Police in Santiago de Chile, in 2022. Matias Basualdo (AP)
A police officer was murdered early Sunday in Quillota, in Chile’s Valparaíso region, by a group of criminals who were robbing a house. The 42-year-old woman in uniform, at the asylum at 21 and mother of two children, aged 12 and 15, was killed by the thieves, who police received at least 30 shots. The new martyr of the Carabineros de Chile, the second official murdered so far in March, has provoked a general outrage among citizens and calls on the political class, particularly Gabriel Boric’s government, to show results in the face of the main demand the people: fight crime, compared to numbers showing serious uncertainty issues. In the South American country, organized crime action has increased, violence from fires and homicides increased by 30% only in the Valparaíso region in 2022, according to prosecutors.
There were two detainees who will go to the detention check this Sunday and the rest of the gang is still being sought by the police. One of those arrested, Edward Fuenzalida, 28, has a long history and was on the run after escaping Valparaíso prison with five other men in July 2021. Last year, seven police officers died on the job. But no police officer has been murdered since 2011.
The conviction was unanimous. Chilean television channels are broadcasting live what is happening in Quillota, where Vice President Carolina Tohá and General Director of the Carabineros, Ricardo Yáñez, have moved. Local media reports that a group of outraged neighbors tried to reprimand them at the exit of the family home of murdered police officer Rita Olivares. President Boric, after attending the Ibero-American Summit, before leaving for the Dominican Republic on his way to Chile, called for dialogue between the different political sectors: “Here the fight is not against the government, nor against the mayors, nor against a MP or against anyone who is about to stop crime. The fight is against criminals and in this sense I ask you to move towards national unity,” assured the President of Santo Domingo.
He had previously expressed his “pain and heartache at the cowardly murder of police sergeant Rita Olivares by criminals who have no place in our country” on social media. “The Chilean people hug their family, which we will not leave alone. We will mobilize all the power of the state to create justice,” wrote the left-wing president.
I ask you not to occupy this terrible fact to render the political guerrilla useless. I have no doubt that stopping crime is a priority for everyone today, regardless of our differences. As Chileans, let’s stand behind this cause and work together.
– Font Gabriel Boric (@GabrielBoric) March 26, 2023
The President of the Chamber of Deputies, Vlado Mirosevic, from the ruling party, offered his condolences to the sergeant’s family: “The whole country is mourning,” said the congressman. One of the opposition leaders, the leader of the right-wing UDI party, Senator Javier Macaya, criticized the government: “Enough of the symbolic reactions and the announcement of grievances against those responsible,” said the senator, who urged La Moneda to do this as a matter of urgency this week in Parliament on bills related to public safety. Among other initiatives, Macaya referred to the Naín Law, which it increases the penalties for crimes against officers of the carabineros, investigative police and gendarmerie. When it was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in December, it was opposed by 20 MPs from Apruebo Dignidad, Boric’s original coalition.
The new murder of a police officer comes at a complex time in the Chilean crime-fighting debate. Two weeks ago, in Concepción, around 500 kilometers south of Santiago de Chile, a police officer was attacked by criminals and died after 48 hours. The general director of the Carabineros, Ricardo Yáñez, expressed his indignation: “Enough is enough, enough is enough”, he assured before the martyr of the institution in 1231, directly criticizing the prosecutor and the congressmen for not providing the police with “conditions”. to get your work done. Minister Tohá called him to order and the general was summoned to La Moneda. It was a controversial episode because it was interpreted by some sectors, notably the opposition, as a lack of public support for an institution overwhelmed by the social crisis of 2019, which has committed human rights abuses and which is winning with the death of Mit Zeit it regained respect among the citizens. The police, the carabineros and the armed forces are the institutions most valued by people after universities, according to the latest survey by the Center for Public Studies, CEP, released in January.
The pardons President Boric granted in late 2022 to a group of 13 convicts, 12 of whom were linked to 2019 social outburst crimes, only added complexity to the talks. The President’s decision, upheld by the Constitutional Court a few days ago, continues to be the subject of political debate. It was a delicate signal regarding La Moneda’s commitment to crime and, among other things, paralyzed Tohá’s negotiations with the opposition on a transversal public safety agenda. Among those pardoned was Jordano Jesús Santander Riquelme, who was sentenced to seven years in prison and three pardons after an attack on a San Antonio police station in March 2020 in the same Valparaíso region. He was convicted of the frustrated manslaughter of a police officer whom he tried to run over when the officer tried to stop him.