President José Antonio Kast called on Wednesday for the violence of the social unrest to "never happen again". He spoke at La Moneda Palace, three days before the anniversary of October 18. However, he did not answer whether he would pardon police and military personnel convicted over events during the 2019 protests.
According to La Tercera, reporters asked him whether the government would organize any activities for the date. "We need to look to the future," the President replied. He added that his administration is working to "rebuild our country" and described October 18 as a complex moment marked by considerable violence.
Then came the uncomfortable question. The National Libertarian Party asked Kast to grant pardons that same day. Asked about this, the President simply said: "Thank you very much." There was no further response.
The pressure comes from his own political camp. This Saturday marks seven years since the social unrest, and Republicans and libertarians want a concrete gesture toward imprisoned police officers and military personnel.
Senator Arturo Squella, president of the Republican Party, was the most explicit. Speaking on Radio Agricultura, as reported by La Tercera, he said he considered it an "enormous injustice" that police officers were imprisoned when, in his view, they were only doing their jobs. He also called on La Moneda to issue a "very thorough statement" on those cases.
Squella proposed pardons as a way to change how those police officers and military personnel serve their sentences. "Granting individual pardons is the President's responsibility. He has said, and I know this to be true, that they are studying the cases," he stated. For now, the decision rests with the executive branch.
Meanwhile, another issue emerged. Former Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said on T13 En Vivo that terminally ill prisoners should be allowed to die at home. She stipulated, however, that this should happen through a court decision rather than a presidential pardon.
Tohá included people convicted of human rights violations in her proposal. She argued that those crimes are not subject to statutes of limitations or amnesties, but that this should not lower humanitarian standards. She also warned that a pardon could not be reversed if it were later established that the prisoner had not actually been terminally ill.
Her position drew opposition on the left. Senator Fabiola Campillai, quoted by BioBioChile, agreed that any actual illness should be treated seriously, while warning that it cannot become "a bargaining chip." Communist Deputy Lorena Pizarro described the proposals put forward by Tohá and Fidel Espinoza as "unacceptable."
Kast's dilemma is political. His base is calling for a symbolic gesture toward police and military personnel. Others, such as Deputy Diego Schalper of National Renewal (RN), are asking him to focus on the majority's priorities. The deadline set by the libertarians expires on Saturday, October 18.
