[News] Chile’s US-backed gov’t is shooting anti-austerity protesters, blinding and maiming by the thousands
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Feb 24 17:50:58 EST 2020
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/02/24/chiles-us-backed-shooting-protesters-blinding-maiming-thousands/
Chile’s US-backed gov’t is shooting anti-austerity protesters,
blinding and maiming by the thousands
Ben Norton February 24, 2020
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
<https://thegrayzone.com/2020/02/19/nicaragua-peace-media-international-ngos-violence-reporting/>
the elected governments in Venezuela
<https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/11/life-resistance-venezuela-ben-norton-us-blockade/>
and Nicaragua
<https://thegrayzone.com/2019/08/22/nicaragua-sandinista-revolution-40th-anniversary/>,
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
<https://radio.uchile.cl/2017/09/05/cuando-pinera-defendia-a-pinochet/>
while cutting social spending and pushing further privatization in a
country where water is already privatized
<https://www.publimetro.cl/cl/nacional/2016/11/23/chile-unico-pais-mundo-que-agua-privada.html>.
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.
Luego de que Presidente Piñera indicara que “ estamos en guerra”
proliferaron las comparaciones con Pinochet
pic.twitter.com/AqjuJ3m7jZ <https://t.co/AqjuJ3m7jZ>
— El Siglo (@elsiglochile) October 21, 2019
<https://twitter.com/elsiglochile/status/1186119552238870528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
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
<https://www.abc.es/internacional/abci-chile-sepultara-constitucion-pinochet-plebiscito-abril-201912210149_noticia.html>
could change that, if it is not delayed by the Piñera administration.
A poll in January found that Piñera’s approval rating
<https://www.cnnchile.com/pais/encuesta-cep-enero-2020-gestion-gobierno-pinera-estallido-social_20200116/>
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
<https://www.tn8.tv/nacionales/483846-encuesta-53-votaria-fsln-elecciones-nicaragua/>
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
<https://www.indh.cl/bb/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Reporte-de-datos-18-febrero-de-2020.pdf>)
by Chile’s National Institute of Human Rights
<https://www.indh.cl/quienes-somos-2/> (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
<https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2020/02/18/a-4-meses-de-inicio-del-estallido-indh-actualiza-cifras-de-victimas-de-violencia-y-alerta-que-persisten-los-casos-de-lesiones-oculares/>
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.
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:pic.twitter.com/9fuU6Ikgq1
<https://t.co/9fuU6Ikgq1>
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) December 21, 2019
<https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1208228606905856001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
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 RightsThe
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.”
#enchileseviolanlosddhh
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/enchileseviolanlosddhh?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
pic.twitter.com/QbQJVnXsJw <https://t.co/QbQJVnXsJw>
— MON LAFERTE (@monlaferte) November 13, 2019
<https://twitter.com/monlaferte/status/1194736553399971841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
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
<https://www.biobiochile.cl/especial/lo-que-debes-saber-hoy/2020/02/19/el-perfil-de-los-formalizados-del-caso-ak-47-pinochetistas-abc1-y-fanaticos-de-las-armas.shtml>,
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.
We understand Chilean President @sebastianpinera
<https://twitter.com/sebastianpinera?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>’s decision
to cancel #APEC
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/APEC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
Leaders’ Week and #COP25
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/COP25?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>. We
applaud the leadership #Chile
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chile?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> has
shown throughout #APECChile2019
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/APECChile2019?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
and are committed to advancing our shared goals.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 31, 2019
<https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1189999154673655808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
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
<https://twitter.com/search?q=venezuela%20from%3AEmbajadaEEUUcl&src=typed_query&f=live>
and reaffirming support for Trump’s coup puppet Juan Guaidó to concern
itself with the repression taking place right outside its gates.
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
Pompeohttps://t.co/Rottnlqfoe
— Embajada EEUU Chile (@EmbajadaEEUUcl) January 15, 2020
<https://twitter.com/EmbajadaEEUUcl/status/1217432545291317248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
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.
Nuestro reconocimiento a #Chile
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chile?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> por
su compromiso con el sistema interamericano, por promover una agenda
de principios dentro de la @OEA_oficial
<https://twitter.com/OEA_oficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>. Chile es un
socio invalorable para el trabajo en defensa de las instituciones
democráticas, los DDHH, desarrollo y seguridad
pic.twitter.com/iPzFdUppTZ <https://t.co/iPzFdUppTZ>
— Luis Almagro (@Almagro_OEA2015) January 9, 2020
<https://twitter.com/Almagro_OEA2015/status/1215405510079414272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
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 is a journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He is the assistant
editor of The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels
<http://moderaterebelsradio.com/> podcast, which he co-hosts with editor
Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com <http://bennorton.com/> and
he tweets at @BenjaminNorton <https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton>.
--
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863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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