Unidentified hooded men attacked the home of conservative Republican Party lawmaker Héctor Urban on Tuesday evening. Urban was recently elected to help draft a new constitution for Chile.
The hooded men opened fire with presumably high-caliber weapons, as the bullets reportedly pierced through the armored glass of Urban’s residence located in the town of Ercilla. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.
Urban is one of the 50 members of Chile’s new predominantly conservative Constitutional Council, which will soon begin working towards drafting a new constitution for the South American nation after the previous, majority-leftist council produced a new far-left core legal structure that the public overwhelmingly rejected in September.
The attack at Urban’s residence took place hours after a group of unidentified men set a vehicle on fire that belonged to the local Victoria Municipality and opened fire on the government official that drove the vehicle, seriously injuring one of his legs. Urban’s father, René Urban, a farmer who was presently working at the scene of the fire, also had his truck shot at but suffered no injuries.
Unknown assailants also attacked a police station in the town after the attack on Urban’s residence on Tuesday evening. Two members of Chile’s Carabineros law enforcement gendarmerie were reportedly injured with pellets.
Urban told the Chilean newspaper La Tercera that his family had lived through a “super violent” evening that began with the attack against his father, who was targeted while he working.
“He was shot at around eight times and one of them entered through the door of the vehicle, through the driver’s side and almost killed him,” Urban said. “A high caliber projectile.”
“Weighing that normality could be restored there, at 8:30 p.m. they went to my home and shot at the house,” he continued. “Again a high caliber projectile, because it [the bullets] entered, broke glass, windows, all sorts of things inside and then they went to the Ercilla substation and shot it.”
The newly elected Councilman said he believed the attackers were shooting to kill both himself and his father and the two escaping was a stroke of luck.
“If we had been standing two meters to the side we would have received the bullet that went through the window,” Urban added.
La Tercera asked Urban if he attributes the attacks to his election as a member of the Constitutional Council. The Councilmen responded that he does not want to believe it occurred because of that, but did not completely rule it out.
“It would be shameful for the country if they continue trying to commit political crimes here in the region, but there is a high possibility that it is a product of that,” he explained.
“If we analyze it coolly, these people have rejected this process of elections of councilors and these radicals were against it and talked about a lot of things,” Urban continued. “I obtained the maximum majority in the region, a high majority in my commune [neighborhood] and I believe that this makes them uncomfortable, because what we are managing today is greater security and tranquility, that is to say, to dismantle these teams of high violence that are attacking the people.”
Hours before the attacks, Urban told CNN Chile that the country does not need a constitution that is much different to the current one, implemented during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1980 and amended 31 times so far.
“We have to understand that the one we have today has given us stability and tranquility,” Urban said. “It would be necessary to make some modifications, undoubtedly times have changed a little, but not to make a total structural change”.
The recently elected Councilman stated that he will take “all the legal actions” that the law allows and accused the Chilean government, under far-left President Gabriel Boric, of not fulfilling its duty to provide security to all citizens.
The Araucanía region, where the town of Ercilla is located, has been placed under a State of Constitutional Emergency Exception alongside the Arauco and Biobío provinces since 2021 due to a continued disturbance of public order and armed violence.
The state of emergency, extended for a 26th time for an additional 15 days right as the attacks took place, allows the Chilean Armed Forces to collaborate with the police to maintain order in all three zones, collectively referred to as the Macrozona Sur (“Southern Macro Zone”).
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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