Chile's Far Right Is Taking Up Arms

[Judi Lynn]

After last October’s popular revolt, Chileans are due to vote on a new constitution to replace the current Pinochet-era document. But far-right forces are mobilising to prevent any change – threatening deadly violence.

Octavio García Soto


1 HOUR AGO

In Chile, riots normally mean tear gas, water cannons, and police violence. This is especially true in the Southern Araucanía region, where overwhelming police presence enforces a century-old repression against the disenfranchised Mapuche people. Add quarantine and a military curfew, and you’ve got a stew going.

But there was a rather different scene on August 1, as over a hundred civilians armed with sticks surrounded the municipal buildings in the southern towns of Curacauitín, Victoria, Ercilla, and Traiguén. They risked a $2,500 fine for breaking the curfew (or $12,500 if one of them was COVID-19 positive). Fires and street fights filled the night, notwithstanding a heavy police presence: nice and armoured, both the police and the army stood by and did nothing.

The repression of the popular revolt in October 2019 — leaving 36 dead and over 11,000 wounded — showed that Carabineros de Chile are not shy about rough play. So, what happened, here — had the beast been tamed?

Or is it just that they’re racists? Because these particular demonstrators weren’t demanding a fair redistribution of wealth, a new constitution or an end to police brutality. They were chanting “away with the indios” or “el que no salta es Mapuche” (If you don’t jump, you’re Mapuche). Their protests were directed at municipalities occupied by Mapuche activists, who were demanding the liberation of twenty-eight Mapuche prisoners. The inmates were imprisoned in the context of their struggle to recover at least some of the 9.5 million acres taken from them by the Chilean state, out of the 10 million they originally had.

. . .

Riled-up reactionaries

After 40 years of a neoliberal constitution inherited from Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, the national referendum on a new constitution is finally drawing near. And many right-wingers are starting to dust off their — or their parents’ — old military paraphernalia.

Before the pandemic brought the country to a halt, there had already been violence at demonstrations in support of Pinochet’s constitution. Armed with sticks, helmets, and tailor-made shields (some even had Confederate flags), demonstrators charged not only counter-protesters, but even mere bystanders. The police stood and watched, or sometimes even actively defended them from counterattacks.

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https://thewire.in/world/chiles-far-right-is-taking-up-arms