In late December, President Sebastián Piñera was forced to name Mario Rozas Córdova as his new head of the Carabineros – the third new director of Chile’s militarised police in less than a year. Rozas replaced Hermes Soto who was asked to resign over the scandal surrounding the death of Camilo Catrillanca, the Mapuche youth killed in November by a Carabineros special operations unit (Gope) in the southern region of La Araucanía, one of the main sites of the long-running conflict stemming from indigenous claims to land. Rozas takes over at a critical point for the Carabineros: a recent survey by local pollster Cadem found that the crisis affecting the institution was the “main development to have had a negative impact” in the country. End of preview - This article contains approximately 663 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options