Gonzalo Pavez Sepúlveda is an environmental defender and leader of the citizen movement, Un Parque para Las Salinas. Since 2011, he has promoted citizen audit, scientific research and public complaint actions in face of serious cases of industrial pollution. His work in the movement Un Parque para Las Salinas is focused on documenting the impact of the pollution in Las Salinas on the public health of the communities exposed to it and caused by oil extraction and land clearing activities in the area. Throughout his career, Gonzalo has become a target of persecution, smear campaigns and harassment in both physical and online spaces.
Chile has made significant progress in relation to respect for and protection of human rights since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship and it is one of the South-American countries which has had success in bringging those responsible for the attrocities perpetrated during the dictatorship to justice. Despite of all the developments, HRDs still face police abuses, with demonstrations and street protests being violently repressed several times.
