“The Police is acting with massive brutality and with the clear intention of hurting the demonstrators. During the first week of the protests, well over 300 people gained severe eye injuries by the police’s rubber bullets. When some of the international human right organizations criticized the Government for this, they turned to using teargas instead.”
Quotes in the text are from an interview with Paulina de los Reyes, professor in Economic Development at Stockholm University, who is experiencing the protests first hand in Santiago.
The number of people reported dead, wounded, missing, or detained, has increased steadily since the beginning of the extensive protests in Chile in October. Chileans are demanding social reforms and changes to a constitution that dates back to the era of military dictator Augusto Pinochet. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand for their voices to be heard, all while facing a brutal clamp down by the state. The Chilean police and armed forces have responded to the peaceful protests by committing grave human rights violations such as unlawful killings, torture, massive arbitrary detention, and sexual violence by state officers.
A report by the UN Human Rights Office, conducted in November, registered 113 specific cases of torture and ill-treatment, and 24 cases of sexual violence by members of the state police and army. These numbers are probably even higher in the face of continued demonstrations. Meanwhile, international attention has not seemed to hinder Chile’s right-wing leader Sebastián Piñera in continuing his battle against the people.
“The latest invention by the military is to use water canons with caustic soda mixed in them to separate demonstrators. After the last protests, 40 people had to seek medical care for severe chemical burns. Every report on the demonstrations show worse violations than the previous.”
The water canons used by the police contains more than 50% caustic soda and capsaicin, which is pepper spray’s main component, and have been found to be against “all legal norms regarding anti-riot elements” since it is highly corrosive at direct contact, and “potentially lethal”. Piñera denies this. He claims that his call for a state of emergency, and the massive military and police presence, has been “the only way to restore public order and to protect [our] citizens”.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROTESTS
”When Fabiola Campillay, a 36-year old mother of three got a teargas grenades shot in her face on her way to work, she suffered eye-damages so severe that she will never be able to see her children again.”
Even though the protests initially started over a rise in metro fares, the root of the demonstrations is widespread social inequality in Chile, with Piñera’s model making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Piñera’s handling of the situation has revived memories of the dictatorship in Chile under Pinochet, a time with crimes against humanity, mass killings, enforced disappearances, and more than 40,000 recognized victims being held as political prisoners and tortured.
Paulina de los Reyes, whose quotes are interspersed throughout, has heard stories of police throwing teargas grenades into people’s houses in the middle of the night in response to the current demonstrations. She has also heard reports of people being beaten mercilessly in order to create fear and obedience.
WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT
“The demands of the people cannot only be summarized to a handful of requests. The demonstrations are about an explosion of contempt with the economic model that Chile is built upon where a few people are enormously rich and where many are barely surviving on their salaries.”
Piñera has only 6% support today among the population, but is still able to keep his position because of his support from the Chilean legislative branch. More importantly however, is the support from Chile’s large police and military force. Many are now hoping for the fragile support for Piñera to turn, and are demanding that he should step aside.
“We see today a government that is prepared to defend the privileges of the elite with methods of violence, but we also see a people that has awakened and that doesn’t accept the situation. The question is not really why people are protesting now, but rather why they haven’t started earlier.”
The economic model that Chile is built upon exploits the wealth of the country for the rich, while the poor struggle to obtain drinking water, survive on their pensions, and keeping their health when environmental destruction is affecting whole villages. 1% of the population owns 30% of the total wealth, and 55% of the workforce cannot possibly accumulate enough savings to fund a minimal pension.
“Chile has never really dealt with the crimes of the dictatorship. A lot of those that committed the grave human rights violations never served any sentences. Those of us that experienced the dictatorship are now seeing the same view on violence that made those crimes possible, especially in the nonchalant and arrogant attitude of the economic and political elite regarding the current atrocities and needs of the people. There is enough water to grow avocados to export but not enough for the people to drink.”
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
“Chile has a long history of people demonstrating and organizing themselves for change. The demonstrations has also helped to bring the people of Chile together: to help each other, to heal, and to find happiness and solidarity during hard times.”
Chileans have called for reforms to healthcare, the pension system, education and the constitution. Piñera has stated that he is committed to remaining as president, and has launched measures to try to quell the unrest, including a small rise in the minimum wage and state pensions, as well as health reforms.
But if the government wants to end the protests, it will have to meet the demands of the people. The citizens of Chile are now expecting a more fair and democratic society.
There are expectations of a referendum on a new constitution in April that will likely include considerable national soul-searching on what kind of country Chile ought to be. If Chileans wish to avoid a repetition of government impunity, they must demand radical change. Piñera is testing how far he can go without major sanctions or repercussions from the international community; thus, the upcoming months are not only important for the fate of human rights in the country, but for also in determining the relevance of the international community as a whole.
Isabella is Masters student of human rights at Uppsala University in Sweden. She focuses on women’s rights, as well as humanitarian and conflict studies.