Contesting the Iron Fist: Advocacy Networks and Police Violence in Democratic Argentina and Chile (Latin American Studies-Social Sciences & Law)

196 Pages·2004·1.22 MB·English

by  Claudio Fuentes

LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
SOCIAL SCIENCES AND LAW
Edited by
David Mares
University of California, San Diego
A ROUTLEDGE SERIES
LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES

DAVID MARES, General Editor
OBSERVING OUR HERMANOS DE ARMAS
U.S.Military Attachés in Guatemala, Cuba, and Bolivia, 1950–1964
Robert O.Kirkland
LAND PRIVATIZATION IN MEXICO
Urbanization, Formation of Regions, and Globalization in Ejidos
María Teresa Vázquez-Castillo
THE POLITICS OF THE INTERNET IN THIRD WORLD DEVELOPMENT
Challenges in Contrasting Regimes, with Case Studies of Costa Rica and Cuba
Bert Hoffmann
CONTESTING THE IRON FIST
Advocacy Networks and Police Violence in Democratic Argentina and Chile
Claudio A.Fuentes
CONTESTING THE IRON FIST
ADVOCACY NETWORKS AND POLICE VIOLENCE IN
DEMOCRATIC ARGENTINA AND CHILE
Claudio A.Fuentes

Routledge
New York & London
Published in 2005by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 100l6
http://www.routledge-ny.com/
Published in Great Britain by Routledge 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN
http://www.routledge.co.uk/
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis
or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to
http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.”
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without permission
in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fuentes, Claudio. Contesting the iron fist:
advocacy networks and police violence in democratic Argentina and Chile/Claudio A.Fuentes. p.
cm.—(Latin American studies. Social sciences and law) Includes bibliographical references and
index. ISBN 0-415-97169-1 (hardback: alk. paper) 1. Human rights advocacy—Chile. 2. Police
brutality—Chile. 3. Human rights advocacy—Argentina. 4. Police brutality—Argentina. I.| Title.
II. Latin American studies (Routledge (Firm)). Social sciences and law. JC599.C5F84 2005
363.2′32–dc22 2005012933
ISBN 0-203-31299-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN - (Adobe e-Reader Format)
ISBN 0-415-97169-1 (Print Edition)
To those anonymous activists who dream of and work
for a better world.
Contents

List of Tables, Graphs, and Figures vii
Glossary of Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1
Chapter One Guarding the Guardians 15
Chapter Two Chile: The Denial of Police Violence 39
Chapter Three Explaining an “Unexpected” Legal Reform in Chile 69
Chapter Four Argentina: Strong Advocacy Groups, Fluctuating Influence 76
Chapter Five Dealing with a Corporate Police Force in Argentina 101
Chapter Six Contesting the Iron Fist 111

Appendix One Chile: Government’s Reactions toward International and Local 125

Reports
Appendix Two Testing Social Groups’ Responsiveness 129
AppendixThree Argentina: Selected Cases of Corruption 137
Notes 140
Bibliography 159
Index 180
List of Tables, Graphs, and Figures

Tables
Table2.1 Latin America: Confidence in Institutions, 1997–1998 51
Table2.2 Chile: Public Opinion and Citizens’ Rights in 1997 52
Table2.3 Chile: Human Rights Organizations in 1990 and 2000 54
Table2.4 Chile: Responses toward Allegation of Police Violence 64

Documented by the Press
Table3.1 Chile: Debate on the Abolition of the Detention for 74

Suspicion
Table4.1 Argentina: Main Reforms at the Federal level and Buenos 79

Aires Province
Table4.2 Argentina: Public Opinion Perception on the Police 1990– 86

1993
Table4.3 Argentina: Evaluation of Police Work 1998–2000 86
Table4.4 Argentina: Human Rights Organizations in 1983 and 2001 88
Table5.1 Argentina: Federal Police Powers and Their Reform 102
Table5.2 Argentina: Civilian and Police Death in Buenos Aires 103

Province and Capital
Table6.1 Determining Factors in Chile and Argentina 113
Table6.2 Coalitions and Policy Outcomes 116
Table6.3 Strategies Used by Social Actors 119
Graphs
Graph2.1 Chile: Detentions practiced by the Police, 1990–1998 45
Graph2.2 Chile: Allegations of Police Violence Filed by Individuals 46

in Courts and CODEPU, 1990–1998
Graph2.3 Chile: Public Opinion’s Concern on Delinquency by Social 49

Class
Graph2.4 Chile: Public Opinion and Levels of Crime 50
Graph4.1 Argentina: Civilian Killings in Buenos Aires Capital and 83

Province
Graph4.2 Argentina: Main Concerns of Public Opinion 1986–2000 85
Figures
Figure 1.1 Diagram: Political Context and Competing Coalitions 36
Glossary of Abbreviations
AI Amnesty International
AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish Cultural Center
BAPP Buenos Aires Provincial Police
CAJ Corporation of Legal Assistance
ChCHR Chilean Commission of Human Rights
CEDEJU Commission for the Rights of Young People
CEJIL Center for Justice and International Law
CELS Center for Legal and Social Studies
CEP Center for Public Studies
CERC Center for the Study of Contemporary Reality
CEUNM Center of Studies for the New Majority
CODEPU Commission for the Rights of the People
CPU Center for the Promotion of University Studies
FASIC Social Help Foundation of the Christian Churches
FLACSO Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences
FREPASO Popular and Social Front Party (Frente Popular y Social)
INJ National Institute for the Youth
NGOs Non-governmental organizations
PDC Christian Democratic Party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano)
PPD Party for Democracy (Partido por la Democracia)
POS Political Opportunity Structure
PS Socialist Party (Partido Socialista)
RN National Renovation Party (Partido Renovación Nacional)
UCR Civic Radical Union Party (Unión Cívica Radical)
UDI Independent Democrat Union Party (Unión demócrata
Independiente)
U.N. United Nations
U.S. United States
USAID U.S.Agency for International Development