On 9 December, Chile’s foreign ministry announced that the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague was dropping an investigation into crimes against humanity allegedly committed by President Sebastián Piñera and other officials during the wave of street protests that commenced in October 2019.
Analysis:
The case was filed at the ICC last April by various Chilean human rights groups and by former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón. It alleged the president was responsible for serious human rights violations committed in the government’s response to the protests, which left around 30 dead, 460 people with eye injuries, and over 8,800 allegations of crimes committed by the state security forces. The foreign ministry said the ICC had concluded there was not sufficient evidence to merit further investigation of crimes committed in areas over which it had jurisdiction.
- The government welcomed the ICC decision as “good news”. Government spokesman Jaime Bellolio said that “contrary to the claims of the radical left,” it showed there had been no policy of systematic human rights violations.
- The Chilean human rights commission (CCHDH), one of the organisations that filed the original complaint, said the ICC decision was not final and the case could be re-opened if new evidence emerged.
- Gabriel Boric, the left-wing candidate in the 19 December presidential second round run-off, said that he regretted the ICC decision and would continue to support investigation of human rights violation “in all pertinent instances”.
- The far-right candidate in the second round, José Antonio Kast, said it was clear that President Piñera had committed no crimes.
- Senator Juan Ignacio Latorre (of left-wing party Revolución Democrática) said the 2019 protests remained the most serious human rights crisis in the country since the return of democratic rule over three decades ago. They had generated a multitude of local and international investigations but in Chile itself despite many court cases there were few convictions and “almost nobody” had been imprisoned.
- From the right of the political spectrum, deputy Diego Schalper (Renovación Nacional) dismissed the complaint to the ICC as a “media show” by the far left, which knew it was unlikely to succeed but persisted anyway to make a political point.
Looking Ahead: Deep left-right divisions in Chile were intensified by the street protests of 2019 and remain a key factor in the presidential race.