Organizations
and
Individuals
Condemn
Piñera
Government's
Violence Against Chilean People
Collective Text of 40 Organizations
Montreal, November 6, 2019
We, the signatory organizations, hereby wish to
express our
profound indignation regarding the violent repression rampant in
Chile, aimed at silencing the strong wave of social protest that
has been shaking the country since last week. The declaration of
a state of emergency, the imposition of a curfew and the massive
deployment of military and police forces are trampling the
fundamental rights of the Chilean people. The repression starkly
recalls the methods of the nefarious Pinochet dictatorship.
 Growing
popular
protest over the untenable living conditions
afflicting the country was the catalyst for the general civil
disobedience actions undertaken by high school students, who,
in a sign of protest against fare hikes decreed by the
Sebastián Piñera government, refused to pay the
metro fare. That
was the trigger for a vast, country-wide social mobilization. On
October 18, in the face of this eruption of protest and ensuing
mayhem, the government's response was forceful repression and the
imposition of martial law through the declaration of a state of
emergency and curfew. These measures were extended to the main
cities in Chile's five regions. The criminalization of protestors
and the militarization of law enforcement has had alarming
consequences. Based on data provided on October 21 by the
National Institute of Human Rights (NIHR), which has begun
instituting judicial proceedings as a means of condemning acts of
torture, conservative estimates are that 2,643 persons have been
detained, 15 have been killed, eight have been shot, hundreds have
been injured and four have been struck by vehicles belonging to the
forces of repression. [As of November 8, reports indicate that
as many as 23 people have been killed, 1,659 people injured and
more than 7,000 detained -- TMLW Ed.]
The vast majority of the Chilean people, through
their social,
trade union and student organizations, as well as health care and
dock workers, teachers, retirees and artists, have clearly
pointed to the urgency of finding solutions to the serious
problems linked to the alarming deterioration of essential social
services and the corruption of the political class and employers.
Added to these demands is the denunciation of the privatization of
waterways and lands, and the application of the
anti-terrorist law against the Indigenous peoples who are defending
their
territories.
Within this context and in consideration of the
extreme
gravity of the situation and of its critical evolution, the
signatory organizations support the demands of numerous
international and Chilean organizations and declare the
following:
- We accuse President Piñera of
resorting to violent rhetoric
and hate speech by stigmatizing social protest
which he associates with delinquency;
- We reject the media embargo, disinformation
and the
manipulation of information that seeks to hide the actual
scope of the social protest, its demands and the brutal
repression afflicting the entire country;
- We categorically denounce the human rights
violations of the
police and military forces (illegal detentions, kidnappings,
torture, assassinations and sexual attacks), which constitute
a true declaration of war against the Chilean people;
- We reject the use of repression as a form of
governance
(violation of freedom of movement, of association and of
expression) and a violation of the rule of law and demand the
immediate withdrawal of military forces;
- We demand the restitution of democracy through
the lifting
of the state of emergency and the curfew, which are an attack on
its very foundations;
- We urgently and strongly implore the Chilean
government to
listen to and find solutions to the social demands at the base of
the present crisis.
For the list of signatories, click
here.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 26 - November 10, 2019
Article Link:
Organizations
and
Individuals
Condemn
Piñera
Government's
: Collective Text of 40 Organizations
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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