Negro Matapacos (“Black Cop-Killer”) was a famous stray dog from thestreets of Santiago who joined student protests across the city from 2010, and in particular during the 2011 movement for free education.

Negro Matapacos sadly died of old age exactly 2 years ago today, 26 August 2017.

Like Loukanikos in Greece, he was a stray dog from the streets of Santiago, and began joining student demonstrations in 2010. The following year, one of the biggest social movements since the fall of the military dictatorship began, fighting for free education and against neoliberal reforms to the education system.

Negro Matapacos was then seen regularly at every demonstration, defying tear gas and water cannons and always barking at or attacking only the riot police, and never any students or rioters. He subsequently continued to appear sporadically at future demonstrations, and hung out on university campuses, becoming beloved to student and radical movements as a symbol of resistance to violent authority.

His last days were spent resting with people who took him in, with a crowdfunded veterinarian.

Some people who knew him sent us some of their memories of him, telling us how he defied tear gas and water cannons, and only ever barked at or attacked police officers, and never students or rioters.

After his death, his legacy lives on in songs, street murals, an award-winning documentary and in the memories of all those who knew him. He was a good boy.

We have produced posters and other merchandise commemorating his life to help fund our work. Check them out here.

Papier-mache artwork commemorating Negro Matapacos. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

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