[rad-green] Chile’s US-Backed Gov’t Sho oting Anti-Austerity Protesters, Blinding & Maiming by the Thousands

*https://consortiumnews.com/2020/03/02/chiles-us-backed-govt-shooting-anti-austerity-protesters-blinding-maiming-by-the-thousands/
<https://consortiumnews.com/2020/03/02/chiles-us-backed-govt-shooting-anti-austerity-protesters-blinding-maiming-by-the-thousands/>Consortium
News          March 2, 2020 Chile’s US-Backed Gov’t Shooting Anti-Austerity
Protesters, Blinding & Maiming by the ThousandsWith the U.S. and OAS
looking the other way, protesters have been subjected to brutally violent
repression.*

[image: image.png]

*By Ben Norton <https://consortiumnews.com/tag/ben-norton/>*
*The Grayzone
<https://thegrayzone.com/2020/02/24/chiles-us-backed-shooting-protesters-blinding-maiming-thousands/>*

*While the U.S. 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 U.S. 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*

A Feb. 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 Oct. 17, 2019 to Feb. 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.

The source of injuries of Chilean protesters, according to hospital cases
documented by the National Institute of Human Rights.

*Shooting Hundreds in the Eyes*

Eye wounds are among the most persistent injury suffered by protesters in
Chile.

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, causing 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.”

Nicole Kramm’s eye wound. (Nicole Kramm, Instagram)

The Chilean photojournalist was also injured and nearly killed when
U.S.-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 from US & OAS*

In response to the ongoing state repression, 1312 legal cases have been
filed in Chile’s justice system.

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, U.S. 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 U.S, 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 U.S. 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.

Similarly, the Organization of American States (OAS) and its
Secretary-General Luis Almagro, a staunch defender of U.S. 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.

As the U.S. 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 and writer. He is a reporter for The Grayzone,
and the producer of the “**Moderate Rebels*
<http://moderaterebelsradio.com/>*” **podcast, which he co-hosts with Max
Blumenthal. His website is **BenNorton.com* <http://bennorton.com/>*, and
he tweets at @**BenjaminNorton* <https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton>*.*

*This article is from *The Grayzone <https://thegrayzone.com/>.

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