MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Police abuse a problem in Chile says Amnesty Int

A woman is dragged away by Carabineros

The influential human rights group Amnesty International (AI) released its annual report Wednesday, highlighting harsh police treatment of indigenous people, poor prison conditions and the country's 1978 Amnesty law as persistent problems in Chile.

In July, Carabineros (uniformed police) raided a Mapuche community in Malleco Province (Region IX) and then fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition on unarmed community members, the report detailed. As a pretext for the raid, police said they were in search of stolen animals. By year's end, the raid had yet to be investigated by authorities. AI also noted that in December police fired on Mapuche workers collecting their salaries in the city of Ercilla, also in Region IX. The attack left six people injured. Police abuse was cited, as well, during Chile's massive 2006 student uprisings. Large-scale protests took place in May, June and October, during which "there were reports of excessive use of force by police against student demonstrators and journalists." In the case of Chile's prisons, AI concluded that "there were reports of harsh conditions, overcrowding, lack of medical attention, ill-treatment and corruption by prison guards." The document mentioned one case involving 80 prisoners that were made to sleep out in the open. According to AI, other events of note during 2006 included the election of Michelle Bachelet as Chile's first female president; the Supreme Court's decision last May to release former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who remains in the country awaiting the end of a drawn-out extradition process; and the death last December of former dictator Augusto Pinochet. "At the time of his death he was facing charges in Chilean courts in relation to a financial inquiry (the Riggs case) and four human rights cases â€" the Prats case, Villa Grimaldi, Operation Colombo and the Caravan of Death â€" in which thousands of people were subjected to torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearance. He never attended any judicial hearings in any Chilean court," the report states. By Benjamin Witte The Santiago Times