What Sparked Protests in Chile and Why Tension Remains After Government Retreats

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Sunday, October 20th, there were violent clashes between the police and demonstrators. The Special Police and Military Forces repelled the attacks with tear gas and water jets.

The capital remains in turmoil with over 20,000 homes with no electricity, shops closed, canceled flights and military deployment.

Despite the fact that Chilean President Sebastián Piñera decided to suspend the increase in subway fares in Santiago, social tension remains high in the country, largely due to the distribution of wealth in Chile, rather than the increase in transport prices, according to several analysts.

In order not to raise tariffs, the government needs the approval of Parliament – Deputies met on Sunday – given that the power to increase tariffs lies with a technical body established by statute.

The demonstrations do not have a defined leader or a specific set of demands. For the time being, it is seen as a generalized demand against a neoliberal economic system that, beneath the seemingly successful macroeconomic figures, hides deep social discontent.

Among the most notable demands are protests against unequal education, low retirement pensions, and health care, as well as charges of collusion between companies associated with corruption.

After the increase became effective from US$1.13 to US$1.17, hundreds of students, convened mainly through social media, organized to set up a “massive invasion” of the Santiago subway, . Under this pretense, thousands of users jumped the subway’s turnstiles.

As the days went by, the number of trespassers increased until Friday when massive protests began.

As a result, subway operations were suspended and clashes between the Chilean police and protestors broke out, leading to significant material damage and injuries. Three people died on Saturday in a fire that broke out amid the looting of a Walmart supermarket.

Piñera’s government decreed a “state of emergency” for the provinces of Santiago and Chacabuco, as well as other communes, which led to an increase in protests by the population.

Against this backdrop, the Chilean army decreed a “curfew” between 10 PM on Saturday and 7 AM on Sunday.

This Saturday’s demonstrations resulted in over 160 arrests, more than 20 people injured and over 100 police officers injured, according to the authorities.

According to a number of Chilean media outlets, due to the level of damage to public infrastructure and the number of demonstrators, the situation generated in the country is the greatest civil unrest since the end of the dictatorship of Agusto Pinochet in 1990.

Damage exceeds US$300 million

Damage to the Santiago Subway exceeds US$300 million and some stations and lines will take months to return to service, said the company’s president on Sunday. At least 78 metropolitan train stations were damaged and some were completely destroyed. Three carriages were completely burned, while three others were severely damaged.

The Chilean capital’s public transport hub, with almost three million passengers a day, suffered “brutal destruction,” according to what Louis de Grange, president of the state-owned company, told Canal 13.

Another fire on Friday affected the headquarters of Enel, the Italian multinational that produces and distributes electricity and gas in the country, while in Valparaíso the headquarters of the newspaper El Mercurio were set on fire by demonstrators.

Chile found itself paralyzed on Sunday, with virtually all stores closed, suspensions and cancellations of flights at the airport and very little public transportation.

Source: El Observador