As Sebastian Pinera prepares to depart workplace, critics say he has failed to handle rights abuses dedicated on his watch.
Talcahuano, Chile – Within the last weeks of his presidency, Sebastian Pinera visited the port metropolis of Talcahuano, Chile, final month to inaugurate the development of a navy vessel. The location is sandwiched between the ocean and inexperienced forest, in an expansive non-public space unique to the navy and their households.
It's a far cry from close by Libertad, a weak neighbourhood the place Manuel Rebolledo Ibacache lives along with his spouse, Luisa Navarrete. Right here, generations of households are packed into cramped houses constructed within the shadow of enormous, foul-smelling fishing warehouses.
When Pinera final visited this space in October 2021, the couple staged a protest in hopes of catching his consideration, draping a banner with their son’s face and huge letters spelling “justice” alongside the aspect of the road. Pinera’s automobile drove straight previous them.
Their son, Manuel, was killed throughout a interval of violent unrest in October 2019 after he was hit by a navy truck.
“We wish justice. We wish the person who killed our son to go to jail, and we would like the president to go to jail,” Rebolledo Ibacache instructed Al Jazeera. “The president is leaving workplace with a clear slate, although he’s one hundred pc accountable.”
The 2019 protests, initially sparked by an increase in metro fares, shortly grew right into a broader motion in opposition to inequality. Large demonstrations have been accompanied by episodes of arson, looting and violent clashes between armed forces and protesters. Pinera issued a state of emergency, sending out the army and declaring that the nation was “at conflict with a strong enemy”.
A billionaire conservative, Pinera was accused of human rights violations after his heavy-handed response left dozens lifeless and 1000's injured, together with a whole bunch who have been hit within the eyes by shotgun pellets, blinding a few of them. At present, households say they're nonetheless trying to find justice.
The marine who struck and killed Manuel as he tried to flee from the navy automobile, Leonardo Medina Caamano, was convicted of against the law roughly equal to manslaughter, and acquired a 540-day sentence final yr to be served exterior of jail. Final week, the courtroom rejected appeals by Manuel’s household to overturn the ruling and impose a extra critical cost and jail sentence.
Manuel’s dad and mom at the moment are seeking to take their son’s case to a world courtroom, persevering with their lengthy quest for accountability. Navarrete believes her son wouldn't have died, have been it not for Pinera’s emergency declaration.
“A president can’t declare conflict on his personal folks,” she instructed Al Jazeera.
‘Conscious of the dangers’
Natalia Perez is aware of this anger all too nicely, having spent greater than two years looking for justice for her former accomplice, Alex Nunez, who died after three law enforcement officials chased him as he walked house in Santiago in October 2019, after which beat him badly. He later died in hospital.
Perez instructed Al Jazeera that she nonetheless doesn't know the names of the officers accountable, saying police seem to have “made a pact of silence”. She additionally holds Pinera chargeable for the actions of Chilean safety forces, and for his or her ongoing impunity. “I hope someday, Pinera is stripped of all the pieces,” she mentioned.
The nationwide police chief on the time of Nunez’s loss of life has beforehand mentioned there was “little info” obtainable on the case, noting that any officers discovered responsible ought to obtain “most sanctions”. A spokesperson for Chile’s nationwide police pressure instructed Al Jazeera that they may not touch upon a pending investigation.
Pinera has beforehand mentioned that any members of the nation’s army or police forces discovered responsible of rights violations can be punished. In a current interview with a Chilean newspaper, he mentioned he was “conscious of the dangers” of prosecution in worldwide courts for human rights violations dedicated in the course of the 2019 protests, however burdened his “full conviction that the accusations are usually not substantiated”.
The federal government media relations workplace declined to supply Al Jazeera with any additional touch upon the matter.
Human rights lawyer Cristian Cruz conceded that it might be “very troublesome” to prosecute Pinera in a world courtroom.
“Pinera managed to get certainly one of his personal ministers elected as a choose within the worldwide Inter-American Court docket [of Human Rights],” he instructed Al Jazeera, referring to the current election of Patricia Perez Goldberg, who served as justice minister in Pinera’s first authorities. “He’s coated his tracks very nicely.”
Some households are holding out hope that Gabriel Boric, Chile’s left-wing president-elect who assumes workplace on Friday, will help them, as he has expressed solidarity with these affected by the 2019 repression. Based on Cruz, “justice is dependent upon cleansing up the police” – and he'll preserve pushing in that route so long as his consumer, Perez, needs to proceed.
“I dream of the second that I can say, ‘Ale, relaxation in peace as a result of justice has come,'” Perez mentioned via tears. “That's my hope.”
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