Chile: Call for international support from squat, La Idea

Infoshop News May 25, 2009

La Idea, an anarchist squat based in downtown Santiago is under intense repression by the Chilean State. A young anarchist, Mauricio Morales, recently died under tragic circumstances when an explosive device that he was transporting detonated unexpectedly. The bourgeois press has incorrectly claimed that Mauricio lived in La Idea. Mauricio occasionally visited the squat, an open and public space where many social events take place. The state violently raided La Idea, and the press is now assisting intelligence agencies in crafting false information about the social space. The state claims to have discovered materials for making explosives in La Idea.

The Chilean state is utilizing Mauricio's death to repress our movement once again. The democratic regime in Chile continues to torture and kill comrades, the same tactics of the Pinochet military dictatorship.

International support and solidarity is needed. The state utilizes the bourgeois press as an apparatus of repression. A small number of powerful families control the press, and they are directly aligned with intelligence agencies. Action is needed from abroad to insure the safety of our comrades here in Chile. This is a call for a diversity of tactics.

Communiqué from the occupied social center, La Idea, concerning recent events
Posted on Hommodolars.org

We participate in the squat known as “La Idea.” We openly denounce what we suffered on Friday, May 22.

Around 1:30 in the afternoon while cooking and waiting for news on the television to inform ourselves about recent events, the Police of Investigation (PDI), entered our house, violently kicking down the door and implementing a military operation with all of the technological tools that they have in their control, SWAT equipment, rifles with laser scopes, automatic guns, and helicopters. They abruptly threw us against the wall, handcuffing us and pointing their rifles at us without asking questions. Investigators began to search the house, including the roof and nearby structures that are also unoccupied. Meanwhile, they kept us in the patio forcing us to look down at that ground so that we could not see what they were doing behind our backs.

Next, investigators tried to identify which bedrooms belong to each of us. The investigators violently forced us one by one into the rooms; they prevented us from seeing what objects they removed from each location. Investigators in civilian clothes arrived, many of them with black bags.

The investigators completely trashed our bedrooms, even destroying the floor and digging under the floorboard.

The police returned us one by one with our backs to the wall. At this time, investigators began to question us about chemicals that they had supposedly found in the squat. First, investigators said that they had been found in the screen printing room, but then they changed the story to that it had been in the dinning room. Later, police said that it had been found in a bedroom, and finally they claimed that it was in the practice space. We all denied their accusations, and when we responded that they were simply planting false evidence, the investigators became enraged. They became violent, even kicking one of our comrades. We never stopped affirming that the house serves the role of an open social space. Explosives are not fabricated here, much less do we even store similar materials. We were always aware that the house was under surveillance. We remained firm that the purpose of the space was for public activities, acts of solidarity, and self-education.

About five hours later, they brought us to offices of the Brigade of Special Police Investigations (Bipe). The police told us that we had to count our belongings of value—objects and money—but we never saw any documentation. When we noted that money was missing, they became violent once again, screaming at the Argentine comrades that this was not their country.

Hours later, we realized that the operation extended to the entire block, and the bourgeois press was outside, transforming this into the media event of the day. The seven of us found ourselves handcuffed and followed with vigilance. In the office of the Brigade of Special Police Investigations, they kept us apart and uniformed of each other's whereabouts. Next, they completely undressed us in the nude, removing our piercings and shoe laces. They constantly threatened us by claiming that we would remain in jail. Hours later, we would learn that we were not actually under arrest, instead they brought us in for a voluntary declaration and to sign documents. We did not know this until a lawyer was present. Then, their treatment of us quickly changed, and after several hours they returned our phones. They allowed us to exit the premise through a door where the press was not present. The only thing we know at this moment is that we have to wait for a date for the declaration.

They kept the three argentine comrades for several hours, asking them more questions and taking them to the immigration office to review their legal status. They retained their visas, placing their legal status as an infraction. They must come into the office to sign a document every day. We note that the next day a comrade was forced to sign a document that did not correspond to documents from the day before.

By the end of the day, we returned to our home to find numerous objects missing: a digital video camera, a digital photo camera, two computers, two bicycles in bad condition, movies, cds, cellphone documents, written material, zines, books, song lyrics, clothing, and money in US dollars, Chilean pesos, and Argentine pesos. They also broke into a money box with 60,000 Chilean pesos—about $120—that we know will never be returned.

We declare that this was a demeaning treatment towards us. They entered our home with violence just because it is a squat. They treated us with humiliation and abuse. They treated us like scum. They criticized our way of life. They ridiculed the foreign status of our Argentine comrades.

There have never been explosive materials in this house, nor written materials for the fabrication of bombs. Children come on a daily basis, and that is obviously not the profile of the house. Many people come and go in the house, but we are also careful that everything that goes on in the house is decided in an assembly, fulfilling the role of a social space and also our day by day needs.

The capitalist press is lying just like it always has in the past, and the squats are now its target. In the individual declarations, we, the occupants of this house, affirmed that Mauricio Morales has never lived in La Idea, as the press is claiming. He visited the house during public activities where many people participated.

The prosecutor wants to attack us with planted evidence. We denounce once again the false accusations that they always create. We stand in solidarity with others who have been harassed by the police—the comrades who were arrested friday night and brutally beaten.

We stand in solidarity with the family and friends of Mauricio Morales. The ideas of freedom are with us just like so many others are with us everywhere—people who act in diverse ways.

We call for international solidarity with us so that our voices may be heard. We call for more acts of assistance, resistance, and solidarity against the situation that attacks us once again.

We are here defending our home and space, making a call for solidarity.

-La Idea, Santiago, $hile