Chile: Anarchist dies after police beating
Mapuche anarchist Jhonny Cariqueo Yañez died March 31st, 2008 after suffering a heart attack while being beaten by the Carabineros (Chilean police) during protests commemorating the Día del Joven Combatiente (Day of the Young Combatant) [2007|2008], in Pudahuel, Santiago. Jhonny was in the company of two comrades from the collective “Raised Fist” leaving the scene of clashes between police and protesters when a van full of special riot police intercepted them. The police beat and arrested Jhonny and his friends who were brought to the 26th Precinct in Pudahuel where they suffered constant verbal and physical assault…
Jhonny suffered from heart problems and as a consequence of the brutal beating he received from the Carabineros he began to have intense chest pains as well as pain in his arm. The police refused his pleas for medical attention claiming (falsely) to not have vehicles available to take him to the hospital. Finally after much insistence by his friends Jhonny was later taken to the emergency room where he was given injections to better him. He was then returned to the jail where he was beaten again, and released the next day. Monday the 31st around 2pm Jhonny laid down in his bed and had a heart attack, minutes later he was dead. The death of our compañero Jhonny Cariqueo Yañez was the consequence of his treatment by the Carabineros, and their subsequent negligence. The death of Jhonny is one more on the long list of radicals who have fallen in their fight against those who profit from our oppression. Our response will be to continue on the path that Jhonny made an effort to construct, the path of revolution, until we achieve our true liberation.
Source : infoshop.org | ¡Amor Y Resistencia! | kaosenlared.net
See also : anarquia.org.ar (Argentina) | Our War (Chile) | Anarcol (Colombia)
- Day of the Young Combatant is the day militant youth of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), Eduardo and Rafael Vergara [and Paulina Aguirre], were assassinated by Chilean police during the Pinochet dictatorship on March 29, 1985. The murder of the brothers was followed by the murder of their brother, and fellow militant of MIR, Pablo Vergara, on November 5th, 1988. Pablo Vergara was murdered together with militant activist, Araceli Romo, in Temuco, Chile.
Jhonny’s wasn’t the only death associated with the Day of the Young Combatant in Chile this year. According to an AP report, citing a Chilean politician, “a 23-year-old man shot by masked demonstrators who claimed he was an infiltrator.” Another account (Jack Chang [McClatchy Newspapers], Under the surface, not all is well in Chile, March 31, 2008) claims that the “26-year-old Rene Palma Mancilla” was shot dead. Writes Jack: “A friend of mine in Santiago said she’s puzzled especially by the young self-proclaimed anarchists out on the streets fighting police. It would seem these kids have it good, she said, compared to older activists who suffered unspeakable horrors during the dictatorship. Are they doing it for fun? she asked. What are they so discontented about?”
See also : Chile: Pinochet’s Legacy May End Up Aiding Victims, HRW, December 10, 2006 | Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (February 1991)
- Appendix II | Table I
Victims of human rights violations 2,115
Victims of political violence 164
TOTAL NUMBER OF VICTIMS 2,279
Cases in which the Commission could not come to conviction 641
TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES 2,920
In addition, the Commission received 508 cases which did not fit within its mandate and 449 in which only a name was provided and hence there was no basis for carrying out an investigation.
