The ex-president Sebastian Pinera left a “grim legacy in terms of human rights”, said the director of the office in Chile of Amnesty International (AI), rodrigo bustosregarding a recent report by the NGO on the situation of human rights in the world, which covers the year 2021.
In conversation with the agency EFEBustos indicated that in the social outbreak of 2019, “institutions such as the Police, the Army and the Public Ministry, which depended on the previous government (…), committed serious human rights violations and the administration did not prioritize or deliver all the resources that were required in the face of such a serious crisis”.
The director of AI’s national office maintained that “there is a lot of impunity” after human rights violations. “That is why we have said that we have a dark legacy in terms of human rights from the Piñera Administration, and now the new authorities that have taken office in the government and in Congress have the obligation to move forward in paying off those debts,” he added.
The report
Regarding the social outbreak, the report indicates that in 2021 “the protests continued, although with less intensity due to the pandemic. The police continued to use excessive force and at least two more cases of eye injuries were recorded.”
They added that in March, the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) denounced that the investigations into the more than three thousand cases of human rights violations committed in the social outbreak had been paralyzed.
“The National Prosecutor’s Office stated that almost half of the cases under its responsibility had been filed without charges having been filed. In May, the National Prosecutor ordered all representatives of the Public Ministry to review their cases and consider opening them again. again if the minimum investigative criteria had not been met,” they added.
On the other hand, they highlighted that during the year progress was made in some investigations, “such as those related to the injuries suffered by Gustavo Gatica and Fabiola Campillayand those undertaken on the death of Manuel Rebolledo and Kevin Gomez“.
Meanwhile, they reported that some victims of eye injuries told AI that “the Comprehensive Eye Repair Program (PIRO) had serious deficiencies.”
Arbitrary arrest and detention
The AI report maintains that “after the social unrest of 2019 and 2020, hundreds of people were arrested and charged with crimes allegedly committed during the demonstrations, which triggered more protests demanding their release.”
They pointed out that “no public institution provided an exhaustive list of detentions,” adding that they received testimonies of “several cases of unjustified use of preventive detention. In some of them, the persons in question had remained in pre-trial detention for approximately one year and later they had been acquitted or the case had been shelved due to lack of evidence”.
“Criminalization” of indigenous demands
The director of AI’s office in Chile, Rodrigo Bustos, highlighted the situation in the south of the country, where there is a conflict between the State, some forestry and agricultural companies, and Mapuche indigenous groups who demand the return of lands they consider own.
“For many years we have raised our concern and condemn the criminalization of protest in the southern regions (…) The State is in debt for the non-constitutional recognition (of the indigenous) and for the non-delivery of ancestral lands” , he stated.
“We believe that criminalization is not the right path,” he concluded, “and it is very interesting that a path of dialogue can be opened where all those who have suffered in the region can be discussed.”
