Chile invokes controversial antiterror law after Santiago bomb blast
A bomb blast in downtown Santiago yesterday afternoon injured at least fourteen people, making it Chile's worst bomb attack in decades.
Monday鈥檚 bombing suspects were caught on video surveillance planting the homemade device, which detonated in a trash can in a small underground mall connected to a subway station.聽No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.
The 聽and vowed to boost security. The explosion occurred just days before the 41st anniversary of Chile鈥檚 1973 military coup against socialist President Salvador Allende.聽
鈥淲e're going to use the full force of justice, including invoking the anti-terrorist law," President Michelle Bachelet said. 鈥淲hat has happened is horrible, an abominable act, but Chile is, 肠辞耻苍迟谤测.鈥�
Santiago is considered one of the safest capital cities in Latin America, but has been hit by almost 200 attacks or attempted bombings over the past decade and nearly 30 small-scale bombings so far this year, mostly at night. Common targets are police stations, public buildings, and banks.
Terrorism in Chile is聽 of local anarchist groups carrying out small-scale bomb attacks,鈥� according to a 2012 US State Department report.
According to the BBC, 鈥� as to who exactly has been carrying out these attacks:
Around 80 different groups have claimed responsibility for the attacks and prosecutors say they do not know if they are dealing with one group that continually changes its name or many separate cells.
One group calls itself "The friends of gunpowder". Others are named after long-dead anarchists from Europe and the United States.
A group named after Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who assassinated US President William McKinley in 1901, has claimed responsibility for at least five of the Santiago attacks.
Another group is named after Jean-Marc Rouillan, a jailed French left-wing militant.
In August 2010 police arrested 14 suspects, but during 2011 and 2012 the legal case against them collapsed.
A July opinion poll found that 70 percent of Chileans feel domestic attacks are getting worse, reports the BBC.
An editorial in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio urged to use its power to the fullest extent, and to 鈥減rovide concrete evidence that it鈥檚 capable of achieving results.鈥� The editorial called the bombing 鈥渁 turning point鈥� for Chile.
The Chilean government's anti-terror legislation, passed during its 1973-90 dictatorship, is controversial. The hold suspects without charges and allows the use of phone taps and confidential witnesses in investigations, according to The Associated Press.聽
The minimum sentence for terrorist activity is 10 years in prison, and if convicted on terrorism charges, Chileans 鈥渁re barred for 15 years from holding public office, teaching, unionizing, starting businesses, or working as journalists,鈥� according to 海角大神.
Last year, the for its use of the anti-terrorist law against indigenous Mapuche, the largest group of Indians in South America. Chilean police are accused of implementing 鈥渁 systematic use of excessive force鈥� against the minority in long-running land disputes that have turned violent.
The law has yielded relatively few convictions. Two Chilean anarchists were tried and acquitted for a bombing in Santiago due to lack of evidence. Soon after, they were imprisoned in Spain for their involvement in a bomb attack at a basilica.聽Some anarchist groups have claimed responsibility for bombs in Santiago, demanding the two Chileans imprisoned in the Spanish case be freed.
鈥淲e won鈥檛 allow a small group of terrorists and cowards to affect the lives of the vast majority of men and women that want a safe, prosperous, and peaceful country,鈥� Ms. Bachelet said, following a high-level security cabinet meeting today.
