CORREPI : Coordinadora contra la Represión Policial y Institucional

Abstract

Among the committees of family members, CORREPI is a bit unusual in that it consists of persons who are lawyers and/or human rights activists. In addition to their active involvement in the public struggle against police violence and impunity through marches, meetings, and a weekly bulletin, they also legally represent family members of police victims. Within CORREPI, however, there is a sub-committee of family members of victims of police violence that is called Family Members of Victims of Police Repression (Familiares de Víctimas de la Represión Policial). In an open letter published on the Internet, these family members have written that they are in agreement with the ideas of CORREPI, and therefore decided to join this group in 1996 in order to demand justice for the deaths of their loved ones, and to show solidarity with all victims of what they call “the perverse system” imposed by the governments holding power. CORREPI and the Family Members of Victims of Police Repression are known for their confrontational and critical stance towards the government as well as towards human rights groups that cooperate with the government. It is rumored that CORREPI limits itself to defending only poor victims. The middle or upper class victims are ironically named “very important deceased persons” or “celebrity cases”. The Family Members of Victims of Police Repression are largely from the lower or lower-middle classes because these people feel represented by CORREPI’s more radical discourse against the established order. They regularly organize escraches and anti-repression festivals (i.e., rock concerts where police violence is the central theme).