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November 8, 2019 was marked by several violent situations in the surroundings of Baquedano Square, in one of the most intense days of the mobilizations. That day Gustavo Gatica was hit in his eyes with pellets that left him blind, case for which a Carabineros officer was charged. A few meters from that sector a group of strangers took over the Schneider House, one of the most traditional architectural places in Santiago dating from 1915 and used as the headquarters of the Pedro de Valdivia University (UPV). Then they set it on fire.
For this last crime, minutes later Alejandro Carvajal Gutiérrez was arrested (19), who became the only defendant in the fire to date. After formalizing it, the precautionary measure of preventive prison, a measure that continues to be fulfilled until today.
10 months after his arrest, today the closing arguments ended and tomorrow at 10.00, the Third Oral Criminal Court of Santiago will deliver its sentence. He Chief Prosecutor of Ñuñoa, Álvaro Pérez, requested a penalty of 10 years and a day in jail.
He accuses him of having thrown accelerating liquid with the intention and will to spread fire which had already started in some parts of the university. This action, according to the prosecutor, was recorded by recorded cameras “By Carabineros officials who were in compliance with preventive tasks and control of public order in the vicinity, and later police officers who were in other sectors of downtown Santiago filmed the journey that the defendant undertakes in his flight to later be detained in the vicinity of Metro Moneda.
During the trial, which started on September 1, Carvajal never testified. But he did do so while his case was still under investigation, on January 6, 2020.
According to her testimony, that November 8, she got up at 12:00 and went to her Fermín Vivaceta school, located in San Pablo with Riquelme. Then, he said that around 5:00 p.m. he left school, went home to shower and went skateboarding. “He wore black, sneakers, jeans and a black shirt, as well as a backpack in which he carried allergy pills, and two other shirts, one black and the other I don’t remember the color. Also, I carried in my pants pockets, my cell phone and house keys. I went skating through the Cathedral towards Cumming and then to the Alameda and from there towards the east ”, he said.
He indicated that around 5:40 p.m. he arrived at Plaza Baquedano. “I saw that the police fired tear gas. I put on a black t-shirt covering my nose. I saw people running towards Vicuña Mackenna, who was advancing to the south. I also advanced. About two blocks down Vicuña Mackenna, I saw an area where people took refuge for the shots fired by the police, ”Carvajal declared.
He pointed out that this situation gave him “panic and a feeling of anger at the actions of the Carabineros.” Afterward, he said he got to the back of the university. “I came across a fence that overlooks Bustamante Park, I jumped over it to go out onto the street and I see that many people, I think more than two hundred, who threw down the gate and entered to loot a commercial premises inside the university, besides that they smashed the glass and took out a data. I entered a couple of minutes after the mob. I took my skateboarder and broke two windows, ”he declared.
He assured that “they listened to people who wanted to burn. I saw smoke on floor two and heard people saying to evacuate and others who wanted it to burn. I was in the courtyard and I saw a curtain on the first floor, in a window. I tried to light the curtain with the lighter, but it didn’t light. I step back, always inside the university and I see a guy in a white hood throw something at the curtain and then I see the curtain come on. I step back and threw a bottle of drink that I had bought at a newsstand. “
Noted that later the Carabineros arrested him. “Then I left the university, I stayed in Bustamante Park. I decided to go home and the Carabineros grabbed me. I went skateboarding and near La Moneda I see the Carabineros approaching me and I reacted with fear and backed away but they stopped me “, he indicated.
The prosecutor asked him where he bought the bottle he had in his possession when he was arrested. He said it was a Lemon Soda or Sprite that he bought at a newsstand, located by Cumming up to Orphans and that it cost him between $ 700 and $ 1,000. Thus, Pérez showed him color photos in which it was seen that after throwing the liquid contained in the bottle, the fire was stoked. Given this, the accused said that it can be “explain this situation for reasons such as the wind (…) I threw a bottle with liquid, with drink, out of anger ”.
Regarding the white squared papers that were found as evidence, he said that “they are not mine and I do not understand why they say they were in my backpack. I have no explanation for that. “
He ended his testimony by noting that “This for me has been devastating, considering there is no evidence.”
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