There’s at least 400 of these pellet-related incidents, according to Chile’s Human Rights Institute. Chile’s latest unrest has left more than 3,535 people detained, according to Chile’s national institute for human rights, with many more seriously injured or blinded by the pellet guns used (alongside tear gas) to disperse crowds. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares What started as a student protest over a spike in subway fares on October 18 has turned into a popular riot in Chile. Democrats are eager to establish that the president committed bribery, an impeachable offense that is specifically mentioned in the Constitution. Oct. 22, 2019; A protest in Santiago, Chile, on Monday after a weekend of riots and clashes with soldiers and police that left 11 dead. “The abuses haven’t stopped,” he said, “so we have to go into the streets.”. To an outsider, it seemed like a tiny detail. Even water is a privately traded commodity. That evening, Ms. López and her family gathered around the kitchen table at their home in Lo Espejo, a working-class municipality far from the city center, and discussed the protest movement. But when she reached the University of Chile, she said, she confronted an educational system that seemed designed to keep her in Lo Espejo forever. Some protesters have rioted. A demonstrator is detained by the police during a protest in Santiago, Chile, October 19, 2019. “Dolor” Piñera, dolor sentías mientras el pueblo protestaba y tú comías pizza. (Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images) The country moved from dictatorship to democracy in 1990, and decades of economic growth and democracy followed, with one government peacefully replacing another. And that created this growing anger and a sense that the entire system might be illegitimate, that it wasn’t just about distribution of money, but about fundamental fairness and who the government was working for and who it was taking for granted. Demonstrators clash with riot police during protests in Valparaiso, Chile, on October 20, 2019. Chile to Mark the First Anniversary of its Social Outbreak The people gathered near the University of Chile and the La Moneda Palace with banners and slogans to urge early presidential elections. So from the outside, Chile looked like the Chilean miracle was continuing, but it turned out that for Chileans, all of that economic growth came with an asterisk. They were not just protesting the specifics of retirement policy. And when they did, in the last few years, it became clear that the consequences of this plan were poverty for a lot of Chile’s elderly. We examined the police and military responses by reviewing videos and photos, and talking to witnesses. Chilean people protest against the government of President Sebastián Piñera on December 20, 2019 in Santiago, Chile. During a news conference in the Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the first two witnesses to publicly testify in the impeachment inquiry, George Kent and Bill Taylor, had, quote, “corroborated evidence of bribery” by President Trump. Police estimated that Sunday’s rally in Santiago attracted around 25,000 people by 6 p.m., far smaller than the largest protests of 2019. The mass protests that have rocked Chile this month declare a new popular movement, emerging from the ruins of a broken system. The government did a few things. It’s called “The Latest.” You can hear these episodes at the end of the day, right here on “The Daily.” Or subscribe to “The Latest” wherever you listen. Many interviewed on local TV news felt they were forced to relive the pain of some of the darkest days in Chile’s history. But in the country often lauded as Latin America’s great economic success story, it has shocked the world. And while on air, one of the reporters is shot by a member of Chile’s national police. And what’s happening in Chile is one answer to that question. But the millions-strong mobilization behind the protests wants to totally undo the country’s neoliberal order. Here’s what some of them look like. The median payment under the private pension program is less than the poverty line for one person in Chile. They were maintained by the subsequent democratic governments, even those that were center-left. It was essentially the remaking of the economy along the lines that the most influential free-market economists had imagined in their research at the time. How did the protests start in Chile in 2019? Inflation was down, the economy grew, and Chile became a richer country than its neighbors in Latin America. The turmoil began on October 18 with student-led protests over a metro fare increase. They started to be called the “Chicago Boys.” They were known for having adopted this really kind of laissez-faire, extreme free-market view of how things ought to work. These were ideas that were embraced in the U.S. so much that our government encouraged and exported them all over the world. Chile’s middle class is struggling with high prices, low wages, and a privatized retirement system that leaves many older people in bitter poverty. So for instance, the retirement plan, after it was privatized, it took a long time before the first generation to participate in that plan started retiring in large numbers. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. In an attempt to restore order, President Sebastián Piñera scrapped the four-cent subway fare increase that set off the initial demonstrations. Among the most common: those caused by pellet guns fired by security forces. So the fact that people in Chile are upset about the subway fare, this small increase in the subway fare, is really a marker, a sign that there’s something much deeper happening in Chile. We’re missing those who are dead.” Scrawled graffiti on buildings and written on protesters’ signs and on their T-shirts with pictures of Víctor Jara and quotes from his songs. In mid-October, Chile erupted with protests against hiked Metro fares. Some 80 percent of Chileans surveyed by Chilean pollster Cadem found the proposed reforms inadequate in a poll published Sunday in the local newspaper La Tercera. And in 1980, they wrote and imposed a new Constitution, and these ideas were really interwoven throughout the Constitution in order to lock in these reforms. But that term, which in Latin America is associated with the left, had been taboo in Chile for as long as Ms. López could remember. The country’s median salary is now about $540 per month — below the poverty line for a family of four, said Marco Kremerman, an economist with the Fundación Sol, a left-leaning think tank in Santiago. We saw it. Right. So this idea that by privatizing these systems, you’re letting the market take care of what the government cannot, that has really not panned out. One neighbor, who still lived nearby, was interrogated and tortured by a man they had both grown up with. 2019 Chile protests‎ (1 F) Pages in category "2019 Chilean protests" This category contains only the following page. The large anti-government protests in Chile have led to more than 1,000 injuries. It was text —. He’s near the center of the city when he faces a group of soldiers. Protesters calling on President Sebastián Piñera to resign. A subway ticket: The soaring cost of everyday necessities sparked protests that spiraled into major movements in countries like France, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Sudan and Chile. The anti-government protest was also called to claim the release of those citizens arrested in the demonstrations that followed the social outbreak of October 18, 2019. There is tremendous power in understanding. It appears he’s told to stand still. But the Chilean political crisis is not unique to Chile. And I mean that in the most literal, technical sense. The Cadem poll found that the president’s approval rating had plunged to a historic low of just 14 percent, with posters and graffiti scrawled across the capital demanding his resignation. Soon after the fare was announced, it was actually high school students in the center of Santiago who first started this kind of civil disobedience protest movement —. And President Piñera has said that he wants Congress to be the ones to come up with the new Constitution. Few foreign experts saw this coming. Subways, buses and high-rise buildings were set on fire. One recent day, at the near-shuttered University of Chile, as clouds of tear gas billowed outside, student leaders scrolled through Instagram and Twitter posts announcing demonstrations. “But the debt turns out to be a heavy backpack.”. Suddenly, there was just this general sense that things were completely out of control and really dangerous. Where does it start? So for the United States, this was an opportunity to pursue a goal that many in the U.S. government had had for a long time, which was to get Chile to adopt more free-market, economically conservative policies. But the millions-strong mobilization behind the protests wants to totally undo the country’s neoliberal order. Pinto points to smaller protest movements that have taken place in the country in recent years (seeking better education standards and a fairer pension system) as signals that things have not been going well for the everyday Chilean. Chile protests: More than one million bring Santiago to a halt. A woman waves a Chilean flag during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, Chile December 6, 2019. close. And what that looked like was tanks rolling down streets in the capital of Chile, in Santiago, military forces coming out fully armed, and —. Something that I’ve heard a lot as I cover protests and revolutions around the world is that they’re often sparked by a small increase in the price of daily necessities. See you on Monday. But the country is far from alone. This was the Cold War, and this was one part of their Cold War foreign policy, a way to protect what they saw as U.S. interests against the potential rise of communism around the world. Clearly, he’s not a threat. That removed him from office and installed a military government led by General Augusto Pinochet in his place. They crushed his hands and then mocked him, saying, try to play the guitar now. (Pablo Vera / AFP via Getty Images) The 29-year-old says he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Amanda, what is driving these protests? On Friday Piñera had condemned the violence and … The truth is, Chile is unequal, even though it actually reduced poverty from 1989, the time of the democratic transition, until today, from 40% to 16%. It’s a chaotic day in Santiago, Chile. But now, decades later, we’re starting to see the results of that experiment. But here’s Palavecino Escobar with his camera. For a while, the promise seemed to be working. But today, widespread public anger over the inequality and economic precarity that many Chileans see as a consequence of that system means that conservative economic policies may be more of a threat to political stability than a means of ensuring it. But it’s not just journalists and protesters getting injured. Why are these protests happening now? “But in the end, we need to make changes.”. Police officers monitoring a street in Santiago. And in fact, the country’s weak social safety net was making that even more difficult. It might have stopped there, had the president not taken the step of calling the military out into the streets. And the United States recognized Pinochet as the legitimate government of Chile and was very supportive of his regime. And they’re saying that they think that the government institutions don’t have enough legitimacy to be the ones that come up with the new Constitution. More than 100,000 protesters joined a symbolic march Sunday along the coast from the beachfront city of Viña del Mar to the Congress building in neighboring Valparaiso. Chile to Mark the First Anniversary of its Social Outbreak. And what exactly were those economic policies that the Chicago Boys were finally able to implement under Pinochet? Protesters, angry over inequality, demand President Pinera’s resignation in biggest protests to hit capital in years. The freer the system, the better off the ordinary poor people have been. Thousands of people took to the streets to "demand the freedom of the young people who remain in custody for their participation in the protests that followed October 18, 2019," protestor Ana Bohemia tweeted. Javiera López Layana, 24, an activist and student at the University of Chile who helped organize the protest, was buzzing with excitement. A church is set on fire during a protest against Chile's government, on the one-year anniversary of the protests and riots that rocked the capital in 2019, in Santiago, Chile, October 18, 2020. Meanwhile, a UN report from 2017 found that the richest 1 percent of the population earns 33 percent of the nation’s wealth, making Chile the most unequal member of the OECD (an intergovernmental economic organization of largely developed nations). I spent a few days just going to as many protest events in as many parts of Santiago as I could. Something like an increase in subway fares, if you’re already really worried about basic necessities and then you have to pay that multiple times a day, it makes it just feel inescapable. That means that 50 percent of people are at that or less. Because that was what really confirmed for a lot of Chileans that, as a common chant and slogan of the protest said, “it’s not 30 pesos, it’s 30 years.”. “But the debt turns out to be a heavy backpack.” Her background may also dilute the value of her degree: Employers are widely believed to discriminate against candidates from poorer social classes. Here, you can see an officer taking aim. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today, from as little as $3. Photo: Getty Images. And it was 30 pesos, which might not sound like a lot. There is broad agreement, among protesters and experts alike, that the country needs structural reforms. A tree covered in paper streamers at a demonstration last week. And how does the U.S. respond to this, given that it had a hand in the rise of this dictator? Oct. 22, 2019 A protest in Santiago, Chile, on Monday after a weekend of riots and clashes with soldiers and police that left 11 dead. “When we’re in debt, living in misery and impoverished, we don’t necessarily think of the Constitution,” Ms. López said. In Chile, student-led protests turned deadly this weekend. At least 20 people have died and hundreds injured. As he is led away, a camera captures the bloody wound in his leg. It’s become sort of the crucial piece of evidence for a lot of people that the government isn’t working for them, that it’s not aware of their lives and it’s not trying to solve problems for ordinary people. After all, Chile had transformed into one of Latin America’s safest and most stable economies. So food, public transportation, the price of gas is often a big one. A demonstrator waves a Chilean flag during a protest in Santiago on 21 October 2019. The legacy of dictatorship was not subtext. And so you had all of a sudden these images of tanks facing down Chilean college students in the streets and groups of protesters waving signs calling for political change. In some ways, it worked. So this is a kind of extreme version of a free-market economy, where you remove social safety nets and allow the market to take control. Piñera returned to power last year for a second non-consecutive term with the promise of reviving a slowing economy. The initial days of the military regime were incredibly brutal. The Chilean president, Sebastian Piñera, he said —, And then Piñera announced that they would cancel the subway fare increase. At the protest in O’Higgins park, that was certainly the view of Luis Ochoa Pérez, who was selling flags near the entrance. So President Piñera, in the last couple of days, has said that he would be willing to start the process of coming up with a new Constitution. Most demonstrations have been peaceful, though, with one drawin… When Santiago first erupted into chaos on October 18, a (now confirmed) image circulated on social media showing President Piñera dining at an upmarket pizzeria. On October 6, the Chilean government announced that there was going to be an increase in the fares for the public transportation system, the metro system in Santiago. Many of the speakers had used the term “el pueblo” when describing the Chilean people, she pointed out. They were protesting 30 years in which they felt that they had still been trapped under the shadow of the dictatorship, because its policies were still reaching out and affecting their lives. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Even more notables — including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg — are expected to arrive in Santiago in December for COP 25, the UN Climate Change Conference. And so when the current president, Sebastián Piñera, who has continued to really embrace these right-wing neoliberal economic policies, announced that they were raising the metro fares by 30 pesos, 4 cents, that felt to a lot of people like the final straw, the last thing that just confirmed to them that the government didn’t have their interests at heart. — where they started out by jumping turnstiles or holding gates open for people so they could avoid paying the metro fares altogether. The end of the Pinochet dictatorship, in 1990, came with an implicit caveat: Military rule would end, but the socialist policies of Salvador Allende, the leftist president Gen. Augusto Pinochet had deposed in a coup, would not return. Do they do what the Chilean government had hoped they would do? He was from the same group that has been documenting alleged misconduct by security forces. And what happens when this new American-backed leader, Pinochet, takes over? And the group of Chilean economists who had come to the U.S. to study, as the U.S. had hoped, they went back to Chile, brought their policies with them and tried to influence the government’s economic policies. Soon after midnight, Chile’s center-right president, Sebastián Piñera, called for a state of emergency, sending military out onto the streets and installing a curfew in cities across the nation for the first time since the end of the brutal dictatorship of the 1970s and ’80s. An estimated 1 million people marched peacefully in Chile’s capital the day before, intensifying pressure on a … The Chilean movement, like the Yellow-Vest movement, has no clear leaders, said Ms. Martínez, with information mostly spreading through people’s social networks. Chile's President Promises To Reshuffle Cabinet After Massive Protests In Santiago "We have all heard and understood the message of Chileans," Sebastian Piñera said. 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