Chile: four police officers arrested over fatal shooting of indigenous man

[Judi Lynn]

Public fury over the death of Camilo Catrillanca, the grandson of a prominent Mapuche leader, has led to massive protests

John Bartlett in Santiago
Thu 29 Nov 2018 14.55 EST

Four former police officers in Chile have been arrested over the fatal shooting of an young indigenous man in the restive southern region of Araucanía, as anger over the incident and subsequent cover-up threatens to spiral out of President Sebastián Piñera’s control.

Public fury over the killing of Camilo Catrillanca, the 24-year-old grandson of a prominent Mapuche indigenous leader, has led to massive street protests and shone a spotlight on Chile’s treatment of the country’s largest indigenous group.

The case has also prompted calls for Piñera to disband the “Jungle Commandos”, a heavily armed tactical unit of the national police force, known as the Carabineros.

Catrillanca was shot in the back of the head on 14 November as he drove his tractor away from a Jungle Commando unit which was pursuing car thieves in Temucuicui, a small community 600km south of the capital, Santiago.

A 15-year-old boy who was also on the tractor was detained and beaten after the incident. The youth also said that the officer who fired the fatal shot replaced the memory card in his helmet camera – contradicting officers’ initial testimonies that there was no video of the shooting.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/29/chile-camilo-catrillanca-death-four-police-officers-arrested