He was 8 years old and was killed on December 14th in the Sector El Castillo district of Santiago, Chile. The Fundacion Gesta (Chilean Marists), who works in that degraded and peripheral “barrio”, denounced him.
Here the Marists manage a school on behalf of the State and the Foundation (financed by FMSI) does activities for children and young people in the name of community life. Among the various activities: the circus, the breakdance, the workshops for children, vegetable garden and perfumes with the mothers and the families of the boys.
The Foundation has written a manifesto to ask for justice. They denounce the escalation of armed violence and the inconsistent presence of the State that puts children often in danger or in any case makes them witnesses of cruel and regrettable events.
Our concern – they write in the document – is that this type of situation keeps repeating itself, year after year. As an institution, on September 13th we commemorated the 8th anniversary of the murder of another Sector child who was killed just 10 years old. Since 2009, a dozen minors have been killed in La Pintana due to violence “. They do not want more police, but they ask for more public investments that can create educational and employment opportunities, because holding a weapon no longer becomes a solution for anyone. “Our concern that behind the media’s visibility of this murder, as the worst form of violation of the right to life, they hide many other forms of violation of the rights no less serious, which children must face every day in the sector”.
Children, young people and neighbors in general must be included in a guiding and not only an accessory role, both in the definition of problem priorities, design, implementation and evaluation of proposals, and in a greater role of supervision of the actions of the authorities and law enforcement agencies.
