Chile: Senators Seeking to Criminalize Incitement to Racial and Religious Hatred

Chilean Senators Guido Girardi, Juan Pablo Letelier, Mariano Ruiz-Esquide, Carlos Cantero and Andrew Chadwick expressed deep concern over the spate of anti-Semitic acts that occurred in synagogues and Hebrew schools, as well as death threats against the president of the Chilean Jewish community, Gabriel Zaliasnik, and to his son of 9 years. For this reason, they announced the filing of a bill that seeks to criminalize "hate speech."
Senator Guido Girardi said, "We believe that this is not a problem just for the Jewish community, but for the entire Chilean society. We would not accept graffiti against the Catholic Church and we believe that there would be many voices against these acts, as it would also be the case within Islamic communities. Therefore, this situation is unacceptable under any circumstances", he said. For that reason, he mentioned that "we will present a bill which criminalizes the incitement to hatred and punishes those who infringe on these values and principles. We do not want to have in Chile discriminatory practices that incite hatred. Our legislation, in contrast to others, only sets fines and sanctions, but it does not define crime and punishment."

Translated from http://www.daia.org.ar/Site2009/nota.php?id=1117

Chile: Anti-Semitic Attack

The Chilean Jewish community denounced an anti-Semitic attack in the kindergarten of the Hebrew Institute, as its facade was vandalized by unknown individuals.

Along with a swastika, the message "Juden raus" (Jews Out) was written on the wall. It had a rune-style "s", bearing similarity to the Schutzstaffel logo of Adolph Hitler's regime.

"Last night there were neo-Nazi signs gain, this time in the Children's Garden of the Hebrew Institute, #naziCh", posted Gabriel Zaliasnik, president of the Jewish Community, on Twitter.

On Monday, the lawyer himself commented in The First Coffee Cooperative about the "fervent anti-Semitism in Chile", following threats he received on the Internet.

The graffiti in the Hebrew Institute bears similarity to the Arab College case from October 2009, when the College's walls were tainted with messages such as "Palestine does not exist" and "Arab = terrorist".


Translated from: http://www.cooperativa.cl/comunidad-judia-denuncio-rayados-antisemitas-en-el-instituto-hebreo/prontus_nots/2010-08-10/105912.html

Chile: Pedophile Nazi criminal and Pinochet supporter died in prison

Paul Schafer, a pedophile and criminal from both Hitler's Germany and Pinochet's Chile, died from cardiac problems on Saturday in a Chilean prison. Schafer served as a medic in the Nazi army. In 1959, he established an institution to help children in social risk in Sieburg. However, after being accused of sexual abuse of two children, he fled to Chile in 1961. There he founded Colonia Dignidad, a self-sufficient, anti-Semitic, isolated German colony (some call it a cult). Chilean officials claim that the 16,000-hectar colony served as a torture and interrogation camp during the Pinochet era (1973-1990), with former Gestapo officers providing torture lessons to Pinochet's opponents.

After accusations of sexual abuse of 25 children from the colony, Schafer fled Chile in 1997. In 2004, he was convicted in absentia of homicide, child abuse, illegal traffic of arms, and torture. The following year, he was found in Argentina, from where he was extradited. At the time of his death, he was 89 years old and had only served 4 years of his 33-year sentence (including 20 for pedophilia). He was also being investigated for the 1985 disappearance of Boris Weisfeiler, an Jewish Russian-born mathematician from the United States.

Nowadays, approximately 300 people live in Villa Baviera (what was once Colonia Dignidad), which refused to bury Schafer in its territory. He was buried in a different cemetery after his adoptive daughter received a special donation for this purpose.

Sources:
http://diario.elmercurio.cl/2010/04/25/nacional/especial/noticias/b50e3d31-998f-44f1-88ac-5121a54ba0f1.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/world/25schaefer.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/mar/12/warcrimes.chile