'I will never get my eyes back': the Chilean woman blinded by police who is running for senate
John Bartlett in Santiago
Tue 9 Nov 2021 05.00 EST
Fabiola Campillai was shot in the face by a teargas canister as she walked to work in 2019 amid nationwide protests against social inequality. Now she is running for office as an independent
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Humanity United
Tue 9 Nov 2021 05.00 EST
On a November evening two years ago, Fabiola Campillai stepped out into the fading sunshine to head for her night shift at a food processing plant.
For weeks, Chile had been racked by a wave of mass protests against social inequality, but there were few signs of demonstrators in Cinco Pinos, the quiet neighbourhood on the outskirts of Santiago where Campillai lives.
“There weren’t any protests that evening. A man crossed the street in front of me to buy bread,” Campillai remembers. “And that was the last thing I ever saw.”
Patricio Maturana, an officer in Chile’s Carabineros police force, fired a teargas canister at Campillai from just 50 metres away, hitting her square in the face. A study estimated that the metal cylinder would have reached temperatures of up to 200C at the moment of impact.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/nov/09/fabiola-campillai-chile-blinded-by-police-senate-candidate
Fabiola Campillai, with husband.
Patricio Maturana, the cop who blinded Fabiola Campillai.