Eye injuries in the 2019–2020 Chilean protests
Data from the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) shows that the use of rubber bullets and pellets by security forces has left at least 1,863 injured, including 268 with eye problems.
[16] Fabiola Campillai and Gustavo Gatica, two well-known victims, were part of campaign advertising for the "Approve" option in the 2020 Chilean national plebiscite held on October 25, 2020.
[20] The government of Gabriel Boric has established grace pensions of 515,672 Chilean pesos for those who sustained an "irreversible ocular trauma" in the context of the protest.
[22] The fact that fewer cartridges were fired in November relative to October but that the number of eye injuries doubled from one month to another imply police may have deliberately aimed to injure protesters.
[9] An estimate by astrophysicist Nestor Espinoza shows that if the rubber pellets were fired truly randomly against people the number non-eye injuries would be in the order of 750,000.
[D] A police officer identified in the press as "G-3"[E] is accused to have used his rubber-pellet shotgun in an abusive manner against protesters in different times and places in late 2019.
By not taking measures to impede for this Subprefect ["G-3"] and his subordinates to continue operating outside established protocols and international norms, the high command of the police contributed to one of the most regrettable episodes of recent Chilean history.
On November 20 Ministry of Health Jaime Mañalich declared to the Chamber of Deputies that there was twelve persons with the loss of one eye and about thirty with serious injuries.
[33] The President of the Chilean Medical College Izkia Siches made also declaration to the congress regarding eye injuries, expressing her belief that police has not followed the protocols on the use of rubber bullets.
[34] An attempt to launch a similar impeachment process to destitute President Sebastián Piñera was rejected on December 12 as unconstitutional in the Chamber of Deputies.
