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Original article: “Iba a visitar a los criminales de Punta Peuco”: Cariola encara a Kast por indulto a represores de la revuelta

Cariola Confronts Kast Over Pardons for Human Rights Abusers in Chile

Just days after the inauguration of José Antonio Kast’s new government, Communist senator Karol Cariola shared her insights on the policies introduced by the incoming administration, providing a critical analysis that spanned tax issues to the controversial announcement of pardons for military personnel involved in human rights violations during the 2019 social uprising.

The parliamentarian noted that during his electoral campaign, the Republican candidate had asserted that he would not support such concepts. However, once in La Moneda, he indicated a contrary stance, reopening the door to impunity.

In a televised interview, Kast confirmed that his administration is in the process of reviewing cases for granting presidential pardons to state agents—specifically police and military personnel—convicted of crimes committed during the wave of social protests that took place in Chile from October 2019 to March 2020.

He mentioned that he is currently examining the judicial files of the condemned officers and indicated that his government intends to «start by granting forgiveness.»

In this context, Cariola emphasized the contradiction between campaign rhetoric and governmental actions, directly questioning the consistency of the far-right leader.

«What coherence is there in a president who told the country as a candidate that he would never pardon criminals and now claims that he will pardon them?» she expressed, stressing the seriousness of what she perceives as an unjustifiable shift on such a sensitive matter for Chilean society.

“What more can we expect from a president who intended to visit the criminals in Punta Peuco?” said the senator, recalling the alleged ties that the Republican has had with sectors involved in human rights violations during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Kast visited Punta Peuco, the prison housing the majority of those convicted of crimes against humanity, including Miguel Krassnoff Marchenko, a former army brigadier and DINA agent sentenced to over a thousand years in prison for numerous executions, tortures, and disappearances. He stated: “Seeing him, I can’t imagine all the things people say about him,” and asserted that “beyond the convictions, both military and civilians deserve justice. In many cases, revenge takes precedence over justice today.”

In an interview with Radio Nuevo Mundo, Cariola remarked, «President Kast is proposing criminal pardons for people imprisoned for having committed serious and complex crimes,” she indicated.

Pardons and the Cloak of Impunity

Cariola also warned that the pro-government legislature is pushing another concerning project that would permit the commutation of prison sentences, directly benefiting human rights violators convicted for crimes committed during the military dictatorship.

The Communist senator expressed her astonishment at what she sees as a social validation of these measures, questioning “how can there be a part of the population that endorses violations and thereby strengthens the cloak of impunity we still have in the country after such a painful period as the military dictatorship,” she stated with evident concern.

Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest in the Country

The parliamentarian from the Communist Party also alerted to what she considers a strategy by the government to include other items in the National Reconstruction legislative project that, in her view, are unrelated to the stated objectives of the initiative.

She specifically targeted the proposal to reduce the corporate tax rate for large companies, highlighting an incongruity between the project’s name and its actual content.

“It has nothing to do with rebuilding families from catastrophes. We are talking about incorporating economic reconstruction by lowering taxes for the wealthiest in the country,” the senator stated, questioning the inclusion of tax benefits that exclusively favor high-income sectors in a project theoretically aimed at addressing emergencies and disasters.

In this regard, Cariola argued that the proposed tax revenue decline by the government seems to reflect a biased defense of the economic model by the Kast administration, prioritizing the interests of large companies over the needs of citizens at a time when state resources are required to confront various crises.

“I find it very concerning, especially in the Valparaíso region, which I represent, that public spending is being reduced when we have significant problems in health and transportation. A lengthy process for public transport’s bidding has just been approved, which requires more investment, not less. Today, citizens need more support, more contributions from the State, and more presence from the State, not less,” she argued.

“Quite Dismal” Legislative Outlook

Cariola also referred to the composition of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies tables, where the government achieved a dominance she described in unoptimistic terms.

“I say this because there is a ‘center’ where some are independent, and the truth is there are moments they will side with the government and at others they won’t. The outlook is not hopeful,” she noted, warning of the possibility that proposals contrary to public interest or that threaten rights acquired in previous periods could be backed.

Kast’s Neoliberal Model and Its Consequences

In her analysis, Cariola linked various aspects of her criticism, establishing a connection between the government’s defense of the economic model and its stance on human rights. In her view, both dimensions reveal an ideological continuity that favors the interests of elites and conservative sectors over comprehensive social justice.

The decline in tax revenue implied by the corporate tax rate reduction, combined with the benefits for officers convicted of human rights violations, would create, according to the senator’s perspective, a scenario where the government consistently prioritizes those who have held economic and political power to the detriment of victims and the broader citizenry.

On this particular issue, Cariola noted that it represents a biased defense of the model by the incoming government:

“There’s no doubt that President Kast’s government is a deeply neoliberal one that will generate setbacks in terms of rights we have been advocating for and where there is evidently an ideological bias,” she emphasized.

“We are talking about incorporating economic reconstruction by lowering taxes for the wealthiest in the country,” Cariola insisted, reinforcing the notion that the National Reconstruction project’s name conceals content that has nothing to do with addressing the urgencies of the population affected by disasters or catastrophes, but responds to a programmatic agenda of the ruling party seeking to benefit its traditional support bases.

La entrada Cariola Confronts Kast Over Pardons for Human Rights Abusers in Chile se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.