FORMER SAN ANTONIO COP NAMED NEW HEAD OF CHILE'S UNIFORMED POLICE

FORMER SAN ANTONIO COP NAMED NEW HEAD OF CHILE'S UNIFORMED POLICE

Written by Matt Malinowski   

Announcement Comes As Crash Investigators Blame Accident on Failed Engine

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday nominated Eduardo Gordon to replace the late Carabineros (uniformed police) General Director José Alejandro Bernales. Government officials welcomed Gordon's ascension, while human rights organizations called on him to end alleged police violence.

Eduardo Gordon, pictured here in the foreground, is the new General Director of Chile's Carabineros.
Galen Brown, The Valparaíso Times

“I assume this rule with enthusiasm, much strength, and gratitude that Her Excellency, the President of the Republic, has chosen me,” Gordon told reporters. “I want to thank the police force for its support of high-ranking officials, and especially of the General Director.”

Bachelet's nomination comes after Bernales lost his life in a fiery helicopter crash in Panama City, Panama last Thursday. Five other Chileans – including Bernales’ wife, Teresa Bianchini – died in the accident. The other Chilean victims were Carabineros Commander Óscar Tapia; his wife, Carolina Reyez Cruz; his assistant, Ricardo Orozco; and Mauricio Fuenzalida, a Carabineros captain.

Gordon, a lifelong member of the Carabineros, graduated from Chile's Police Academy in 1975. He was then sent to the Region V port city of San Antonio, where he served as the Order and Security Sub Sergeant. Gordon later spent several years studying in Spain before returning to Chile in 1980 to work at the Police Academy.

Gordon returned to the streets in the late 1980s and early 1990s, working in downtown Santiago and parts of Region XII before assuming the position of Police Academy Director in 1999. From then on, Gordon rapidly climbed through the organization's ranks, becoming Inspector General in 2005 and then Sub Director in 2006. Gordon held that role until Bachelet designated him as interim General Director last week. Gordon will serve as Chile's top cop until 2012.

Gordon selected Gustavo González, another Carabineros veteran, to replace him as the new Sub Director. González had previously served as the institution's Personnel Director.

Gordon was quickly received by government leaders, including Interior Ministry Undersecretary Felipe Harboe. Still, human rights officials called on Gordon to rectify a series of shortcomings, including the organization's repression of free speech and abuses against Chile's indigenous communities.

“The organization needs to guarantee (Chileans') freedom to speech, and not restrict it,” Amnesty International Chile Executive Director Sergio Laurenti told The Valparaíso Times. "The organization also needs to include human rights education when training new police officers.”

AI recently expressed its concern over the violent confrontations that occurred between protesters and police during protests in the last year (ST, May 28).

“Gordon also needs to end the Carabineros’ persecution of Mapuche indigenous groups, especially when they legally defend their lands and the natural resources within them,” Laurenti said.

Meanwhile, Carlos Carliano, spokesperson for the indigenous umbrella group Alianza Wentece Pewence, had harsh words for the fallen police chief.

“Bernales died while doing his job, which consisted in nothing less than administering violence to people who think differently,” he said. “No one cried when indigenous rights activists such as Alex Lemún and Matías Catrileo died at the hands of Bernales' police force.”

Catrileo was shot dead by police in early January, 2008, as he and some 30 other Mapuche activists carried out a symbolic land occupation on a privately-owned farm (ST, Jan. 4).  Edmundo Alex Lemun, a 17-year-old Mapuche boy, died in November, 2002, after being shot in the head by a police officer.

Word of Gordon's ascension came as Panama's Civil Aeronautics Authority (AAC) said that engine failure was the probable cause of Thursday's crash.

“We have found evidence that Motor Number One was not functioning properly at the time of the crash,” the AAC said in a press release. “Meanwhile, the rotor shows no signs of having malfunctioned and is not being considered to be a cause of the crash.”

Officials had previously suspected that a faulty rotor had downed the helicopter.

Five Panamanian officials, including the helicopter’s pilot, Juan Delgado Pinzón, also died, as did at least four Panamanian civilians who were on the ground at the time of the accident (PT, May 30).

The helicopter was en route from Colón, Panama's second largest city, to Panama City, the country's capital. Bernales and his Chilean colleagues were on an official visit to Panama, where they participated in a regional anti-terrorism conference.

By Matt Malinowski