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President Sebastián Piñera asked citizens this Wednesday to “support” the Carabineros police force, despite complaints of excessive use of force during the protests and just a week after the resignation of its already controversial former director.
“The Carabineros are not from the left or from the right, they are not from the government or from the opposition, They belong to all Chileans and we all have a duty of respect and recognition“, said the President during the change of command ceremony of the militarized police.
The general Mario Rozas He resigned on November 19 as director of the institution after more than two years in office and was officially replaced this Wednesday by Ricardo Yanez.
“It is not fair for citizens to demand that Carabineros comply with their constitutional duty and their oath if at the same time they do not provide that support that allows them to carry out their duties”added Piñera, who has always publicly shown his support for Rozas.
NOW – The President @sebastianpinera, presides over the change of command ceremony of the General Director of @Carabdechile Ricardo Yáñez Reveco pic.twitter.com/v1wGNyRL6V
– Presidency of Chile Press (@presidencia_cl) November 25, 2020
The trigger for Rozas’s resignation were the incidents that occurred last week in a children’s home in Talcahuano in which two adolescents were shot by police officers, although the general has been in the spotlight since the protests began in October. of 2019, the most serious since the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990).
The opposition and various international organizations had been asking for his departure for months due to the police brutality exercised in the demonstrations, which left some thirty dead and thousands injured.
According to the Public Ministry, at the beginning of October there were more than 4,600 cases opened against the security forces for alleged human rights violations in the dispersal of the marches, but only 75 agents have been charged.
“The actions of the Carabineros must always conform to the framework of the law”Piñera also indicated, who recalled that the main task of the new director will be to “modernize” the infamous institution.
The most controversial cases involving agents during the wave of protests were those of Gustavo Gatica Y Fabiola Campillai, who were left completely blind after being shot with pellets and tear gas canisters in their face.
Criticism against the police force, once highly valued by the public, intensified last October, a few days after the first anniversary of the social outbreak, when an agent threw a teenager into the riverbed during a protest, causing character injuries. serious.
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