14 years have passed since the morning of Wednesday, June 1 in 2011 when the comrade Luciano Pitronello, known as Tortu, was gravely wounded after attempting to place an explosive artifact in a branch of Santander Bank in Santiago de Chile. This action, though failed in its execution, turned into an inflection point, not only for his life, but also for the anarchist space that surrounded him and of which he was a part…
The Context of the Offensive and Repression
Luciano acted in a moment of high tension. Since the death in action of comrade Mauricio Morales in 2009, who tried to attack the nefarious Gendarmerie School, a repressive offensive was unleashed against anarchist spaces in Chile. The cruelest point of this persecution was on August 14, 2010, when the government of Sebastián Piñera executed a media and police frame up known as the Bombs Case. 14 comrades from different social spaces and squats were arrested, while another comrade went on the run to avoid prison.
Many spaces closed, and the anarchist environment suffered a retreat. All this was due to the fact that, for years, there had been various direct attacks against power claimed by anarchist groups.
In that context, Luciano’s act was not a desperate gesture, but a clear signal: the anarchist offensive against power was still alive. With his action, he not only sought to strike the symbols and structures of capital, but also to show solidarity with the comrades imprisoned in the bombs case, which was later dropped.
Wounds, Prison and Dignity
The accident left Luciano with severe burns, amputations and vision loss. He had to face prison in those conditions. Throughout this process, the Chilean press treated him with brutality and morbidity, just as it had done with Mauricio Morales. But Luciano did not give in, even though reality hit him again and again.
Despite pressure from the state and police threats, he never gave up the name of his comrade who was with him that night. Snitching was never an option.
He was sentenced to 6 years’ probation. During this time, he continued to agitate: he opened a library, organized and participated in propaganda and anarchist solidarity activities of various forms.
A Warrior to the End
Luciano died on August 11, 2024 in a workplace accident. Until his last days he was an active comrade, convinced that the struggle against all forms of authority must be direct, decisive and constant. For him, June 1 was not a date of defeat, but a consequence of his own decisions, which he embraced as indelible tattoos on his skin. As he said to lift his spirits, half in joke half seriously when things got complicated: “I am a warrior.”
Memory in Practice
Our history as an anarchist space is made of an amalgam of hard and joyful moments, of victories, defeats and learning. We choose our course with tenacity and conviction, knowing that we are enemies of power. Therefore, exercising memory is not to praise anyone: it is to recognize ourselves in those who preceded us, in their decisions, mistakes and successes.
Reading and remembering comrades like Luciano is not looking at the past with nostalgia, but feeding the present with experiences that teach us to keep moving forward. It hurts us to lose our own but in this walk without leaders, each one of us finds our way to resist and build, from where it makes sense to us, against this enemy who has all the resources to defend its privileges.
But the memory and material contribution of our comrades must always be defended, without fear and against whoever, because it is an intrinsic part of what we are as anti-authoritarian subjects.
Luciano was an avid reader and connoisseur of revolutionary processes and of comrades who faced their realities. This was an engine that motivated him to seek his own freedom, and not stand by and wait for that long-awaited revolutionary moment to appear. Quite the contrary: Tortu did everything he could to precipitate the destruction of all forms of domination and oppression.
Final Words
We aren’t trying to make an exhaustive review of Tortu’s life; however, it is important for us to give a little context to explain that on this date we do not remember a failed attack, but rather embrace the fact that everything which that situation led to was not enough to break the political conviction of a comrade who considered himself a proud anarchist. And contrary to what the press, family and supposed comrades have said, it never crossed his mind to give up the fight or repent for his lifelong position. He even tried to be as careful as possible in each of his decisions, avoiding any kind of unnecessary public figuration, contrary to what some did after his death.
It is important to take care of his legacy of permanent conflict against power, his values and keep it alive without appropriating it, because everything is the result of the effort of an endearing comrade who directed his life with conviction in the advance and proliferation of anarchy.
For anarchist memory, direct action, for Luciano and all those who fight.
Sante Geronimo Caserio Autonomous Library
Casita Los Maquis
Translated by Act for freedom now!