Apoquindo massacre

The Apoquindo massacre, also known as the Apoquindo shootings, was an incident in Santiago, Chile, on October 21, 1993, in which eight people died after members of the Chilean left-wing guerrilla movement Movimiento Juvenil Lautaro robbed a Banco O'Higgins branch on Avenida Apoquindo, Las Condes, Santiago de Chile, where the bank guard was shot dead.

The assailants boarded a minibus that was intercepted by police officers of the Carabineros de Chile, sparking an assault that resulted in the death of a further seven persons: 3 attackers, 3 passengers on the bus and a police officer. A further 12 people were wounded.

Background

Although by 1993 Chile had officially become a democracy, the Chilean military remained highly powerful and the Constitution of Chile ensured the continued influence of General Augusto Pinochet and his military commanders. This prevented President Patricio Aylwin's government from achieving many of the goals it had set out to achieve, such as the restructuring of the Constitutional Court of Chile and the reduction of Pinochet's political power. In spite of the severe limits imposed on Aylwin's government by the Constitution, over four years, it "altered power relations in its favor in the state, in civil society, and in political society."[1] However, organizations including the Movimiento Juvenil Lautaro, the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front and the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria continued to resist the Chilean government, either through nonviolent underground resistance or through armed resistance.[2][3][4]

The Incident

On October 21, 1993,[5] a group of five members of the Lautaro guerrilla movement[6] robbed a branch of Banco O'HIggins,[7] located at Avenida Apoquindo 6417. According to the survivors, the purpose of the robbery was to seize funds for the rescue of political prisoners.[8]

The robbers managed to escape on a minibus running on Santiago bus route 24-C, which was stopped by the police near Avenida Manquehue.[9] Shooting broke out,[10] in the course of which seven people, three robbers, three bus passengers and one policeman, were killed and 12 people were injured. Two police officers were arrested and prosecuted for making reckless use of their service weapons. According to ballistic tests, the minibus, in which there were more than 20 passengers, received between 162[11][12] and 300 bullet holes,[9] according to differing sources.

Impact of events

The government of the time, led by President Patricio Aylwin, endorsed the actions of the police.[10][13] The senator Sergio Onofre Jarpa said, "this is like a war. They declared it and you have to face them at whatever cost."[10]

Trial

Eight years later, the military court handed down verdicts, sentencing the two survivors, Alvaro Gonzalez and Oriana Alcayaga,[14] to a total of 81 years and 61 years imprisonment respectively.[12][15]

Two Carabineros arrested in connection with the shootings later received suspended sentences of 541 and 240 days.[12]

References
  1. Linz, Juan J. & Stepan, Alfred. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
  2. Historical Dictionary of Terrorism, Sean Anderson & Stephen Sloan, Page 416, Scarecrow Press, 2009
  3. "3 U.S. Sailors Injured in a Bombing in Chile". The New York Times. 5 November 1990.
  4. Encyclopedia of Terrorism, By Harvey W. Kushner, Page 220, Sage Publications, 2003
  5. Bahamondes Ch., Pedro (29 January 2015). "Vivir y morir en los 90: el monólogo con que Isidora Stevenson llega al GAM". La Tercera. (Living and Dying in the '90s: Isidora Stevenson's monologue at GAM)
  6. "Historia de la noticia: "La Masacre de Apoquindo" (History of the News: "The Massacre of Apoquindo")". Canal 13 (Chile). 9 April 2014. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  7. Fajardo, Marco (21 January 2015). "Estrenan monólogo que recuerda masacre de Apoquindo de 1993 (Monologue Debuts Recalling 1993 Apoquindo Massacre". El Mostrador.
  8. "Los tribunales militares y el caso Apoquindo. (The Military Tribunals and the Apoquindo Case). ODEP (Chile)" (PDF). 22 August 2002. p. 4.
  9. "Mala memorial (Bad Memory)". La Nación (Chile). 5 March 2006. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  10. "El Caso Apoquindo. Matanza en las Condes (The Apoquindo Case. Killing in las Condes)". Punto Final. XXVIII (302). 31 October 1993. p. 2. Archived from the original on 28 December 2004. Alt URL
  11. Rivera, Víctor; Piñeiro, Javier (20 October 2013). "A 20 años del tiroteo que dejó ocho muertos en Av. Apoquindo con Manquehue: La tarde en que llovieron balas en Santiago oriente (The Evening It Rained Bullets in East Santiago)". El Mercurio.
  12. "El Caso Apoquindo (The Apoquindo Case)". El Metropolitano. 29 January 2002. Archived from the original on 11 October 2002. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  13. Portales, Felipe (17 June 2013). "La Concertación debe explicaciones (LVIII) (La Concertación Owes An Explanation)". El Clarín de Chile. La Concertación Owes An Explanation: el presidente Aylwin justificó la acción de Carabineros, antes de realizarse la investigación judicial!: “Yo en mi escritorio puedo elaborar muchas teorías sobre cómo habría actuado, pero otra cosa es la realidad (…) A mí se me ocurre que yo hubiera hecho lo mismo (…) Creo que Carabineros cumplió el deber que tenía de actuar persiguiendo a delincuentes que habían cometido un delito”
  14. Muñoz, Lautaro (21 December 2002). "Corte Marcial rebaja pena a 2 lautaristas presos desde 1993 (Court Martial Sentences 2 Lautaristas Held Since 1993". El Mercurio.
  15. L.K.H. "Injusticia infinita". Punto Final (520).

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