrant“Kramm denounced.

As Diego foppianoA 24-year-old student whose left eyeball was torn off by a lead at the start of the crisis, voted for the first time in the 2017 elections, which brought Piñera to power for a second non-consecutive term. He has always been the most interested in politics around him, but he hoped his friends would go to the polls this weekend to “kick out the same people who have ruled the country for years as they please.”.

Felipe Riquelme, 41, didn’t like the idea of ​​the Carabineros corps guarding the ballot boxes on Saturday night. For this former mining welder whose injury prevents him from returning to his profession, the epidemic was “a heartbreaking birth, the result of which is new life, with hope, with strength, with freedom”. “I want to see it like this, May my suffering and that of many colleagues serve to create a Chile with more dignity“he added.