Santiago de Chile, November 19 (RHC)-- In Chile, eleven opposition lawmakers have filed a "constitutional accusation" against Chile's President Sebastian Piñera for his responsibility in hundreds of human rights violations recorded since October 14.
"He is responsible for brutal human rights violations... His decisions led to military and police actions and he has to answer for his actions," Chilean Communist Party lawmaker Daniel Nuñez said. And he added: "We're going to use democracy's weapons so that Sebastian Piñera assumes the political responsibility he eludes."
The 110-pages accusation "has long been worked with the parliamentarians' teams," Democratic Revolution lawmaker Jorge Brito emphasized and explained that Piñera "has been hiding behind the police and the military to deny democracy.”
For it to be processed, however, the constitutional accusation requires a favorable vote of half-plus-one of the representatives in the Chamber of Deputies. If it passes this test, the accusation will require that two-thirds of the senators approve it. If this also happens, Piñera may be dismissed.
In Chile, protests began a month ago when students rejected a 30-cent increase in the metro fare. In a country mired in social injustice, however, discontent quickly shifted against "30 years" of neoliberal policies, which have seriously affected health, education, wages, and pensions.
"It's not 30 cents, it's 30 years," citizens shouted to summarize their requirement of a Constituent Assembly, which can deeply transform the economy inherited from the dictatorship (1973-1990).
Until Monday night, police brutality in Chile had left 22 dead, 2,200 injured and 6,300 arrested, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The constitutional accusation related to these human rights violations was presented by lawmakers from the Wide Front (FA), the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Party for Democracy (PPD).
In the Chilean political history, constitutional accusations were raised against Manuel Montt in 1868 Carlos Ibañez in 1931 and Arturo Alessandri in 1939.
