Professor at the U. de los Andes and associate researcher at IES, Daniel Mansuy warns that the same people who are now going to govern collaborated in undermining the legitimacy of the Carabineros "when that was functional to their political agenda and their short-term interests."
In a letter to El Mercurio you criticized Gabriel Boric, Giorgio Jackson and Catalina Pérez for issuing a "summary sentence", in February 2021, for the death of a juggler who confronted a sergeant in Panguipulli, who, after being investigated , the Court dismissed him considering that he acted in self-defense.
Well, I guess, at the time, they didn't suspect that a year later they would be managing so much power. From that position, they used all available means to weaken the government, the authority and, ultimately, the institutions. Being all of them parliamentarians, they reacted hotly, blaming one of the parties. They were in that delirium only twelve months ago. They were never concerned with reality or the people involved, they just tried to fit the situation into their mindset. Let's not forget that the story ended with the burning of the town hall: that was the climate they happily fostered. Now, they are in charge of security and they will want to control that force that they encouraged with such enthusiasm, they will want to empower the Carabineros, and they will surely say that security is very important. Unfortunately, things are not so mechanical.
What is the background that you assign to this episode?
There is a very delicate Manichaeism: the case is judged ex ante by the place that each one has in the social structure. For a certain mentality, if there is an incident between a juggler and a carabineer, the culprit is necessarily the policeman. From that perspective, there is no conceivable agency or freedom. Keeping the proportions, it is the same device as in the Dreyfus case: he is guilty because he belongs to such a group. The individual and his dignity are completely obscured, for the oppressor is always on one side. Don't you notice that a parliamentarian who wins ten times more? that a sergeant, with access to means and infinite networks of influence, can also exercise obscene forms of domination. What can a sergeant do in front of parliamentarians like them?
How much influence does the Catrillanca case and the actions of police officers of 18 O and that was questioned from various sectors, among them I Approve Dignity. How much did it affect the institution?
Those cases greatly affected, and with good reason, the credibility of the Carabineros. But that should have called for caution: it is as absurd to pretend that every police officer is innocent by virtue of being innocent, as the opposite. In any case, I hope that the opposition to Boric does not behave as he did a year ago, directly blaming the government for the episode (“The Piñera government is an active accomplice of this madness”, was one of his comments). Let us also remember the alleged torture center in Baquedano: definitely, fake news is not a monopoly of any sector.
Since Boric was elected he has met with Carabineros, he stopped talking about refoundation and called for joint action with the institution to confront public order. Four migrants were detained this Tuesday afternoon in Iquique, Tarapacá region, after they resisted an inspection by Carabineros and then beat two police officers. What is the solution?
There are no silver bullets, but it is obvious that we need the Carabineros to recover their legitimacy. The difficulty lies in the fact that these same leaders collaborated to pierce it deeply, when that was functional to their political agenda and their short-term interests. The current signs in security are really very worrying, and sometimes I think that the security agenda can eat up the government. I'm not sure they have the tools to deal with this issue.
"Carabineros de Chile, in the face of these situations, will have a strong hand and will protect above all the safety of the personnel who provide service, and above all of those who are cowardly attacked, as it was on this occasion," said General Iván Monje, head of the Carabineros de Arica and Parinacota area. With what elements? What preparation does the Carabineros have? It's enough?
Goodwill is not enough, we know that very well. But there will be no recovery of legitimacy without a political base for it, if public officials are not willing to assume the cost of the inevitable legitimate use of force. In addition, there will be a growing demand in the matter: José Antonio Kast reached 45% hammering that nail. Of course, this must be accompanied by a profound reform of the Carabineros, on which there is broad consensus.
Do you suggest that for Boric, Pérez and Jackson, justice is subordinated to a cause that they believe they defend?
Yes, at that time at least, they were not interested in the possible innocence of the sergeant, they only worried about pushing their own agenda, without measuring the costs. Perhaps they never expected to become a government so soon. Likewise, it is rare to want to be a vigilante by passing over the honor of a public official who was only doing his job, and whose only sin is not to appear in the catalog of victims drawn up by the Broad Front. There is a very deep moral problem in that attitude.