The death of three police officers in the early hours of Saturday, April 27, Police Day, in the commune of Cañete, motivated the opposition to make a harsh call to the Government of President Gabriel Boric. Declaring that they have always been on the side of the institution, they not only requested to declare a State of Siege in the area and suspend the district week – the latter was granted and the former was ruled out by La Moneda – but they also agreed to dispatch projects regarding security that are stalled in Congress, such as the Rules on the Use of Force (RUF) and the Intelligence Law. But that was not all.
The Board of the Chamber of Deputies awaits the aforementioned laws this week, but the opposition bloc also used the tragedy to re-promote a project – whose original idea is attributed to the mayor of La Florida, Rodolfo Carter (former UDI militant) – that proposes amnesty for uniformed officers convicted, prosecuted and investigated within the framework of the social outbreak. “A rogue opportunism”said communist senator Daniel Núñez in this regard.
As of July 2023, and according to information from the Prosecutor’s Office, 45 Carabineros officials and three soldiers have been convicted for different events that occurred during the October 2019 demonstrations.
uniformed have been convicts for the following crimes:
- Illegitimate pressures.
- Tortures.
- Forgery or malicious use of public documents.
- Homicide (one attributed to Carabineros, two to Army officials and one to Navy personnel).
- Quasi-injury.
- Violations of the Code of Military Justice.
Also as of July of last year, another 157 members of the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement remained formalized, with 148 members of the Carabineros, seven from the Army and two from the PDI.
Of the 8,508 cases initiated for some type of crime or institutional offense during the social outbreak, only 31 resulted in convictions (0.36%). The vast majority of them were grouped (2,246) or provisionally archived (3,729).
On 809 occasions it was decided not to persevere in the investigation. The Justice Department also issued 21 definitive dismissals and 11 acquittal sentences.
The deputy and head of the UDI bench, Juan Antonio Coloma, called on the Government to sponsor this amnesty law “in such a way that the Executive gives a powerful political signal of support to our police forces.”
And it is that within the statements issued during the day on Saturday, in the midst of the commotion over the death in the Biobío Region of the senior non-commissioned officers Sergio Arévalo Lobos, Misael Vidal Cid and Carlos Cisterna Navarro, the opposition insisted on recalling positions of who are today in La Moneda during the 2019 crisis.
“They wore the ‘matapacos’ t-shirt. In what spirit did a police officer go out that morning to do his job? With much less than when citizens recognize them…” UDI deputy Jorge Alessandri told a morning news conference this Monday.
UDI deputy Álvaro Carter expressed himself in the same tone. The legislator, brother of the mayor of La Florida, was part of the delegation that traveled with authorities from the Executive and other branches of the State to Cañete on Saturday. He assured that “the Government is stained with blood on its hands. They have not apologized for when they wore the t-shirt with the ‘matapacos’ (dog). They have not apologized for the calls for insurrection that they made before they became Government. Before coming to offer condolences, they should have apologized.”
From the Republican Party, meanwhile, deputy Mauricio Ojeda also supported the amnesty project and called on President Boric, stating that the time is over to say “we are going to find them,” “we are going to persecute them,” because “nothing or “No one gives those policemen their lives back.” In his opinion, in line with his fellow opponents, “the time has come for you (Gabriel Boric) to sign the decree for amnesty and pardon for all those soldiers and police officers who persecute organized crime. If you do not take strong measures, the country will literally go into the garbage can.”
General amnesty or with exceptions?
Prior to the event that occurred in Cañete, on April 16, the mayor of La Florida, Rodolfo Carter, visited former Carabineros officials detained and prosecuted for the events that occurred almost 5 years ago. On that occasion, remembering what happened last year with the pardons, the community leader stated that the time had come for La Moneda to “cut the umbilical cord with the Octobrist regime” and promote an Amnesty Law for those convicted and prosecuted for cases related to the 18-O.
Days later, on April 24, Mayor Carter appeared with UDI Senator Luz Ebensperger and Representative Alessandri, to present a bill in that sense, which was later joined by Senators Javier Macaya (UDI), José Miguel Durana (UDI), Rafael Prohens (RN) and Rojo Edwards (former member of the Republican Party). However, there are disagreements within the opposition group. While the project speaks of a general amnesty, Mayor Carter advocated excluding those cases in which the death of a person resulted (four cases).
“Clearly any cause of homicide has to be left out of this,” said the communal chief of La Florida in a statement.
Figures from the Public Ministry from 2020 indicate that there were 33 deaths during the social outbreak. Precisely four are attributed to State agents. In the other 29, the fire at the Kayser warehouse and the accidents that occurred in Lider and Alvi supermarkets are included. There are also those who died in the Plaza Baquedano, where – for example – there is the case of Abel Acuña, who died from cardiorespiratory arrest while he was at a demonstration.
For Alessandri, this project “aims to be an amnesty by general law for everyone who wore a uniform and went out to defend the republic. It is not enough to pardon some and reward some with a pardon, if you leave the others relegated to the dungeon. The countries walk hand in hand and together they mend the wounds when the two sectors receive institutional support.” However, regarding homicide cases, Alessandri clarifies that “it should have that exclusion,” anticipating that the project will have modifications as it passes through Congress.
The main idea of the initiative is “to grant a general amnesty to officials of the Law Enforcement and Security Forces, including the Chilean Carabineros, the Investigative Police and members of the Armed Forces.” It is only specified that “pardons or amnesties for convicted persons who are not part of said institutions or who have been convicted or investigated for other crimes in the context of the social outbreak are expressly excluded from the project.”
- Article 1. General amnesty for convicted persons. Grant amnesty to all members of the Law Enforcement and Security Forces, including the Chilean Carabineros, the Investigative Police and members of the Armed Forces, who have been convicted as perpetrators, accomplices or accessories, at any stage of development. of the crime, for criminal acts that had taken place in the context of the social outbreak.
- Article 2. Period of general amnesty for convicted persons. The crimes referred to in the previous article, committed between October 7, 2019 and December 9, 2020, both days inclusive, will be subject to the general amnesty.
- Article 3. General amnesty for those investigated or prosecuted. Grant amnesty to all members of the Law Enforcement and Security Forces, including the Chilean Carabineros, the Investigative Police and members of the Armed Forces, who are being investigated or prosecuted for criminal acts that have taken place in the context of the social outbreak.
- Article 4. General Amnesty Period for those investigated or prosecuted. Investigations or processes referring to crimes committed between October 7, 2019 and December 9, 2020, both days inclusive, will be subject to the previous amnesty.
The senator and president of the UDI, Javier Macaya, held a press conference this Monday in which he targeted the Communist Party (PC), pointing out that they “raised the “killer dog” as a flag. In addition, he recalled the votes against the Naín-Retamal Law by the PC, for which he reiterated that “condolences and words of good breeding are not enough.”
Senator Macaya added that “concrete signals” are needed from the Government, while assessing the postponement of the formalization of the general director of the Carabineros, Ricardo Yáñez, who, along with senior officials of the institution, is accused of the crime of omission of coercion. illegitimate during the social outbreak, but maintained that “it is not enough.” In that sense, he stated that “the Carabineros cannot continue to be persecuted for defending the State of Chile.”
Macaya pointed to the INDH’s complaints against the institution, recalling those that were withdrawn against the “front line.” The “minimum signal” from the ruling party, he said, would be to vote in favor of the RUF and the Intelligence Law, but also in favor of the amnesty project.
Representative Coloma expressed himself in the same sense, calling for an end to the “famous Tohá doctrine”, which in his opinion “has proven to be a failure, where he has indicated that it is intended to dismiss a general director of the Carabineros for formalization by omission of their duties, what there is is a persecution by extremely ideological prosecutors who unfortunately have done tremendous damage to the country.”
It is worth mentioning that, in February of this year, the general secretary of the UDI, María José Hoffmann, reiterated the call from representatives of her sector, who asked President Boric to withdraw the complaints of cases of social outbreak presented against former president Piñera and his ministers. The latter, following some controversial statements by the President, who in the context of the State funeral of Sebastián Piñera assured that, when he (Boric) was in the opposition, “the complaints and recriminations sometimes went beyond what was fair and reasonable.” ”.
“Rogue opportunism”
The president of the Senate Security Commission, Iván Flores (DC), along with categorically condemning the crime of the three Carabineros officials in Cañete, describing the act as “terrorist”, summoned in an extraordinary way – in a district week – the members of the commission.
The objective: discuss the urgency of a new Anti-Terrorism Law, requesting the Government and the president of the Senate for its rapid consideration. Senator Flores, in line with La Moneda, rejected the proposal to declare a State of Siege, arguing that this measure would not be the most appropriate and proposing alternatives to address the situation firmly, but without paralyzing economic activity or citizen mobility. Under that slogan, the legislator referred to the amnesty proposal for uniformed personnel.
Flores reiterated that he did not agree, “because we would be ignoring the decisions of the courts in cases where there is already a conviction and proven crime; “We cannot act from anger or from the viscera, no matter how difficult the circumstances may be.”
In a harsher tone, the senator of the Communist Party (PC) Daniel Núñez referred to the amnesty project for uniformed personnel, for whom “with a scoundrel opportunism, the right takes advantage of the horrific murder of three police officers, to install a law in the Senate of amnesty that gives impunity to human rights violators for repression in the social outbreak.”
“Impunity never, not even in the vile murder of the three police officers,” declared Senator Núñez.
From the Frente Amplio bench, deputy Andrés Giordano declared that “the opposition does harm with its populist measures such as the death penalty and amnesty for police officers accused of human rights violations.” Through the social network “Improving the working conditions of Carabineros does.”
From the Democratic Party, Senator Ximena Rincón called for a thorough discussion of a possible amnesty for uniformed personnel in this case. “The issue of amnesty is something that must be studied very carefully. The pursuit of equity is fundamental in justice. If one group receives preferential treatment, it may be a sign that equality before the law does not exist. Social and political issues have to be weighed in these decisions,” she told Radio Tariff.
The legislator added that “amnesties seek national reconciliation, therefore, we cannot think only of one group and not others.” And she stressed that “it is not an issue on which one can easily take sides, I believe that this discussion must be held, but always taking care that there is balance.”
The opposition requested that the amnesty bill (Bulletin No. 16,786-07), in the first constitutional process, be known, first, by the Public Security Commission and, then, by the Constitution, Legislation, Justice and Regulation.
Amnesty Law in force since 1978
In March of this year, the United Nations Human Rights Committee asked Chile to repeal Decree Law 2,191, which in 1978 granted amnesty for a large part of the human rights violations committed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and, in addition , expressed concern about the delay in many processes related to that time.
In 1998, the Chilean Supreme Court ruled that the law should not apply to cases of human rights violations. This decision allowed crucial research to advance.
But, according to Guadalupe Marengo, of Amnesty International Chile, “alleging that the debate around the Amnesty Law is irrelevant because the law is not being used, is like saying that it is not necessary for torture and forced disappearances to be prohibited by law”.
In its review of the social outbreak, the UN Committee regretted that only a small part of those accused of crimes of torture during these events have been prosecuted, with many fewer convicted. In that period there were “a large number of human rights violations” due to the “disproportionate, arbitrary and unnecessary use of force and brutality by police and armed forces, including torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence,” he stated in a report.
The United Nations recommended that the Chilean State provide better training on human rights within the security forces, after highlighting that, for example, in the training period for police officers there is a very low number of subjects dedicated to this issue and no mention to the Istanbul Protocol against torture.
“The reform of the Carabineros is the quintessential non-repetition guarantee measure that the State must assume. The victims and society as a whole must know that the authorities are acting so that the crimes perpetrated during the social outbreak are not repeated. Unfortunately at this point there are more doubts than certainties regarding the Government’s commitment in this matter. It is urgent to understand the need for the reform of the Carabineros to advance, be profound and structural,” said Rodrigo Bustos, executive director of Amnesty International Chile, in October last year.
