"Mining workers. Ten years after the murder of Nelson Quichillao López: the death of the mine worker remains in impunity" 25 July 2025

On July 24, 2015, in the early hours of the morning, the desert witnessed a crime that marked a turning point in the struggle of Chile’s copper contract workers. In the context of a legitimate strike for dignified working conditions, the worker Nelson Quichillao López, employed by the contractor company Gardilcic, was killed by Chile’s national police (Carabineros) during a brutal repression ordered by the State and carried out in service of Codelco. Ten years after that crime, his memory has not faded. On the contrary, his name has become a symbol of workers’ resistance, the demand for justice, and the urgent need for change...

Nelson was not a union leader; he was, like so many others, just another worker on the front lines—an ordinary laborer who chose not to remain silent in the face of abuses within the subcontracting system that precarizes, divides, and marginalizes thousands of workers across Chile. His story mirrors that of thousands: migrating from his hometown of La Unión to the north in search of a better future, enduring exhausting shifts, and risking his life every day for a wage that was not always enough...

The shot that took his life was not an accident. It was a political execution—a signal from economic and state power showing how far they are willing to go to defend their interests...

Nelson’s case is not an isolated incident. Chile, despite its formal democracy, has maintained a systematic policy of repression against the popular movement...

Ten years later, there is still no justice for Nelson. The police officer who fired the shot, Marco Guerrero Martínez, never faced a fair trial. The State, far from acknowledging responsibility, chose instead to cover it up. The government of the time remained silent, the courts looked the other way, and the company—Codelco—completely distanced itself, despite being an active accomplice in the operation...

Punishment always falls on the poor, the rebellious, those who struggle, while those responsible for human rights violations enjoy freedom, benefits, or institutional protection...

Ten years later, what hurts most is not only the bullet that killed him but the silence that followed. But they have not been able to silence the truth. Nelson Quichillao was killed by the State for daring to fight. And that truth, however uncomfortable for some, will continue to be spoken, sung, and shouted until justice is achieved.