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UN to probe abuses in Chile as strike continues
SANTIAGO, Oct 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United Nations said Thursday it
would send a special mission to investigate human rights abuses in Chile,
where a general strike went into its second day following a week of street
protests that left 19 dead.
President Sebastian Pinera tried to ease tensions by announcing a plan to
end a highly unpopular state of emergency and nighttime curfews that have
lasted six days.
“Having monitored the crisis in Chile since it began, I have decided to
send a verification mission to examine the allegations of human rights
violations,” head of the UN Human Rights Council and former Chilean president
Michelle Bachelet said in a tweet.
The protests erupted on Friday against a metro fare hike, but evolved into
a wider rebellion over low salaries and pensions, high education and health
care costs and a yawning gap between rich and poor.
While much of the action has been peaceful, metro stations were destroyed,
supermarkets torched and looted, traffic lights and bus shelters smashed and
countless street barricades erected and set alight.
Some 20,000 police and soldiers have been deployed in the city, using tear
gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators.
But they have also been responsible for five of the deaths, while social
media has lit up with accusations of torture and abuse by the security
forces.
“We’re working on a plan to normalize life in our country… to end the
curfew and hopefully to lift the state of emergency,” Pinera said.
Authorities reported a reduction in violence on Wednesday compared with
Tuesday, saying there had been no deaths, a 25 percent drop in arrests and
fewer serious incidents.
The national human rights institute — INDH — says 584 people have been
injured, 245 by firearms, and 2,410 detained.
Nine of the deaths came in fires started by looters.
– ‘Increased polarization’ –
Chile’s most powerful union, the Workers’ United Center of Chile (CUT)
continued industrial action that began on Wednesday.
“What President Pinera has done up until now is increase polarization and
tension in the country,” CUT president Barbara Figueroa told journalists.
“We have youngsters in the streets with a gun in their hands pointed at
their own compatriots.”
But in Santiago — a city of seven million — people seemed to be going to
work as normal, with many shops and businesses opening their doors for the
first time since the crisis erupted.
Soldiers guarded Santiago’s metro stations on Thursday as three of the
seven lines — which usually carry three million people per-day — were
operating, backed up by 6,000 buses.
Almost all schools in the capital held classes, having mostly been closed
earlier in the week. Even the capital’s more combustible suburbs were calmer.
– Focus and leadership lacking –
The violence in Chile, usually one of the most stable countries in Latin
America, is the worst experienced since returning to democracy after the
1973-1990 right-wing dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet.
But the protests lack a clear focus or recognizable leadership.
“This is the whole country’s complaint. We’re fed up,” shouted one
demonstrator over the din of pots and pans being banged in front of soldiers
in Santiago.
In an address to the nation late on Tuesday, Pinera apologized for failing
to anticipate the outbreak of social unrest and announced a raft of measures
aimed at placating demonstrators.
He promised to increase the universal basic pension and minimum wage, cut
public sector salaries and cancel a recent hike in electricity bills.
Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera told reporters next month’s APEC trade
summit would go ahead despite the protests.
US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are among
those expected to attend the November 16-17 meeting to discuss ending their
trade war.
In Paraguay, South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL said the
November 23 final of the Copa Libertadores — the continent’s equivalent of
Europe’s Champions League — between champions River Plate of Argentina and
Brazilian giants Flamengo would take place as planned in Santiago.
Ribera also said the capital would still host December’s climate change
conference Cop 25.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0916 hrs