SANTIAGO – Carabineros, who denied having footage of the fatal shooting that caused the death of 24-year-old Mapuche Camilo Catrillanca, have erased all recordings. The death of Catrillanca caused outrage throughout the country, as the man was shot in the neck while passing by on his tractor. Two high-level Carabineros have already resigned.
Earlier, the heavily criticized National Director of the Chilean Carabineros, Hermes Soto, denied the existence of “images showing how shots were fired”. On the very same day, Minister of Internal Affairs Andrés Chadwick confirmed these videos had existed.
“It has been proven that one of the members of the GOPE patrol who was present at the shooting, who had initially indicated that he didn’t have a surveillance camera, did have a camera, appropriate for the fulfillment of his duty. The memory card of that camera has been destroyed. We will not tolerate that”, Chadwick said.
Four members of the Jungle Commando special force involved in the shooting have been discharged for lying over the existence of relevant footage. This weekend, two other decision-makers in the Araucanía region resigned too. General Marco Victoriano was Head of Security in the region and Iván Contreras served as prefect of the Forces of La Araucanía.
Nationwide protests and clashes in aftermath of death Mapuche man
Demand resignation of Soto and Chadwick
The resignations of Victoriano and Contreras are not enough for indigenous activists and the opposition. They demand the resignation of Hermes Soto as National Director and of Andrés Chadwick. Chadwick is being held responsible for the training and the implementation of the Jungle Commando in the Araucanía region.
In various communes in Santiago and cities throughout Chile so-called cacerolazos were held to demand justice for Catrillanca. People took the streets with pots and pans and slammed them with kitchen spoons to make sure they were heard.
Editor-In-Chief Boris van der Spek is the founder of Chile Today.