CHILEFebruary 24, 2020
Chile’s US-backed gov’t is shooting anti-austerity protesters, blinding and
maiming by the thousands
Chile has responded to anti-neoliberal protests with brutally violent
repression. 10,365 people have been detained; 3765 treated for wounds in
hospitals; and 2122 shot, 445 in the eye according to a conservative estimate
by the state-backed National Institute of Human Rights.
By Ben Norton
While the US government, international NGOs, and corporate media outlets have
relentlessly demonized the elected governments in Venezuela and Nicaragua, the
Washington-backed right-wing administration in Chile has been violent cracking
down on an uprising against neoliberal policies, and with virtual impunity.
In October 2019, protests erupted across Chile against the government of
President Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire oligarch who has defended the former
military dictator Augusto Pinochet while cutting social spending and pushing
further privatization in a country where water is already privatized.
Soon after the demonstrations broke out, Piñera proclaimed, “We are at war!”
The president’s language evoked horrifying memories for many Chileans who lived
through the state terror of the Pinochet dictatorship, and for the families of
those killed by it.
El Siglo
@elsiglochile
Luego de que Presidente Piñera indicara que “ estamos en guerra” proliferaron
las comparaciones con Pinochet
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The United States and allied institutions like the Organization of American
States (OAS) have long praised Chile as a shining example of democracy in South
America. But the country is still bound to a constitution written during
Pinochet’s dictatorship. Protesters have demanded a new constitution, and a
plebiscite in April could change that, if it is not delayed by the Piñera
administration.
A poll in January found that Piñera’s approval rating had plummeted to a record
low of just 6 percent, with a whopping disapproval rating of 82 percent.
(Compare this to a recent study that found that 63.5 percent of Nicaraguans
will vote for the ruling Sandinista Front.)
But the almost universal opposition to Piñera and his right-wing policies has
done nothing to stop the US government and OAS from throwing their full weight
of support behind his administration.
With full-throated backing from Washington, the billionaire president appears
to have all the support he needs to continue his campaign of repression.
State-backed bloodshed in Chile
A February 18 report (PDF) by Chile’s National Institute of Human Rights (INDH)
illustrates the shocking scope of the Piñera government’s repression.
The institute was created by Chile’s legislature with a leadership council
appointed by various government figures, including the president himself, the
Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, and public universities.
Though the INDH is a state-backed institution, it has endured aggressive
intimidation by Chile’s national police forces, known as the carabineros.
State security forces have at least 14 times threatened members of INDH,
according to the group’s report. The carabineros have also shot tear gas at the
bodies of INDH observers, wounding three with pellets, and preventing them from
accessing detainees.
INDH’s report accuses the Piñera administration of carrying out the following
grave abuses:
arbitrary detentions of people who were peacefully demonstrating
excessive use of force
aiming at the bodies of protesters and shooting gases at them
shooting pellets at the body, neck, and face of protesters
use of tear gas on children and pregnant women
detention of journalists
deploying undercover police and military forces who did not identify themselves
INDH documented security forces’ detention of 10,365 Chileans in just four
months of protests, from October 17, 2019 to February 18, 2020. That is an
average of around 86 detentions per day for 120 days.
The state violence has been extreme. Videos circulating on social media have
shown some protesters being run over by armored vehicles.
Ben Norton
✔
@BenjaminNorton
The notoriously violent police in
Chile's brutal right-wing Pinochet-style regime (which is of course strongly
backed by the US) just crushed a protester in between two armored vehicles.
Warning, this video is terrifying:
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In a conservative estimate, INDH documented 3,765 protest-related wounds in the
past four months. Some 282 children were among the injured.
Researchers from the human rights body visited 67 hospitals and health centers
to calculate figure. Because the researchers only counted wounded protesters
whose cases were reported by medical institutions, it likely is an
underestimate of the actual number.
The report itself notes, “It is important to highlight that this figure does
not represent all the people wounded in this social crisis, rather it only
reflects cases observed and confirmed by the INDH.”
The majority of the wounded protesters, 2,122 people, or approximately 56
percent, were shot by the state security forces. Of those, 51 were shot with
live bullets, 190 by large metal balls, and 1,681 by small metal pellets. (The
munitions used in the other 200 shootings were not identified.)
Another 271 protesters were hospitalized from tear gas injuries.
Chile protests injuries graph National Institute of Human Rights
The source of injuries of Chilean protesters, according to hospital cases
documented by the National Institute of Human Rights
Shooting hundreds of Chilean protesters in the eyes
Among the most persistent injury suffered by protesters in Chile is wounds to
the eye.
Chile’s carabineros, or national police, have relied on riot shotguns that are
banned in much of the world as a form of crowd control, shooting protesters
with clusters of pellets that explode into tiny pieces of shrapnel, cause grave
eye wounds.
The National Institute of Human Rights documented 445 cases of protesters
suffering from eye wounds in the past four months. Many activists have lost
partial or even complete vision in one or both eyes.
In 25 extreme cases, protesters’ eye or eyes completely burst. And in nine
cases, protesters lost an eye completely; it was removed from their head.
“As the National Institute of Human Rights we are concerned,” the body said,
“that we continue receiving complaints and observing the existence of eye
injuries, regarding people who were exercising their right to peacefully
protest.”
These eye wounds have become a symbol of the protest movement in Chile, used in
signs, flyers, and memes.
Mon Laferte, a prominent Chilean musician who supports the demonstrations,
circulated the following cartoon depicting a blind activist telling Piñera,
“We’re very sorry that you can’t see anything, President.”
MON LAFERTE
✔
@monlaferte
#enchileseviolanlosddhh
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Numerous journalists reporting on the protests in Chile have suffered from eye
injuries and even permanently lost vision in own or both eyes.
Chilean photojournalist Nicole Kramm was walking with some friends after dinner
when she was shot in the eye by the police.
Kramm suffered from severe eye trauma, and says she now sees a hazy black cloud
in her left eye. She called it “something totally criminal and painful.”
“How long will these crimes against humanity go on?” she asked. “Yesterday I
was the one frightened by the police brutality as I was interviewing people who
lost vision, today unfortunately it’s my turn.”
The Chilean photojournalist was also injured and nearly killed when US-backed
Venezuelan opposition members nearly ran her over with an armored troop
transport vehicle during the Trump administration’s attempt to invade Venezuela
with “humanitarian aid” on the Colombian border in February 2019.
Amidst the state repression of anti-austerity protests, far-right forces in
Chile are mobilizing. A network of extreme-right Pinochet supporters operating
out of Chile’s wealthy neighborhoods was recently exposed for trafficking heavy
weapons, including assault rifles.
Staunch support for repressive Chile from the US and OAS
1312 legal cases have been filed in Chile’s justice system in response to the
ongoing state repression.
But with Piñera government firmly in power, with powerful allies abroad,
justice remains elusive.
When Piñera was forced in October to cancel international conferences that were
to be held in Chile, US Secretary of State and former CIA director Mike Pompeo
said that he understood the decision.
“We applaud the leadership Chile has shown,” Pompeo said, “and are committed to
advancing our shared goals.”
Pompeo made this comment two weeks into the protests in Chile, while the
right-wing government was wounding and detaining thousands of protesters.
Throughout the violence, the US secretary of state kept quiet.
Secretary Pompeo
✔
@SecPompeo
We understand Chilean President @sebastianpinera’s decision to cancel #APEC
Leaders’ Week and #COP25. We applaud the leadership #Chile has shown throughout
#APECChile2019 and are committed to advancing our shared goals.
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The US embassy in Chile has also maintained total radio silence on the Piñera
government’s violence against unarmed civilians. Apparently, the embassy is too
busy posting indignant statements condemning Venezuela and reaffirming support
for Trump’s coup puppet Juan Guaidó to concern itself with the repression
taking place right outside its gates.
Embajada EEUU Chile
✔
@EmbajadaEEUUcl
Estados Unidos adopta medidas contra funcionarios del exrégimen de Nicolás
Maduro por obstrucción de la Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela. Traducción de la
declaración del Secretario de Estado Michael Pompeohttp://ow.ly/58HN50xVm0v ;
Estados Unidos adopta medidas contra funcionarios del exrégimen de Maduro |
Embajada de los Estados...
El 13 de enero, Estados Unidos sancionó a siete funcionarios del exrégimen de
Maduro.
cl.usembassy.gov
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8:05 AM - Jan 15, 2020
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Similarly, the Organization of American States (OAS) and its secretary-general
Luis Almagro, a staunch defender of US military intervention in South America,
have whitewashed Piñera’s repressive right-wing administration in Chile, while
vigorously lobbying for the overthrow of the democratically elected governments
in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Almagro praised Piñera in January, hailing “his work to preserve the public
order in the framework of a state of law and democracy, and measures to
guarantee human rights and the social agenda.”
At no point did Almagro offer a word of criticism. Instead, he effused, “Chile
is an invaluable partner for work in defending international democratic
institutions, human rights, development, and security.
Luis Almagro
✔
@Almagro_OEA2015
· Jan 9, 2020
Me reuní con Pdte @sebastianpinera, hablamos d #Chile y la región. Reconocemos
su trabajo d preservar el orden público en marco d Estado d Derecho y la
democracia, y medidas xa garantizar DDHH y la agenda social. Reiteramos nuestra
condena a la violencia como instrumento político
View image on TwitterView image on Twitter
Luis Almagro
✔
@Almagro_OEA2015
Nuestro reconocimiento a #Chile por su compromiso con el sistema
interamericano, por promover una agenda de principios dentro de la
@OEA_oficial. Chile es un socio invalorable para el trabajo en defensa de las
instituciones democráticas, los DDHH, desarrollo y seguridad
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As the US and OAS turn a blind eye to the rampage of Piñera’s carabineros,
Chileans are losing their own by the hundreds.
Ben Norton
Ben Norton is a journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He is the assistant editor
of The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels podcast, which he
co-hosts with editor Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com and he tweets
at @BenjaminNorton.
bennorton.com
