At
least 18 dead and thousands arrested in Chile protests·
Tens of thousands of protesters swarmed Chile's capital Wednesday, setting up fiery barricades and clashing with
riot police as an apology and promises of economic reform from President
Sebastián Piñera failed to calm the unrest that has led to at least 18 deaths.
The movement started with anger at a
small rise in subway fares, but blew up last week into protests demanding
improvements in education, health care and wages in one of Latin America's
wealthiest, but most unequal nations.
Many protesters in Santiago waved
the national flag and shouted "Chile has woken up!"Police responded to stone-throwing demonstrators by spraying water cannons and firing rubber bullets and tear gas. Similar scenes were repeated in towns and cities all along the long, narrow South American country of 18 million people.
Approximately 20,000 soldiers are patrolling the streets. Nearly 200 people have been injured, and some 5,000 have been arrested.
Human rights groups expressed concerns about how security forces have handled the protests after the government ordered a military curfew. It was the first such curfew — other than for natural disasters — imposed since Chile returned to democracy in 1990 following a bloody 17-year dictatorship.
"We're worried," José
Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, told The Associated
Press. "The images that we've received from credible sources, trustworthy
sources, show that there has been an excess of force both by police as well as
some soldiers."
The Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights also criticized what it said is excessive use of force by security
forces as well as the "violent acts committed by civilians" in the
protests. It called for dialogue to hear "people's legitimate
demands."Millions of students were still unable to attend classes, several subway stations were shut, and long lines wound from gas stations and supermarkets after many stores were torched or destroyed.
Most of the protests have been peaceful, with demonstrators of all ages banging pots to demand reforms. But the unrest also involved riots, arson and looting that have wracked Chile for six days, nearly paralyzing a country long seen as one of the region's most stable.
"Today we're protesting all of our discontent against these politicians who have been fooling us. The raise in the subway fare was just the straw that broke the camel's back," Italo Tarsetti told The Associated Press.
Faced with the mounting unrest,
Piñera on Tuesday night announced economic reforms that include increases in
the minimum wage and the lowest state pensions. But many said the 69-year-old
billionaire businessman reacted too late, and the announcement failed to calm
anger in the streets.
"These measures are absurd.
It's handing out crumbs to the people," Magdalena Bravo, a demonstrator
who said she had lost her job as a school teacher, told The Associated Press.The economic agenda Piñera announced Tuesday night calls for increasing the lowest monthly pensions from $151 to $181, raising the monthly minimum wage from $413 to $481 and rescinding a 92% rise in electricity rates scheduled to take effect next month. It would also increase taxes for anyone earning more than $11,000 a month (Chilean pesos)
"Piñera's more conciliatory tone is a step in the right direction, but the proposal on its own is unlikely to suffice," Jenny Pribble, associate professor of political science at the University of Richmond, told The Associated Press.
Pribble said that while it would boost pensions and set a minimum income, the package doesn't address the structure of the country's health and pension systems.
"This is a point of concern for the protesters and the president must signal that he is open to a social dialogue that would, at a minimum, debate the possibility of abandoning the privatized logic," she said.
From news that our Chilean friends tell us, many are saying that they will not quit protesting till the President leaves office or is dead. We seem to be in the middle of a civil war. Where we live, life seems to be gradually getting back to normal. The schools around us have reopened. The buses are running, mostly empty, but running. There seems to be plenty of food in the stores but they are only open for a few hours a day and you have to stand in line till your turn to enter as they won't let a bunch be in the store at once.
We finally were able to get the truck filled up so we have gas now. We will walk as much as we can to save the gas in case we are needed to help the young missionaries.
We are not allowed to wear our name tags yet and we dress in p-day clothes, trying not to draw attention to ourselves. Our curfew today was 4:00. The young missionaries are thrilled to be able to get out of their apartments and actually do missionary work!
We can hear the demonstrations in the evenings but we are safe and all of our young missionaries are safe and in good spirits. The people in the outlying areas are helping to clean up the destruction in the metro stations. Praying that tomorrow will bring more areas of peace. It will take time for this country to heal. Don't think that Satan wants a new temple built here and is doing his best to stop it from happening! We send our love
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