The report points out that the military is trained for war and that its involvement in prevention and internal control can therefore increase the risk of human rights violations and undermine the principle of the proportional use of force.
After the end of Augusto Pinochet’s bloody dictatorship in 1990 and for two decades, governments refrained from using these resources. However, in the two governments of Sebastián Piñera, they returned to this practice, the report says.
As examples he cites the Northern Border Plan (2011) and the 2019 social outbreak that left 30 dead and thousands injured, including more than 400 with eye damage.
In February of this year, Gabriel Boric’s government ordered the deployment of troops in Arica, Parinacota, Tarapacá and Antofagasta to control irregular immigration.
“In this way, this practice has intensified in Chile and has become a public safety policy,” the study said.
Faced with this scenario, specialists from the University of Chile and the Institute of International Studies at Arturo Prat University recommend limiting the intervention of the armed forces in these tasks and prioritizing the strengthening of the police force.
“The military is not trained to confront conflicts of internal order, but to go to war,” said academic and document editor Mireya Dávila.
He added that within society, the logic should not be that of the enemy, but that of prevention and control of criminal groups, and that the state should entrust the police with the task of responding to the current public safety challenges.
RO/Auto