‘No justification for privilege': Chile shuts down special prison for Pinochet-era criminals
The Punta Peuco facility north of capital Santiago holds about 100 former military dictatorship personnel who committed crimes against humanity and other rights violations, but live out their days in better conditions than those endured by the rest of Chile's prison population.
'From my point of view, there is no justification for this privilege,' Boric said during his latest report to Congress in the port city of Valparaiso.
The leftist president ordered the Ministry of Justice to transform Punta Peuco 'into a common prison that allows segregating people according to the requirements of the gendarmerie' -- the national prison service military.
Justice Minister Jaime Gajardo said the decision on who stays and who is transferred elsewhere would be a 'technical decision by the Chilean Gendarmerie.'
Human rights groups for years have called for Punta Peuco to be closed and its inmates integrated into other correctional facilities.
On her final day in office, in 2018, president Michelle Bachelet ordered the shutdown of Punta Peuco. But her justice minister refused to comply, claiming the decree was legally flawed.
Boric on Sunday also announced that the expropriation order for the former Colonia Dignidad, a German-themed settlement in southern Chile where a brutal cult carried out the torture and killing of dissidents under the Pinochet dictatorship, will be carried out in June.
Last year he ordered the requisition of 116 hectares of the 4,800-hectare site to make way for a center of remembrance.
Some 3,200 people died under the dictatorship and over 38,000 cases of torture were recorded. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
25-06-2025
- New Straits Times
Former MP calls for tax reform to narrow rich-poor divide
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Klang member of parliament Charles Santiago has called on the government to implement fairer tax reforms to address the widening wealth gap between the ultra-rich and the tax-burdened poor. He said Malaysia must adopt new tax mechanisms, including a wealth tax, inheritance tax and unexplained wealth order, to combat corruption, curb illicit financial flows and create a more equitable system. "These reforms are necessary to rebalance the current inequality," Santiago told the New Straits Times. "It's time to stop 'pampering' corporations and the wealthy with generous incentives in the name of attracting foreign investment." He criticised the government's continued provision of corporate tax breaks and its failure to address issues such as transfer pricing abuse, illicit financial outflows, and leakages in public spending. "Malaysia continues to borrow to fill a hole that the ultra-rich and corporations refuse to plug," he said. "The current tax system is regressive. Indirect taxes like the Sales and Services Tax (SST) and high excise duties hit low- and middle-income earners hardest, while direct taxes on the wealthy remain low." Last week, Treasury secretary-general Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican defended Malaysia's low-tax regime, saying it was essential to remain competitive and attract investment. However, Santiago said that competitiveness should not come at the expense of fairness. "Taxation must be progressive, not punitive to the poor. The rich and corporations benefit from public infrastructure, education and subsidies. Yet, they avoid taxes and demand more incentives. It's time they paid their fair share." He also urged the government to be bolder in addressing inequality and introducing meaningful tax reforms. "We cannot keep turning a blind eye to the billions lost through loopholes, mismanagement and tax avoidance. Progressive taxation isn't a burden, it's a tool for justice," he said.
The Star
12-06-2025
- The Star
Google sues LATAM Airlines in US over Brazilian YouTube video dispute
FILE PHOTO: A LATAM Airlines plane is seen at Santiago International Airport, Chile March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/File Photo (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google sued Chile-based LATAM Airlines in U.S. federal court in San Jose, California on Thursday, seeking a declaration that Brazilian courts cannot force the tech giant to take down a YouTube video in the United States that accused a LATAM employee of sexually abusing a child. Google in the lawsuit said that LATAM was attempting to "make an end-run" around protections for free speech under the U.S. Constitution by suing in Brazil to force the video's removal worldwide. Spokespeople for LATAM did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Google's allegations. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement that the company has "long supported the legal principle that courts in a country have jurisdiction over content available in that country, but not over what content should be available in other countries." Right-wing social media companies Trump Media and Rumble filed a similar lawsuit in Florida in February against a Brazilian judge who had ordered them to remove the U.S.-based accounts of a leading supporter of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. A federal judge decided in the case that the companies were not required to comply with the order in the United States. According to Google's lawsuit, U.S. citizen and Florida resident Raymond Moreira posted two YouTube videos in 2018 of his 6-year-old son outlining allegations of sexual abuse that the child said he experienced from a LATAM employee while traveling as an unaccompanied minor. Moreira sued LATAM in Florida in 2020 over the alleged abuse, which led to a confidential settlement. LATAM sued Google in Brazil in 2018 seeking an order to remove the video from YouTube, which Google owns. Brazil's highest court is set to consider next week whether it has the authority to order Google to take down the video worldwide. Google asked the court in California on Thursday to declare that LATAM cannot force the tech giant to remove the video in the United States. Canada's Supreme Court upheld an order for Google to remove some search results worldwide in a separate case in 2018. A California judge halted that order's U.S. enforcement in 2017. (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David Bario and Will Dunham)
Malay Mail
07-06-2025
- Malay Mail
Missing merluza: Chile's battle to save its favourite catch
CHILE, June 8 — Before setting sail for the South Pacific, Chilean fisherman Rodrigo Gallardo blesses himself to invoke heavenly protection and luck in his pursuit of an increasingly elusive catch: hake. Strong winds make for a choppy seven-nautical-mile (13 kilometer) voyage from the port of Valparaiso to deep waters that decades ago were teeming with Chile's favorite fish. But several hours later, when Gallardo reels in a longline studded with sardines (these small fry are used as bait) just a single hake has bitten. 'In the past, the hold was completely full,' the 46-year-old lamented. The South Pacific hake, or merluccius gayi, provides a living for some 4,000 small-scale fishermen in Chile, a country with over 6,000 kilometers of coastline, which has a voracious appetite for 'merluza'. But the attraction for cod's more affordable cousin is proving fatal. Along central Chile's traditional fishing heartland, more and more boats are returning to port with empty holds as overfishing and climate change decimate hake stocks. In the past two decades, Chile's hake population has declined by 70 per cent according to the Fisheries Development Institute (IFOP). Gallardo, 46, blames years of regulations that benefitted commercial 'bottom' trawlers, which use drag nets to scoop up huge amounts of deep-water fish, like hake, depleting ocean stocks. Commercial fisheries, for their part, blame illegal fishing by small-scale fishermen like Gallardo. Regulations fall short Chile has been fighting a high stakes battle against overfishing for years. With several species in severe decline by the early 2010s, from hake to jack mackerel and jumbo squid, the government introduced annual biomass (weight) quotas designed to determine sustainable fishing levels. Chile also designated over 40 per cent of its waters as Marine Protected Areas, where fishing is restricted, and signed up to the United Nations High Seas Treaty on protecting marine biodiversity. A decade on, the populations of some species, such as sardines, cuttlefish and horse mackerel — Chile's biggest fish export — have begun to recover. The hake numbers, however, continue to make for grim reading. An IFOP study from 2024 showed a 17 per cent drop in the biomass of hake stocks compared to the previous year. Drop in the ocean Rodrigo Catalan, conservation director of the Chilean chapter of the World Wildlife Fund, blames a mix of 'illegal fishing, over-exploitation and climate change' for making hake increasingly scarce. In 2023, authorities seized 58 tons of illegal hake, the second-largest seizure by species after anchovies. The authorities suspect it's just a drop in the ocean. Because hake is usually caught close to shore, it's easy to quickly reel it in without being noticed. Much of the illegal catch winds up for sale in small quantities on markets, which also makes it difficult to detect, according to the National Fisheries Service. Experts say climate change is also wreaking havoc with fish stocks. Alicia Gallardo, a researcher at the University of Chile, said that rising sea temperatures was causing hake to migrate further south in search of colder currents, and was also affecting reproduction rates. Too many nets, too few fish Having to share an ever-shrinking catch — the annual quota for hake now stands at 35,000 tons, down from 118,000 in 2001 — has caused tempers in Chile to flare. 'There aren't enough fish for so many fishermen,' Liesbeth van der Meer, director of the ocean conservation NGO Oceana remarked. Small-scale fishermen in Valparaiso clashed with police during three days of protests in March over delays in adopting a bill that boosted their share of the catch quota for hake, among other species. Chile's biggest commercial fishery PacificBlu threatened to close shop, with the loss of 3,200 jobs, if its share was cut but later revoked the threat. The bill, which increases the quota for artisanal fishing from 40 per cent to 45 per cent, was finally adopted by the Senate this week. — AFP
