Latest News from Chile

     Chile's President Sebastian Pinera called for a national agreement on peace and a new constitution as security forces struggle to control riots across central Santiago Tuesday evening.
     Speaking from the presidential palace, close to the disturbances, Pinera asked political forces and social organizations to unite around peace and social justice.
     "The situation needs to end and it needs to end now", Pinera said.  "It is damaging the rule of law, the rights and freedoms of everyone and especially of those most vulnerable and of our middle class."
   

In the hours before he spoke, rumors swirled that he may announce a new state of emergency and call the army back onto the streets to restore order after almost 4 weeks of often violent protests.  As it was, he merely called on former policemen to return to the force and asked for agreements with the opposition.

During today's disturbances in Santiago, a historic church went up in flames, a hotel was looted and burnt and the Argentine Embassy attacked in some of the worst rioting Chile has seen since a wave of civil unrest erupted on October 18th.  At times, swathes of the center appeared to have been abandoned to the protesters.

The incidents follow a day of protests across the country, some of which ended in looting and arson attacks.  The peso tumbled as much as 5% closing at a fresh record low while the stock market slid another 4% to the lowest in more than 2 years.

"Public order has been violated and citizen's safety has not been respected," Pinera said.  

Convulsed by the worst civil unrest in a generation, Chile's government also said today it is turning to a sovereign wealth fund to help finance expenditures.  The government will withdraw $1 billion pesos from its Economic and Social Stabilization Fund in the next few days and another $1.4 billion in early 2020.

We have heard of one young missionary who was assigned to the Valparaiso Mission but has now been reassigned to a mission in Mexico.  We have 19 new missionaries coming in December as of now.  We will just have to wait and see if any of them are reassigned.  Our missionaries are usually required to be in their apartments by 8 but on days of heavy protests they have to be in by 6.  Where we live, we see very little of the effects of the protests but as we drive around the mission it is heartbreaking to see the destruction that is taking place.