Fourteen leaders of the protest movement in the remote Patagonian area of Aysén, including its spokesman Iván Fuentes, are due to meet the Chilean interior minister, Rodrigo Hinzpeter, in Santiago today to seek a solution to the unrest that has shaken the region for the past two months.

Reporters without Borders hopes the talks will ensure that basic constitutional freedoms, including the right to inform and be informed, are preserved.

“The problem will not be solved by the use of tear gas,” the president of the Senate, Camilo Escalona, told the media.

The head of the carabineros militarized police, Gustavo González, has publicly admitted to members of parliament, that the harsh crackdown by his men in the region has been excessive.

Reporters Without Borders is in no doubt that the problem will get worse if attempts to block access to information in the region are repeated.

“Cutting Aysén off from the rest of the country is the best way to lose control of events and to ensure the region descends into chaos and violence,” it said. “The flow of information is the best insurance in such circumstances.”

The dispute in Aysén has earned support in other parts of the country and there, too, the safety of those who work in news and information is more than ever at risk.

As well as violent clashes two days ago, communications and network connections have been cut off on a regular basis. The website of the regional station Radio Santa Maria has suffered major disruptions and its mirror and streaming sites, created to get around this, were inaccessible for part of the day yesterday.

According to our sources, the station’s Internet service provider is believed to have admitted cutting the connection while some officials have accused the station of inciting people in the area to demonstrate. Is it a crime for Radio Santa María to have informed its listeners that a fresh contingent of carabineros has been sent to Aysén?

The harsh crackdown resulted in the arrest of 20 people in Coyhaique, including cameraman Victor Hugo Gómez, who works for the Radio Santa Maria affiliate Canal 3. He was released the next day.

Source: Reporters Without Borders