Greetings international comrades. This past March 29th marked the anniversary when militant youth of the Leftist Revolutionary Movement (MIR), Eduardo and Rafael Vergara, were assassinated by police during the Pinochet dictatorship in 1985. The date is known as the Day of the Youth Combatant. The day marks the memory of not only youth combatants of the former military dictatorship, but also the combatants of today. We awoke after protests and militant street battles from this past March 29th to find the city in an odd state of tranquility. The capitalist press claims that Thursday's conflicts are already over, but we believe that the discontent is everywhere. From militant youth and survivors of the dictatorship, to students and debtors, we are everywhere. The Chilean government recently further privatized the transportation system in a plan known as Transantiago. Working class areas of the city are not left with insufficient numbers of buses, and even worse, many areas do not even have access to buses.

Uprisings across Chile mark the Day of the Youth Combatant

by the Hommodolars collective

For more information in Spanish, please check Hommodolars.

Events from the Day of the Youth Combatant.

Early in the morning Chilean police entered the University of Santiago, where they claimed to find materials for constructing molotov cocktails. They also claimed to find machetes. The press ran stories claiming that armaments were being constructed within the university. The director of the school later spoke to the press to explain that the chemicals were part of the chemistry lab, and that the supposed machetes were part of an African dance class. The government manipulated the press to criminalize the struggle for justice for the Vergara brothers and all fallen friends in struggle. They repetitively utilize the press to criminalize dissent and social struggle.

By 10:15 in the morning, high school students began gathering in Plaza Italia for a march which would being at midday. Police try to quarantine the sector as well as the university sector of Macul. By 10:20 students began marching through downtown. Students demanded the end of a dictatorship era educational law, the LOCE, and other popular demands such as a new and just transportation system. As the morning continued, various student groups began gathering in downtown, and conflicts began with Chilean police forces. At the same time, students continues to gather in Plaza Italia.

By midday, numerous subway stations, a part of Transantiago, were closed down. Conflicts began breaking out across the city. Numerous low capacity bombs had been placed throughout the city earlier in the week. At the sites, pamphlets calling for action for the Day of the Youth Combatant were found. Throughout the morning, police were called to investigate a number of suspicious packages. By early afternoon, a explosion was reported in downtown.

At 1:00, just 22 years after the murder of Rafael and Eduardo Vergara Toledo, government minister, Carlos Gajardo, sent a formal accusation of double homicide against four former members of the Chilean police. The magistrate placed responsibility on sub-commander Alex Ambler Hinojosa, Toledo Puente, Jorge Marn Jim(c)nez, and Marcelo Muñoz Cifuentes.

As the afternoon continues, human rights lawyers accused the authorities and media of trying to invoke fear in Chilean citizens. By this time, strong street conflict was erupting with the police. Street conflicts blocked traffic from passing the main artery of Santiago, the road Alameda.

By 2:00 in the afternoon, the government announced that it had sent a project to modify the dictatorship era privatized educational law, the LOCE. In various regions, specifically, in Rancagua people went out into the streets to protest in the Plaza los H(c)roes. In this activity, various home debtors, social organizations, and other groups had closed in on the Senator Letelier, who had came over to talk to leader of the social organization, ANDHA-Chile.

18 university students were arrested in the northern city of Arica, at the University of Tarapaca. While at the same time, two universities in the southern city of Concepción were covered with Chilean police forces, and another was closed down, to prevent any possible conflicts in the city.

In downtown Santiago, people continued protesting for popular demands and the memory of the Vergara brothers. At this time, hundreds of people were engaging in conflicts with the Chilean police.

As night set, commemoration activities for the Day of the Youth Combatant began in the working class neighborhoods of La Victoria and Villa Francia. After commemoration events, people in Villa Francia began marching through the neighborhood. The emotional act revives the memory of the Vergara brothers, as young people who made the decision to fight for their community. In the words of their father, Manuel Vergara, “Rafael and Eduardo are an example for new generations,” because they were “valiant and they loved their community, and we need more people in Chile who love their community.” In other areas such as Peñalolen, La Pincoya, and La Victoria began to mount burning barricades. In other areas, such as Macul and Lo Blanco with los Morros, burning barricades were also placed across the city.

Into the night, violent confrontations were engaged with Chilean police throughout working class neighborhoods.

By the next morning, there were over 800 arrests in total.

Some photos from downtown: