Yearbook 2019
Chile. In mid-October, the largest protest storm seen in
Chile since democracy was reintroduced in 1990. The protests
were led primarily by young people and initially concerned
the increase in public transport charges in the capital
Santiago.
According to
CountryAAH, President Sebastián Piñera was obviously surprised by the
development of the event and soon withdrew the decision to
raise prices and reform the government. But the protests
continued and were now driven by dissatisfaction with the
socio-economic situation in general in Chile, which despite
a relatively high degree of political stability and
favorable economic development is one of Latin America's
most unequal countries. The demonstrations were met by
increasingly violent response from police and military, and
at least 23 people were killed in the confrontations,
hundreds injured and more than 9,000 arrested across the
country. Especially the military's actions were upset
because the scenes reminded them of the military coup in
1973. The situation in the country forced President Piñera
to suspend both APEC:
Two weeks after the protests began, Piñera pledged to
launch a social agenda to reduce income gaps through
increased pensions, reduced health care costs and a more
progressive tax system. He also defended the military
summons to help the police maintain the order, but admitted
that abuse may have been committed. The protesters and
political opposition instead demanded Piñera's resignation
and a new constitution replacing the neo-liberal
constitution that the dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-90)
created in 1980. In mid-November, then-Interior Minister
Gonzalo Blumel announced that a Constituent Assembly will
make a draft to a new constitution that will be subject to a
referendum in April 2020.
Chile's former army chief, Juan Emilio Cheyre, was
sentenced in November to three years' house arrest for his
co-responsibility in the murders of 15 Chileans during the
first months of the military dictatorship in 1973. the
heinous crimes of the military during the dictatorship.
During the dictatorship he was attached to the Caravan of
Death, a military command that traveled through Chile and on
its way murdered members of the left. So far, more than
1,000 officers and soldiers have been convicted of their
crimes during the dictatorship. Despite the reckoning with
the past, the state's suppression apparatus continues its
ravages in the country. In mid-November, four former police
officers shot 24-year-old Camilo Catrillanca in the back
outside a small village in southern Chile. He was killed on
the spot. Catrillanca was of the Mapuche people and grandson
of a prominent Mapuch leader. The murder triggered extensive
demonstrations. Tensions between the Mapuche people and the
state increased dramatically when Interior Minister Piñera
in June sent his so-called "jungle commands" to the area,
equipped with tanks, helicopters and armored vehicles. One
of the map leaders in Temucuicui, Jorge Huenchullán
declared: “The police presence in our area has been steadily
increasing, but jungle commands have brought new technology
such as drones and amphibious vehicles to our homes. We
Mapucher will be recognized as a people with territorial and
political rights, not simply folklore. We are not the
property of the state. We were here many centuries before
the idea of the state of Chile came into being ”.
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