The measure was promoted by the extremist Republican Party and supported by the right-wing coalition Chile Vamos, and will allow the release of inmates suffering from terminal illnesses. It may also favor repressors who are serving sentences in the Punta Peuco prison for crimes against humanity.

“The international law to which our country subscribes expressly says that these benefits should not be granted to criminals,” representative Alejandra Placencia said.

For deputy Andrés Giordano, granting a kind of pardon via the Constitution to those responsible for torture, disappearances and murders, shows once again that the Republican Party cannot offer Chile any type of governability.

“No to pardoning the inmates of Punta Peuco,” wrote on social networks the member of the Constitutional Council, Karen Araya, who warned that the draft of the Constitution may be worse than the one imposed during Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990).

According to a survey by the Cadem firm published this week, 57 percent of Chileans would vote against the draft, which will be submitted to a referendum on December 17th.

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