José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, said common ground can be established between Chile’s October social outburst and what happens in the United States following the killing of George Floyd by police that has sparked a wave of unrest in various cities across the country.
Speaking to Radio Duna, Vivanco explained that there are “symiles in relation to police brutality, with the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of people who want to speak and demonstrate peacefully over genuine demands, and also in relation to the government’s effort to stigmatize these movements, arguing that they are terrorist and unruly groups, as Donald Trump has repeatedly said.”
The manager also said there are comparison points around “the dilemmas that arise among the demonstrators, considering that there are some who remain in efforts to exercise their right to peaceful protest, while others opt for violence.”
“There are elements that may reflect similar conduct, both by law enforcement and by protesters, because there have also been looting, assaults, destruction of private and public property and acts of violence here,” he added.
“Trump instead of reducing tension, is provoking it”
Regarding the great mobilization of U.S. citizens, the director of Human Rights Watch for the Americas adds that there are currently “21 states with the presence of the National Guard, the equivalent of the army, that involves tanks, tankers, and long weapons. There is a great tension and there is a curfew in 41 cities.”
“In 33 years I’ve never seen anything like it. This was led by a protest generated by an act of police violence with clear racist connotations,” however, “today this is far more complex and serious than the original reasons for protesting, as it has become a massive mobilization against Trump.”
“Instead of reducing tension, Trump is provoking it with threatening, racist, heavy-handed speeches and also complaining against governors and mayors,” Vivanco added.
For HRW’s director, Trump’s goal is clearly electoral and showing himself to his sector as a tough man, of law and order, who will not yield a millimeter.
“There is a state of rejection of Donald Trump for his lack of empathy and self-centeredness, as he was unable to throw a word of encouragement for families who lost a relative with the coronavirus. He is seen as a leader who only cares about promoting his image,” he says, as well as ensuring that “the only element that can help calm the country’s internal situation, i.e. mobilizations, is coronavirus.”
