Statement condemning the brutal escalation of state repression ordered by Chilean President Sebastián Piñera

What we are witnessing in Chile is not a war, but a popular, legitimate, and massive uprising.

We express our condemnation of the brutal escalation of state repression ordered by Chilean President Sebastián Piñera through his declaration of a state of emergency and the militarization of the country's main cities. What we are witnessing in Chile is not a war, as the government has claimed, but a legitimate and massive popular uprising, a resounding "enough is enough" to the atrocious exclusionary policies of neoliberalism.

Claiming war situations or the existence of "powerful enemies" is nothing more than a subterfuge to try to legitimize the unleashed repression, in the purest Pinochet style, which has already caused more than 18 deaths, dozens of women raped by the forces of "order", hundreds of people injured and more than a thousand detained.

The people of Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico are each confronting, in their own way, the abuses of this predatory and murderous system that can no longer be sustained except through bullets, tear gas, and lies. Each in their own time, the people will prevail because they are on the side of justice in their demands.

With the courage of civil disobedience, Chileans today are challenging the arrogance of the powerful in the streets. We stand in solidarity with their struggle and their demands, convinced that neoliberalism will fall.

October 2019
CLACSO Working Group
Collective memories and resistance practices