Chile at the Threshold

Photo credit: used with permission by Pedro Ugarte/AFP

When we look upon the faces of those that died during the time of the protests in Chile we are reminded of the seemingly implacable nature of violence. That violence can appear as arbitrary, born of fate and timing and that it does not discriminate when unleashed in the chaos of revolutionary change. We acknowledge state violence finds ever new tactics and authorities to propel itself in an attempt to erode social movements and suppress political dissent. When we contemplate violence we must strive for a peace secured in their name.

Not everyone portrayed in this story was involved in acts of protest at the time of their death, but we recognize that these civilian causalities are also critical to the story. Deaths during social unrest do not distinguish between an active participant or a bystander and witness. And therefore, we focus on the time period (October 2019 through early 2020) rather than their perceived level of political engagement.

How can we honor the lives lost during the protests in Chile that began in Fall 2019? Creating this digital story was not easy and we wondered if ethically, it was appropriate to do so. We ultimately concluded that applying our technical skills in collating open source information, which refers to publicly available information online, could be our way of respectfully honoring their lives. Social media offers us intimate insights into the everyday lives of people in how they chose to be portrayed and known publicly. And that is why this report importantly diverges from traditional forms of reporting about the conflict in Chile. While news reports can be selective as to which social media posts get promoted in a story, we considered the accumulation of their public posts as a way to get to know them, their values, and their lives because we feel there is power in looking at the personal. Our sincerest hope is that our effort here has treated their lives with dignity.

Chile has been roiled by protests since October 14, 2019 when a subway fare increase sparked widespread dissent over long-term economic inequality, wage stagnation and the shift towards privatization.  With over 3.7 million citizens protesting ,  30,000 arrested, 5000 allegations of abuse filed against security forces ,  3765 injured , and at least twenty-six people killed ( with some news outlets reporting up to 31 deaths ), the repercussions of social unrest continue to contour the everyday life of Chileans. The current uprisings are not the product of a one-time fare hike, but rather, the result of the devaluation of human rights and civil norms by both the Chilean government and its police and military.  As stated in the report by the Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos  (The National Institute for Human Rights) in Chile, the Chilean people lack trust in their political institutions, and this tension has had grave consequences, leading to the further stratification of Chilean society.

In rising up against economic inequity and state oppression, the people have suffered unbridled violence in many forms.  As widely reported by U.S. news outlets  and human rights organizations,  such as Amnesty International , Chilean civilians had been beaten, shot with firearms, stabbed, burned, and struck by vehicles. One of the widespread tactics being deployed by Chilean police and military to keep protestors at bay, is the use of tear gas and  rubber bullets that blinded hundreds of protestors . The majority of those who have been wounded or killed during the protests were raising their voices to seek a more equitable distribution of wealth, employment, and resources.

On November 4, 1970, the country democratically elected their first and only socialist president named Salvador Allende. In less than three years, General Augusto Pinochet led a deadly and violent military coup against President Allende on September 11, 1973. During the coup, Allende broadcast his final speech on the radio, vowing to stay in the Presidential Palace. An audio recording of Pinochet reveals his ordering the bombing of the palace with the knowledge that Allende was inside. General Pinochet soon thereafter established himself as the new head of government and de facto president of Chile.

The tragic success of the coup came from the extensive support of the U.S. government and its Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The U.S. government strongly opposed President Allende’s election. Soon after President Allende enacted his social, economic and political reforms, issues started to plague his administration, including a significant rise in inflation. Unfortunately, President Allende was not able to establish a wide-ranging coalition of supporters to resist the opposition he was encountering in the Chilean Congress and that were the antecedents of the coup.

Once established as head of state, General Pinochet's regime drastically restructured everyday Chilean life. Enacting one of his primary goals to upend what President Allende had started, General Pinochet immediately dismantled worker’s unions. He also restructured the struggling economy utilizing the neoliberal ideology of the “Chicago Boys,” shocking the economy by privatizing all state-owned assets and pensions. There were also gross human rights violations perpetrated by his regime and a drastic reduction of civil rights for the population as a whole. During the regime, the disappearances of countless people who were suspected of “conspiring” against the government occurred. The provincial police also became militarized.

Subsequent governments post-Pinochet maintained the laissez-faire economic system imposed in the 1970s and 1980s. Since the end of Pinochet's military dictatorship in 1990,  Chile has experienced periods of economic growth . The highest GDP growth rates were at 7% throughout the 1990s and 4% at the turn of the century. Further, the overall poverty rate lowered. Between 1990 and 2011, the poverty rate declined from 38.6% to 14.4 % and extreme poverty from 13% to 2.8%.

However, this alone was not enough to end socioeconomic inequity. The optimistic projections touted by the government did not apply to everyone equally: “ School segregation, high tuition rates, and the unequal distribution of Chile’s wealth held capabilities below expectations. The result was discontent .” Such socioeconomic disparities, along with the  younger generation's post-dictatorship courage , have led to waves of contemporary protests and demonstrations and the formation of " la generación sin miedo " or the generation without fear.

This historical record is imperative to acknowledge, even if briefly, because similarities exist between Pinochet’s regime of terror and Chile’s current President Sebastián Piñera’s management of the protests that began in October 2019. Further, these uprisings are about a  long-time neoliberal agenda  that started with General Pinochet. Piñera has called for a national state of emergency freezing Chileans’ rights, enforcing a curfew, and militarizing local police. Similar to General Pinochet’s reign, protestors have been violently targeted and detained. Allegations of forced disappearances targeting protest leaders are chilling and increased calls by human rights groups and victims’ families for investigations remain steadfast. Attention and pressure will and should remain on President Piñera and his government administration’s response to these serious allegations.

The 2019-2020 Chilean protests began with students protesting a thirty peso increase for transit fares announced on October 6, 2019 that reveal a much more profound wound regarding the " neoliberal doctrine " that has informed Chilean life for decades. Students on social media called for fare evasions to protest the hike on October 18, 2019.  The hopping of turnstiles turned into mass riots, looting of supermarkets, and the torching of twenty-two metro stations . Piñera soon declared a state of emergency and sent the military into the streets to establish a curfew. This was the first time this measure had been imposed since Pinochet’s dictatorship. A violent backlash from Chilean police and military forces left at least twenty-six people killed and resulted in thousands injured. Furthermore, Piñera's administration has enacted laws that seek to suppress protest actions, which we address in the final section titled Closing Thoughts.

The protests are currently on pause since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted the world.  Chile has closed its borders and set at home quarantines . However, the deaths of activists and the thousands of others injured conjure a flashback to Pinochet's dictatorial rule. Moreover, the protestors deaths highlight the systemic pattern of violence, lack of government accountability, and the continuous violations of human rights in Chile. The impact of COVID-19 will undoubtedly magnify the socioeconomic disparities that continue to plague Chileans and compel their fight for social justice.

In the next section -- Mapping Fatal Incidents -- we created a digital map with brief profiles of some of the lives tragically lost. The report then examines the life and death of three Chileans -- Germán Aburto, Manuel Rebolledo Navarrete, and Albertina "Bety" Martínez -- in the section Remembering Lost Lives. We relied on open source information against a background of contemporary and historical, civil unrest to understand what happened to them.

Each point below highlights the partial distribution of fatalities across Chile we were able to verify through open source information on victims that started with the Fall 2019 protests and continued through the beginning of 2020. Some individuals were actively involved in protest activity at the time and others seem to have been bystanders stuck at the center of particular incidents in which their lives were lost. In either case, the excessive reaction by the state to dominate the civilian populace exacerbated the conditions on the ground that resulted in their deaths. As international law  Professor Claudio Nash from the University of Chile said to The Guardian :

"These are not isolated cases, and it can all be interpreted as a mesh of serious, widespread and systematic violations."

We used images below when available on public social media accounts. If a photo was not available in this way, or if we saw requests by the family to not re-use their loved one's photo, we used instead a picture of the Lapageria rosea (Chilean Bellflower), the national flower of Chile.

In this section are profiles about the life and death of three Chileans -- Germán Aburto, Manuel Rebolledo Navarrete, and Albertina "Bety" Martínez. We collected and analyzed open source information to decipher what happened to these individuals and found either corroborating or conflicting narratives about their passing. We offer our conclusions based on the evidence we obtained below for each profile.

In response to the lesser charge of manslaughter, and to the injustice of the victim’s death, Rebolledo’s family members have protested the handling of the case. To honor the legacy of the victim, who leaves behind a one and a half-year-old daughter, family members have been public about their outrage and despair.

The Colectivo Frente Audiovisual has been documenting creative and impactful modes of protest in the form of interventions at critical sites of abuse by police and military personnel. On October 28, 2019, the Colectivo Frente Audiovisual  published a poignant video displaying Rebolledo's family and friends chanting for justice  in front of the Comandancia de la Segunda Zona Naval de la Armada in Talcahuano, Chile. In the video, his uncle faults President Piñera for his nephew's death and states that the family will not rest until there is legal justice for Manuel Rebolledo Navarrete. When asked about the day of his death, Navarrete's parents said they want the Chilean government, and more specifically President Piñera, to take responsibility for what happened to their son.

Following October 19, 2019 (the day the city of Santiago declared a state of emergency), Martínez began posting and sharing articles regarding the massive country-wide protests. Martinez  posted on October 21st  applauding peaceful protest and denouncing vandalism, on  October 22nd  said her heart was full at witnessing protests unifying from La Serena and Coquimbo, and on  October 26th  seemingly discouraged by property destruction.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019 was the last time anyone saw or heard from Martínez.  She was recorded by her apartment building’s security cameras  at 9:59 p.m. arriving on her floor, leaving the elevator with her bike and walking towards her apartment. Her long-time boyfriend of ten years, Ricardo Montenegro, was the last person she spoke to about plans to meet up later that week. She lived by herself in an apartment located in downtown Santiago, Chile. The next day on November 20, 2019, Ricardo called her but she did not answer. He continued to try and contact her repeatedly, with no response. On Thursday, November 21, 2019, Ricardo became worried after having no contact with her for two days and he asked his mother if she could go to Martínez's apartment and check on her. His mother went to Martínez's apartment, but when no one came to the door she reached out to the local Carabineros and the apartment manager for assistance with getting inside the apartment. Upon entering, they saw that everything was scattered on the floor along with Martínez's bicycle, appearing as if someone had broken in. They soon discovered her body on the floor in a fetal position. Her legs were tied with electric cables and covered by a tablecloth.

 News outlets from other countries  - France, Italy, Peru, and the United States - also picked up and reported about her murder, saying that Martínez had information about the anti-government protests. Soon after the news of Albertina's death broke, it began to circulate all over Chile's various news outlets. Different Chilean sources claimed that Martínez had been documenting the protests and focusing on violence against women committed by the Chilean police.  In addition, such claims mentioned both her laptop and camera equipment were missing .

Soon enough, Martínez's name and face were associated with the list of deceased Chilean protesters with the hashtags #JusticiaParaAlbertina and #AlbertinaMartínezBurgos. People's online reaction to her murder instantly gained traction and users began sharing and posting about her death. Numerous posts circulated calling for justice on her behalf, for people to not forget her, and associating her death with the violent tactics of the Chilean government. For example on Facebook, people were calling for her to be remembered for her activism in documenting the movement.

However, in December, Martínez's sister, Priscila Martínez, spoke out about the claims surrounding her sister's murder case.  According to an interview with the news outlet Univision , Priscila clarified how her sister had no involvement and was not documenting or actively following the protests as some news sources had previously stated. Priscila and Ricardo also clarified how Martínez felt scared and intimidated to join the 2019 Chilean protests,  noting that she only attended one protest before deciding to prioritize her own safety . Social media posts from Martínez’s close friends also confirmed that she had only attended one protest because she was scared of participating. Priscila went on to state how she felt sorry that her sister's murder became associated with the protests and how all the misinformation surrounding the case had inadvertently politicized her sister's death.

“Es una pena que se tome esto [el caso de Albertina] para generar odiosidad política, porque en definitiva por lo poco que sabemos del proceso investigativo, la muerte de mi Albert no tiene que ver con eso”, Priscila Martínez - Albertina's sister during an interview with Univision

"It is a pity that this [Albertina's murder case] is taken to generate political hatred, because ultimately because of the little we know of the investigative process, the death of my Albert has nothing to do with it." - Albertina's sister during an interview with Univision.

On February 12, 2020, there was a significant breakthrough in Martínez's murder. The Carabineros de OS-9 caught the prime suspect in her murder.  Nineteen year-old Jairo González had been on the run for about 50 days  before being caught in the commune of Santa Cruz in the region of O'Higgins which is southeast of Santiago, Chile. He has since been placed in preventative detention following his trial for the murder of Martínez in November of 2019. The suspect's motivation for committing homicide has produced no discernible link to the protests.  A Spanish language video report  from Chileanvisión’s Contigo en la Mañana explained the various aspects of this case and what led to the suspect's arrest.

The initial reports about Albertina’s murder, which were falsely politicized,  has not been the only misinformation circulating online regarding deaths throughout the protests . For example, at the end of October of 2019, the death of Daniela Carrasco, a young female street artist, was speculated to be a result of police violence and sexual abuse. However, the  Association of Feminist Lawyers of Chile and Latin America , which took on her case, clarified that it was not a homicide but instead, a suicide.

As with Carrasco's case, the power of social media was a major driving force in propelling Martínez's case into the news both within and outside of Chile. Many people sympathetic to her case and small activist groups on Facebook and Twitter unknowingly contributed to the circulation of falsehoods about her death. While their intentions may have been to fight the repressive Chilean government, critical to any political cause and social movement, is the stability and transparency of factual information.

Overwhelmed by the October 2019 protests,  the Chilean government has promised to implement a new social agenda  including, an increased basic pension, increased minimum wage of approximately $411 USD monthly, and medical insurance for serious diseases. However, these public subsidies are mediated by private companies that already profit immensely from privatized systems. Given that over half of the population is employed within the informal job sector, those that need these benefits the most,  would not even qualify for the “benefits” of this “new” social agenda .

 Chile’s Senate approved a new “anti-looting” law  that will place harsher punishments on a wide range of activities that have the mere potential of causing public disorder. Among those activities are looting and barricading. El Que Baila Basta (he who dances) a peaceful demonstration that creates a barricade of dancing protesters, could be made illegal under the new anti-looting law with more than 500 days of jail time and fines. These new laws have not yet been implemented, but President Piñera and right-wing politicians heavily support them. Chile already has anti-looting and public disorder laws that have been in place since General Pinochet's dictatorship. For example, the State Security Law, established in 1937, and especially restrictive during Pinochet's rule, has been modified throughout Chile’s history to tamp down on protests and civil liberties. President Piñera has now said  he would use the law to prosecute people  responsible for the violence related to the social crisis that erupted in October 2019.

All of these societal and legal changes are concerning to us. At a time when much should have been learned from the Pinochet dictatorship, we see that memory has fallen short. If as the protestors have said,  it isn't about the 30 pesos but about 30 years , then Chile must not repeat the mistakes of 30 years ago. Doing so perpetuates a cycle of state violence and displacement that will only deepen and entrench the social divisions in Chilean society.

 As Isabel Allende, Chilean author and niece of President Salvador Allende has said  , 

"Heart is what drives us and determines our fate."

Our hearts are saddened by the tragic deaths depicted in this online story and of the individuals lost, including those disappeared, who we will never know. And it is with our hearts that we conducted this research, understanding that the fate of the Chilean people is intertwined with our own fate, that justice for them is a justice for all marginalized peoples. We close remembering  the words on a mural  memorializing the death of a protestor:

"Mataron a uno de los nuestros. Ahora vives en nosotros. Ahora por ti somos más fuertes."

"They killed one of us. Now they live in us. Now for you we are stronger."

The Human Rights Investigations Lab for the Americas is housed at the Research Center for the Americas (RCA) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Lab has multiple research teams and this team consisted of four undergraduate students and one graduate student. We spent seven months on this investigation, aspiring to use our newly acquired open source skills in the pursuit of social justice.

In this final section we would like to explain our methodology and research process. We first began this research with Twitter searches, following key hashtags, such as #EstoPasaEnChile, #NiUnaMenos-Chile, #PiñeraRenuncia, and #ChileViolatesHumanRights. We identified a list of Twitter handles to follow, including relevant news sources. We found Facebook to also be very useful in collecting open source data. On social media we came across a screenshot of the INDH report that listed victims and so we then began to search for them online to see if they had a social media presence. Determining who to highlight in this report depended to an extent on whether or not they had a public profile. In this process, we saw firsthand how social media and activism are intertwined as we learned about the online political voices of the people profiled here. From there we continued the process of discovery by cross referencing social media, news articles, and other human rights reports.

We then had to verify much of the content we collected through open source research. These processes of image, video, and quote verification were at times tedious and challenging. Making sure that we did not fall through too many blackholes in our search for the truth due to the abundance of information became critical. Facts had to be checked and rechecked. When we discovered discrepancies, we didn't simply ignore them. We dug deeper to determine what those discrepancies could reveal in our research. It made clear to us that the point of digital verification work is to pinpoint the truth, to decipher which images spoke to a set of facts and which ones were connected to the experiences with public protest. Geolocation -- which refers to geographically locating the site of an image or video using, in our case, Google Earth and Google Maps -- was very helpful for our verification process and essential for the purposes of research validity and accuracy. We used techniques of reverse imaging to verify posts and used Hunchly to track our websites methodically.

Monitoring social media as incidents are unfolding in real time meant that we could not be wedded to a particular story of what we thought was happening and so we had to recognize some false narratives about the protest were also circulating. With the landscape of information rapidly changing, we learned in the research process that we had to be critical of every image and post on social media in order to disseminate the truth. At the same time, we had to think creatively about where to find information to tell this story because open source has its limits (i.e., not everything is publicly available online). Moreover, insidious forms of oppressive power are structural and not always visible, making the corroboration of human rights violations sometimes challenging when relying, as we did, on exclusively open source information.

Our entire time together as a research team meant that we were thinking about the ethics of the research process, recognizing that we were doing research about people online who were no longer alive. And then presenting our research in this digital story format meant that we had to make difficult choices about representation and aesthetics. We would have liked to cover every life lost, but we had our limits as a student academic team and so had to determine which ones would give you, our readers, a sense of urgency about the protests. Everyone deserves an in-depth examination of their life story and yet, we had to make a decision about who to profile based on the public availability of their social media activity.

Open source investigations are also richly collaborative processes and this digital project is an example of that structure. To have one another to bounce ideas off of and to garner key insights in our research process proved rewarding and we think very beneficial for this digital report too. Thank you.

 The Research Center for the Americas  at the University of California, Santa Cruz published this report. Any questions about its contents can be directed to hrlab@ucsc.edu.