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Chilean Police Kill Student Protester – Pattern & Practice Leftover from Pinochet Days?

10:07 am By Maegan La Mala · Argentina|Chile|Latin America|Police Violence · Comments Off

30 Aug 2011

Last Thursday, people gathered in the streets of Jaime Eyzaguirre Macul in Chile, participating in a two-day national strike. Among those was 16 year old Manuel Gutierrez. While police violence against protesters, especially students, is not uncommon in Chile, Manual probably expected to return home after the protests. Instead, he was mortally wounded due to shots fired by the police.

Originally the police denied responsibility, a position they have since retracted. Officer Miguel Millacura, who said he was responding to shots fired by protesters by shooting his Uzi 9 millimeter in the air, was asked to resign. An investigation continues.

Someone in Chile sent me the following video, demonstrating how common unprovoked violence is from the Carabineros de Chile. I urge you not just to watch the disturbing images but to also listen to how some the audio references Pinochet, so many years after the dictatorship.

Chile Debe Ser Distinto 25/8/2011 from ALAA ALSADI on Vimeo.

While a recent article in The Guardian, looks at police brutality specifically in Argentina and its role as part of the legacy left by right-wing dictatorships there, I think the following quote is applicable to the Southern Cone as a whole:

A recent study at Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University identified Argentina as having one of the worst records of police violence in Latin America, with 8.7% of the population subjected to some form of violence and abuse by the Argentinian police forces in 2009… 28 years after the end of the military-led dictatorship, still hangs over Argentina’s human rights and security practices. Nationally, “there is almost one case of police violence every day”, says Gerardo Netche, Argentinian lawyer and researcher for the anti-police corruption organisation Correpi. Most cases are “easy trigger” murders (so named by a 1980 judge who thought it was more sensitive to victims’ families than “trigger happy”) or torture. “These days,” says Netche, “generally all prisoners get beaten up, with more or less force depending on their case. Sadly it is very rare that any of these cases reach any kind of conviction.”

U.S. Helped Create Toro’s Situation, Now They Want to Rid Themselves of It via Deportation

9:45 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Chile|Immigration · 5 Comments

15 Mar 2011

Local NYC and international Chilean activist Victor Toro lost his bid for asylum. He is set to be deported to Chile, a country he left during the U.S. sponsored dictatorship of Pinochet, a country where he is legally dead.

From the NY Daily News :

ICE took Toro to court after he was arrested on an Amtrak train near Buffalo in 2007 for not having immigration papers.

Toro, a longtime advocate for immigrant rights who waded across the Rio Grande in 1984 to enter the U.S., claims he was afraid to turn himself in and request asylum, citing U.S. support for Pinochet’s brutal regime.

A democracy replaced the regime in 1990, but some of the leaders who had Toro tortured remain powerful, his lawyer says. They expelled Toro from Chile in 1977, declaring him dead.

Judge Sarah Burr said in a written ruling that Chile is a changed country and a safe place for Toro.

The Pinochet regime imprisoned Toro because he co-founded the Revolutionary Left Movement, known as the MIR, an anti-Pinochet group briefly labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S.

He was blindfolded for months at a time and had electric shocks applied to his genitals. He twice faced firing squads that shot blanks to scare him.

With President Obama set to visit the capital of Santiago later this month, Toro and Moreno are begging the White House to intervene. They argue the U.S. owes Toro because it tacitly backed Pinochet for years.

Calle 13 Kicks It at Viña del Mar

8:44 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile|GLBT|Music · 8 Comments

25 Feb 2011

Not having satellite television means missing out on the Festival de Viña del Mar en Chile. While some of the lesser known artists can be reminiscent of a bad American Idol audition video, when the stars come out on stage they really shine. Case in point Calle 13. And as much as I want to dislike some of their sexist messaging, there are times like two nights ago at la Quinta Vergara where they make you go hmm.

Not only did they call out homophobia, which has been in the headlines in Chile recently, including criticism at the Festival itself, but Residente, also had a message for the Mapuche written on his back. Now this last action, reminded me of Lady Gaga’s so called pro-DREAM act act where wearing a tee shirt = activism. But who knows if Residente’s body graffiti made people google Mapuche.

Plus, They performed with Inti-Illimani and the song Latinoamérica felt especially powerful in that place.

Check it…

Via / Digital Girl

Southern Chile Experiences Earthquake in New Year

9:48 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile · 1 Comment

3 Jan 2011

In what is being described as an aftershock of the massive 8.8 quake that occurred early last year, a quake measuring 6.9 (or 7.1 depending on the source) shook the south of the long, thin country yesterday. No injuries or deaths have been officially reported.

Yesterday’s quake, which included several strong aftershocks, was centered just west of Temuco, in the 9th Region. Coastal towns like Tirúa, Puerto Saavedra and Toltén auto-evacuated, not waiting for official instructions from the government, which was widely criticized for not issuing evacuation orders following the February 2010 quake for coastal areas which suffered death and damages due to tidal waves and flooding.

P.S : Temuco was my home for many months in Chile, so I pray everyone is safe and taking care of each other especially la familia Hermosilla and la familia Huechan.

Via / El Diario

“Model” Latin American Democracy Attacking At Least 2 Indigenous Nations

11:39 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile · Comments Off

23 Dec 2010

After the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners, Chile was even more lauded as a model democracy in region still portrayed in the media (and U.S. Cables as per Wikileaks) as run by power hungry and perhaps mentally unstable leaders.

What isn’t being covered, except in a few select outlets (namely orgs out of Chile, independent radio here in U.S. and through social media) is how the Chilean government is at this moment terrorizing two Indigenous nations.

VivirLatino has covered a little of what has been happening in the south of Chile regarding the Mapuche community (full disclosure, my elder child is Mapuche). Recently released cables have shown that while former Chilean Michele Bachelet may have been a victim of the U.S. sponsored coup/dictatorship of Pinochet, she had no qualms about reaching out to the U.S. to investigate the Mapuche as “terrorists” when they have been merely defending their lands.

From the L.A. Times:

One leaked cable, dated February 2008, tells of a meeting between U.S. Ambassador Paul Simons and Bachelet’s interior minister, Edmundo Perez Yoma, in which officials discussed the possibility that the Mapuche might be receiving aid from the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, or the FARC guerrilla army in Colombia, or even the ETA, the Basque separatist group in Spain.

The implications are powerful, for if indeed a connection was made (or rather invented) this certainly could place more U.S. anti-terror funds into Chile to suppress the Mapuche nation.

Then people question why I called Bachelet’s socialism “lite”.

Three South American Nations Recognize Independent Palestine

7 Dec 2010

Yesterday, both Argentina and Uruguay announced that they recognized Palestine as an independent state, following Brazil’s lead, who recognized Palestine on Friday. The countries recognize Palestine as it was in 1967 , before the so-called “Six-day War” between Israel and Palestine when Israel took Gaza and the West Bank.

“The Argentine government recognizes Palestine as a free and independent state within the borders defined in 1967,” Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said, adding that this decision was made after a general agreement between the South American and Mercosur trade blocs.

Uruguay went a step forward as its Deputy Foreign Minister Roberto Conde vowed to open a diplomatic representation in Palestinians’ Ramallah region after announcing to recognize it as a state next year.

Newly Revealed Documents Confirm U.S. Role in 1973 Chile Coup

10:48 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile|history|Politics · 1 Comment

22 Nov 2010

Documents recently declassified and released to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Chile’s capital, Santiago, confirm that the U.S., specifically then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, were behind the 1973 coup that violently overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende and threw Chile into 17 years of dictatorship marked by summary disappearances and deaths.

Peter Kornbluh, director of the Chile Documentation Project of the National Archive, from George Washington University said:

These documents should contribute to advance justice and dignity in Chile. Obviously these documents have a special value in terms of official investigations into open cases. Now there is a base of information that could help those who seek more details.

Translated from : La Prensa Latina

The Chilean Miner Celebs vs. The Realities of Chilean Mining

1:26 pm By Maegan La Mala · Chile · 2 Comments

10 Nov 2010

This weekend the mainstream media in the U.S. was enamored with Edison Peña, the 12th miner to be rescued after being trapped in a mine in the Atacama Desert of Chile for 69 days. There were stories on how Peña wasn’t all that impressed with the Statue of Liberty or hot dogs in NYC (I have to agree that Chilean completos are better). TMZ attempted to ask Peña about conditions in the mine in broken Spanish and Peña happily belted out his best Elvis impression on Late Night with David Letterman. Parts of my own family braved the NYC cold on Sunday in the hopes of catching Peña finish the NYC marathon in a little over 5 hours.

Hell, as the parents of two ChileRicans, I don’t want to deny a miner his time in the spotlight but I am concerned with how the celeb spotlight blinds how in Chile conditions for the not Edison Peñas continue to be dangerous and deadly.

Via Reuters :

Two men died after an explosion at a small mine in the Chilean desert, local authorities said on Monday, near the site were 33 miners were pulled from the depths in a months-long rescue that attracted world attention.

The National Emergency Office said the men died after an explosion triggered a cave-in at the mine, located about 40 miles east of the city of Copiapo.

Five other men were able to escape the explosion with one of them later hospitalized for injuries.

Looks like Chilean President Sebastián Piñera wasn’t able to keep his promise of never again.

Monday Musica : Rebel Diaz -”Libertad”

6:11 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile|Linking Latinos|Music · 1 Comment

20 Sep 2010

During this Latino Heritage Month, we are marketed to, studied, talked about and analyzed. During this month many of our homelands, ancestral and actual celebrate their independence days but also within these countries we struggle onward seeking true freedom.

The following video comes from us gracias a Rebel Diaz. Filmed on the streets of Santiago de Chile and produced Chilean team, Artefacto Visual, the video features Villa Grimaldi, which was a concentration camp site during the Pinochet dictatorship ushered in by the United States and where two of the Rebel Diaz crew members, RodStarz and G1′s, parents were tortured.

For me, this video is what this month and every other month of the year is about.

Enjoy

Miercoles Morning Movie : Los Olvidadados (The Forgotten Ones)

8:18 am By Maegan La Mala · Chile · 1 Comment

1 Sep 2010

As we enter September and quickly move to what is known in the U.S. as “Hispanic Heritage Month”, many Latin American counties celebrate their independence days, especially countries in South America. As the mother of two ChileRicans, one of them a MapucheRican and having lived in Chile in one of my incarnations, this 45 minute documentary really struck me. The Spanish (as in from Spain and in Spanish- with no English subtitles) looks at the Mapuche in Chile, with a specific focus on recent political repression.

I was moved and angered by the film as it discussed how, paralleling the treatment of indigenous nations in the U.S., colonial treaties were broken, new treaties were made, and then those were broken as well. I was particularly struck with how the new land ownership decisions made under the Pinochet dictatorshop were being enforced with violence against Mapuche communities.

If you speak Spanish and have 45 minutes to spare, it really is worth watching, considering the context of the upcoming bicentennial of Chile.

“Los Olvidados”, El Pueblo Mapuche, Una Historia de Resistencia from Nuestro Canto on Vimeo.

Via / Oposición a Piñera

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