The Limited Times

Presidential election in Chile: the crimes of Pinochet in the background

12/17/2021, 6:41:40 PM


DECRYPTION - As Chile prepares to choose its new president, from all left and all right, its painful past is resurfacing.

The life of Marta, in her dapper fifties, and of her 19-year-old son Edgardo, changed radically on October 27, 2019. On that day, the riots against the cost of living - triggered by the rise in the metro ticket in Santiago - and for a new Constitution are raging.

Edgardo wants to express his dissatisfaction.

He then left the modest family home with red bricks in the south of Santiago located in the heart of Victoria - a sensitive area known for its left-wing activism.

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During clashes with the police, Edgardo was hit in the left eye by a tear gas canister launched by the police.

I was crying because I was afraid of losing my sight

,” he recalls.

Today he has a black spot in his eye from his injury, he says, retinal detachment and reduced vision.

His mother, Marta Valdés, creates the coordination of victims of eye trauma.

She and the Los Ojos de Chile Foundation (The Eyes of Chile) estimate more than 500 victims of injuries ...

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