Chileans protest US torture centers in Guantanamo

(June 26, 2007) Chile’s Amnesty International (AI) will mark the International Day in Support of the Victims of Torture today, Tuesday, by demonstrating in downtown Santiago’s Plaza De Armas to publicize efforts to close the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay.

“We will display a replica of a Guantánamo prison cell filled with red balloons,” said Chile’s AI “Team Against Torture” coordinator Cianan Good. “Our aim is to get 430 signatures, one for each detainee currently held in Guantánamo.”

AI has launched an online petition encouraging protestors to design a vessel – ranging from surfboards and parachutes to sea-dragons – to carry their digital self to the controversial detention facility. The petition will be delivered to the U.S. government when the online flotilla of protesters arrives at Guantánamo Bay in January 2008, the sixth anniversary of the detention facility.

A thousand Chileans have signed on to the campaign, accounting for almost half of all Latin Americans embarking on the digital sea voyage. The AI’s Good speculated that one reason for the large Chilean participation, apart from the nation’s history of human rights violations, is the digital nature of the protest. Most Chileans have relatively easy access to the Internet compared to other Latinos. ~snip~

http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=14094&topic_id=15

in US sponsored torture chambers in Chile