Bombing in Chile Sparks Anti-Terror Reforms

The Chilean government on Tuesday announced legal reforms designed to strengthen the police and prosecutors after a bombing in Santiago that injured 14.

President Michelle Bachelet announced the legal reforms after presiding at a high-level security cabinet meeting with police chiefs, intelligence officials and prosecutors.

“We’re not going to allow a group of cowardly terrorists to disrupt our peaceful coexistence,” said the Chilean leader, who appealed to her countrymen for unity and asked them to be “vigilant” in situations where they suspect terrorist activity.

The president announced that the country’s antiterrorism, intelligence and weapons and explosives control laws will be reformed and more resources and powers will be provided to the public prosecutor’s office.

The explosion occurred at 2 p.m. on Monday as hundreds of people were moving through the area where a fire extinguisher filled with two kilos (4.4 pounds) of gunpowder was detonated with a timer after the perpetrators left it in a trash container in front of a food store near a metro station.

Of the 14 people wounded in the blast, five remain hospitalized on Tuesday, but all of them are recovering well.

Meanwhile, Chilean authorities deployed 500 police to guard the entrances and exits of metro stations, particularly the most heavily used ones.

“The Carabineros (Chile’s militarized national police force) are mobilizing all their personnel and we’re going to do that for the time it may be necessary,” said Interior Minister Rodrigo Peñailillo.

The attack occurred 72 hours before the 41st anniversary of the Sept. 11, 1973, coup that ushered in 18 years of harsh military rule, which is an additional reason for concern for the government, given that the date is regularly marked by massive demonstrations that often turn violent.

Given that situation, Deputy Interior Secretary Mahmud Aleuy on Tuesday told Radio Cooperativa that security will be strengthened “with all the instruments we have available.”

Chile’s acting chief prosecutor, Alberto Ayala, acknowledged Tuesday that no significant advances had been made in the search for the perpetrators of the attack in the upscale Las Condes district.

“They are very difficult crimes to investigate. We’re moving along the track that it’s anarchist organizations, which are not of the nature that allows us to determine precisely and rapidly who is behind these attacks,” he told reporters.

Chilean anarchists have a history of detonating bombs at bank branches and other sites, but, at least until now, the blasts have usually occurred outside business hours and rarely resulted in injuries.

Published in Latino Daily News

Source: http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/bombing-in-chile-sparks-anti-terror-reforms/31096#When:02:04:10Z