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Original article: Leonardo Medina Caamaño: El marino que se asoma en la lista de indultados de Kast

The Navy sergeant who struck Manuel Rebolledo is the sole member of his institution facing potential release for «defending the homeland.»

On October 21, 2019, during a state of emergency in the Libertad neighborhood of Talcahuano, first sergeant Leonardo Esteban Medina Caamaño was driving a military truck. As part of an operation aimed at controlling looting, he veered off the road to pursue a group of protesters, striking 23-year-old Manuel Rebolledo Navarrete. Known as «El Polera,» he died instantly beneath the truck’s wheels, becoming a symbol of state violence in the Biobío Region.

Nearly seven years after this incident, Medina’s name has gained unexpected political significance, appearing as the only naval representative among 102 uniformed personnel convicted of actions during the social outbreak. José Kast has expressed his intention to use presidential pardon powers for those he deems acted to defend the country, a stance that clashes directly with opposition parties who accuse the government of validating impunity.

At the time of the incident, Medina was part of the forces deployed for public order control, and after the incident, he received backing from his superiors. Rear Admiral Carlos Huber stated that the officer should have no issues returning to duty, allowing Medina to remain in active service while the victim’s family sought justice.

In his initial statements to prosecutors, the marine attempted to assert a narrative of accident, claiming he did not intend to hit the young man and that it was all a tragic mishap during the pursuit. «I braked; this person slipped, and I didn’t see him again,» he said. However, investigations and footage from Frigorífico Pacífico revealed that the vehicle did not stop and drove directly towards fleeing residents.

The judicial process against the sergeant was marked by a slow pace that the Rebolledo family viewed as a strategy of attrition. Initially charged with manslaughter, a lesser offense that treats the crime as reckless negligence, this allowed him to navigate through most of the process in freedom, with bi-weekly signing and restrictions, without serving a single day in preventive detention. For Manuel’s parents, this disparity was a constant source of «mockery» from the courts in Concepción.

It wasn’t until 2021 that prosecutors recharged the marine with simple homicide, even seeking a 12-year prison sentence. However, the Oral Criminal Court dismissed any intent, ultimately sentencing him to a lesser penalty. In response, Manuel Rebolledo Ibacache, the victim’s father, accused the judiciary of «playing with poor people’s lives, seeing that the evidence clearly suggests it was not manslaughter; he increased his speed,» after learning of a decision that allowed the offender to remain at home, insisting they would pursue justice to the end.

Politically, even Michelle Bachelet weighed in at the time, stating, “there is evident homicide” in the records. Meanwhile, institutional support for Medina was fortified by officials of the time, including then-Defense Minister Alberto Espina, who asserted that there were no human rights violations in the actions of the Armed Forces and that protocols had been followed. This narrative is now being revived by Kast to justify possible prison benefits.

While the Army has 16 convictions and the Carabineros have 85 sentences against uniformed personnel, Medina stands as the only naval officer on this list of potential pardon beneficiaries. His case illustrates the tension between the legal truth that declared him guilty of homicide and the official stance that aims to portray the convicted as heroes fulfilling their duty.

The definitive sentence of 541 days in custody, upheld by the Supreme Court in 2023, already included the benefit of conditional remission, which in practice meant that Medina never served time in jail. However, his inclusion in Kast’s pardons aims to clear his administrative record and erase the ramifications of his conviction. For the current government, erasing Medina’s background is an act of «justice» for those who faced the outbreak, while for the Libertad community, it serves as confirmation of impunity.

Currently, Sergeant Medina continues to enjoy his family and professional life, a reality that the Rebolledo family contrasts with the void left behind, stating that «his murderer enjoys his children while Manuel’s daughter grows up without her father.» The possibility of a presidential pardon would not only extinguish his criminal responsibility but also officially endorse the narrative that his actions in Talcahuano were a service to the state.

Leonardo Medina Caamaño now awaits the decision from La Moneda, where Kast’s signature could transform a convicted murderer into a «defender of the homeland» pardoned by the state.

La entrada Leonardo Medina Caamaño: The Naval Officer in the Spotlight for Presidential Pardon se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.