Singing in Santiago de Chile is an act of protest for the Chilean band Hacia La Victoria.
Its members were blinded, partially or totally, after being shot by the police during the social unrest that had shaken the South American country since October 2019 and whose massive protests lasted until early 2020.
The band’s keyboardist, Vicente Pascal, lost his left eye after being hit by a pellet.
“I lost my entire eyeball,” he recalls.
The band’s drummer, Gustavo Gatica, was even less lucky, losing both eyes to pellets fired by police during a protest in November 2019.
Several photos of his bloody face went viral on social media.
His case became a symbol of police repression of the protests.
More than 30 civilians were killed in violent clashes with police, and more than 400 were left with permanent eye damage.
Sebastián Piñera, who was then president of the country, acknowledged that there was an excessive use of force to quell the protests and promised reforms.
His successor, Gabriel Boric, has also promised to help victims of police violence.
“They shot us to divide us”
The eight members of the musical band Hacia La Victoria met through organizations that support victims.
They not only share a passion for music, but also a desire to perform songs to defend human rights.
For Pascal the sheer act of making music is “revolutionary”.
“They shot us to divide us and that’s why it’s very valuable to me that we come together and create (music).”
Hacia La Victoria uses music to denounce police violence in Chile.
Its members are among the most vocal critics of a new law, known as Naín-Retamal, which increases penalties for crimes against police officers, and establishes privileged legitimate defense in actions related to the use of force.
Organizations such as Amnesty International have warned that this law could have serious consequences for human rights in the country.
The Naín-Retamal bill was rushed through in April after a police officer was killed on duty while pursuing armed criminals.
Daniel Palma was the third agent killed in less than a month.
The deaths of police officers, in addition to a 32% increase in the homicide rate across the country between 2021 and 2022, have fueled fears about insecurity in one of the safest nations in all of Latin America.
An “act of treason”
A poll published in April found that 95% of Chileans believed that police should be able to use real firearms to deal with extreme cases of gun violence.
In 2019, only 49% of the population supported this.
Amid concerns about rising insecurity, the government of President Gabriel Boric backed the bill, despite much criticism.
For the members of Hacia La Victoria, the government’s decision to give the police more freedom to use their firearms without reforming the institutions has been an act of treason.
“I understand that such a macro project cannot be done from one day to the next, but it is another thing to go in the completely opposite direction,” Pascal comments on the approval of the bill.
But opposition lawmaker Diego Schalper argues the new powers are necessary at a time when kidnappings and drug-related murders are on the rise.
“The government has a very serious security crisis on its hands,” he tells the BBC.
Schalper, who has championed the Naín-Retamal bill, says it gives police officers reassurances that they will not face hostile reactions after using their weapons as part of their police duties.
Victim of a new measure
Among the measures to combat crimeThe government has also allowed police to carry Uzi submachine guns again, 11 years after their use was suspended after a teenager was killed by an officer armed with an Uzi during a student protest.
Just days after the Uzi was reintroduced this year, another young man became a new fatality of the submachine gun.
David Toro, 19, was shot dead after being detained by officers who suspected he was involved in drug trafficking.
The case is still being investigated, but the teenager never made it to the cell.
Although he was not armed, he was shot several times with an Uzi.
“They used a weapon for which they don’t even have training,” says Álvaro, David Toro’s father.
Álvaro Toro maintains that his son stopped his car and obeyed police orders after being arrested.
“The police use their power to threaten people and hide behind the uniform.”
Rodrigo Bustos, director of the Amnesty International branch in Chile, points out that Toro’s case shows the danger that the new law represents for the civilian population.
“The Naín-Retamal law assumes that the police force is applied rationally, but we know that this does not happen in practice,” he adds.
In his opinion, the Naín-Retamal law “has nothing to do with protecting the police” but with minimizing the punishment faced by agents guilty of ill-treatment.
Comfort through music
Only a small fraction of the complaints of human rights violations allegedly committed by officials during the protests have gone to trial.
And far fewer have ended in criminal convictions.
According to the most recent count by Amnesty International at the end of 2022, out of 10,938 complaints filed only 140 cases brought charges.
In the few cases that have reached the courts, the Naín-Retamal law is already being successfully invoked by the lawyers defending the police officers.
In May, five officers were acquitted of beating a civilian protester: the court found they had acted in self-defense.
The group Hacia La Victoria feels that the victims of police violence have been abandoned, and their survivors have been left with serious damage to their mental health.
Four people who were partially or totally blinded during the protests have taken their own lives.
The band members are infuriated to see “police impunity” in Chile, but find solace through music, each bringing a mix of musical influences ranging from rock to rap, and folk to funk. .
Their song A Terrible Story tells the story of a young protester injured by the police and sums up the imbalance of power felt by them and others injured by the police at the protests:
“He fought for his own, he longed for dignity, he only used stones, they were real weapons”, Sergio “Totó” Concha chants with his guitar.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/clm1vxvj0eko, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-08-02 15:30:06
charis mcgowan
Santiago, Chile
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