Thousands of Chileans rebel with curfew | A …

From Santiago

"We are at war with a powerful and implacable enemy, who respects nothing and who is willing to use violence and unbounded crimewho is ready to burn our hospitals, the subway, the supermarkets, for the sole purpose of causing as much damage as possible. "With these words, the President of Chile, Sebastian Piñera He tried to calm the public Sunday night, when demonstrations and cacerolazos gave way to looting, assault, vandalism and destruction by ready-made crowds. The unfortunate sentence of the president added to a series of communication errors of his ministers who, instead of calming the spirits, They set the prairie on fire at levels never seen since the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship between 1973 and 1990.

But we are in 2019 and times have changed, at least that's what people who ignored the curfews and the exceptional measures enacted for Santiago and the main cities of the country have kept the street to protest peacefully against and others criminalizing.

"Let the militia go" and "Chile is awake!", Shouted the protesters in front of the central police station, in front of the police station organized as part of a large security operation in the center of the Chilean capital, which continues urgently

More than twenty Social organizations called to demonstrate in favor of the student's demand and denounce "the repression and the use of excessive force" exercised by the carabineros. For this Wednesday, they called a general strike

"Because it's not just for students, it's for our fathers and mothers." For our grandmothers, it's for all abuses and human rights violations. man, for the repression against the just struggle of the people, for the dignity of life, we say loudly # PiñeraRenuncia, "they said of the Federation of Students of the University of Chile.

In this scrambled scenario, where they rightly mix what they rightly claim as retirees, sick people who do not have bed in the hospital, young people who see that it does not not enough to study, those who do not know how to make ends meet or those that the pesos do not give to pay a metro for more than a dollar, with others taking advantage of the chaos to produce acts of looting. He is a soldier who showed wisdom on Monday morning.

The head of national defense, General Javier Iturriaga, said early in Piñera: "I am a happy man and the truth is, I am not at war with anyone." With that, he put the cold on the situation and presented a positive assessment of the operation of Santiago, the capital of the country, at the beginning of the day after the curfew was lifted at six in the morning. After flying over the city, the soldiers assured: "We are very satisfied with what we have seen. It is a slow awakening of the city, quiet, quiet, that we have of course very calm, but at the same time very vigilant to solve any inconvenience that may cause some misfits … we have all the strength necessary to anticipate any crisis situation. risk or a certain excess that may occur during the morning.

Then, around 4 pm, the army recalled when it was announced that Piñera would speak later and that the demonstrations would intensify.

"It is not appropriate to speculate on a sentence I said today in the morning. According to my remarks, there has never been a dual intention, "he said in a statement, claiming to understand" perfectly "his position and" the highest authority represented by the president ". He also announced a new curfew since the mobilizations of Santiago and several cities in the country that had not been appeased by the presence of the army on the streets.

Since the mobilizations began at the end of the last week, first with the increase of the value of the metro and the massive spontaneous escapes that this measurement has caused, the cacerolazos and the subsequent excesses, Many people, frightened and tired of seeing their environment destroyed, have decided to arm themselves and take care of their belongings and their private facilities. In this scenario, Iturriaga asked the people to "do not defend themselves. We are responsible for this protection and we strive to reach all corners of the city "despite the fact that the 8,700 uniforms deployed in the streets" were insufficient for the entire metropolitan area. There will always be acts of vandalism that we will surely reach more slowly, but we are doing everything in our power to give people peace of mind. "

At night, Piñera again spoke of the crisis in the country and announced Tuesday that he would meet the presidents of political parties from all sectors. "We hope to analyze tomorrow our ideas and those proposed by our parties, as well as those of the opposition.We are working on a reconstruction plan," said the president.

At the same time, he said that "sometimes I spoke loudly … I do it because I am outraged to see the damage and pain that this violence causes." He also announced a change of minister and a quick program to get out of the current chaos.

"Today, we are working on a set of measures to improve pension improvements, reduce the price of medicines, reduce waiting lists, improve the quality of health care and set up insurance. catastrophic to control costs. this represents the cost of drugs, "added Piñera without giving more details about these actions.

At the same time, Senate President Jaime Quintana has asked to resume dialogue with a view to a new constitution and that the political world will take care of "the deep pain of Chilean society".

In this sense, he referred to the previous bellicose statements of Piñera: "This is not the way. This is the moment when sensitivity returns to La Moneda, to govern and I believe that the president's expression was the farthest from that, govern, "Quintana said. He added that "what we have today are acts of violence, acts of vandalism, no doubt. And this must be firmly condemned. "In addition, the Senate leader said that" there is here an accumulation of a set of negligence, of political decisions probably wrong, surely for decades. "In this we must be just, we can not blame the government for all of this. "

Finally, consulted by the votes calling for the resignation of Piñera, Quintana was not controlled, assuring that "this country decided that President Piñera would govern".

Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has also called on the Piñera government to work with all sectors that help to calm the situation in which the country is located. Last week

The former president urged protesters to hold their protests peacefully after the announcement of the deaths of 11 people over the weekend.

"I urge the government to work with all sectors of society to find solutions that help calm the situation and try to address the grievances of the population in the interest of the nation", a- he declared.

He added that "it is essential that all acts causing injury and death, both by the authorities and by the demonstrators, be investigated independently, impartially and impartially. transparent ".

At the same time, he said that "the use of inflammatory rhetoric will only worsen the situation further and that there is a risk of generating fear in the population".

From La Moneda, the Minister of the Government, Cecilia Pérez, led a spokesperson where she addressed the various social events that have developed in the country in recent days.

In this regard, the Secretary of State said that no minister had submitted his resignation to President Piñera.

"No minister has put his position at the disposal of the president, because what suits us, as collaborators, is to work in our place, given what we live," he said. .

Asked about the government's assessment and self-criticism of the country's current situation, Pérez said that "criticism, self-criticism, we do it every day … It's a difference of attitude. It means we could do better every day, "he said.

The secretary of state, along with President and Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick, blamed the "organized groups" for the violence that affected the capital.

To understand the genesis of the situation in Chile, the first thing to do is to exclude that the social explosion – which has already claimed the lives of 11 people, the destruction and looting of hundreds of supermarkets and businesses and the loss of millions of dollars in damages to infrastructure – this is only due to the rise of the metro crossing. An analysis of Mercuryexplains the country's most influential right-wing newspaper: "In a scenario where political, judicial, military and religious institutions are implicated, a vandalism that attacks common property appears after the demonstrations." political fragmentation, without consensus on how to fight against violence ".

In the latest Citizen Peace poll released a few days ago, the carabineros had reached their lowest level since 2011. Just five months ago, another poll (UDD) showed that 81% of Chileans thought the institutions were in danger. crisis and revealed a weak assessment of political authorities, the judiciary and prosecutors, the business sector, armed institutions, police and churches. And perhaps the latter is, according to the different sectors, a characteristic that was previously essential. In times of social crisis, the Catholic Church had a predominant voice and assumed a role of guarantor against the demands of clusters in conflict. Today, despite his calls for peace, he is not a central actor.

While the government and parliament are trying to control the crisis with measures such as the freezing of public transport fares, while the armed forces and the police are trying to tidy up looting, it seems there should be no cross-cutting reflection on how to deal with the crisis and on the reforms underway. those who must be prioritized.

"The case of the metro is paradigmatic. Although the escape began after the increase in the rate of this means of transport, what happened later, with the fire of the stations and the destruction of its facilities, has not only resulted in a loss of a millionaire for the metropolitan area: translated into a sort of bulwark of Santiago's progress, which has spread in recent years in different municipalities, is virtually unusable and leaves thousands of Chileans without one of their means of transport essential to life in the city. This "sore", which will be difficult to recover, means that neighbors begin to react to defend affected areas, to go to the streets and clean up severely damaged areas.

Moreover, the riots recorded in Chile this weekend are harming the image of stability of the country, he said. L & # 39; economist

"The practices that promote prosperity are not popular," said the British publication in a report that said the facts had upset the business model.

"The violence has affected many Chileans. His country is one of the most prosperous and peaceful in South America. He has now suffered the kind of turmoil that has recently occurred in Ecuador, a much poorer country, when his government raised fuel prices to comply with the terms of an agreement with the IMF (it also gave way) ", did he declare.

L & # 39; economist He points out that Chileans "are not only angry at the cost of transport. They pay a lot for the health system and usually have to wait a long time to see a doctor. Public education is poor. Pensions, managed by private enterprises according to a system established by the Pinochet regime, are low. Growing inequality fuels anger. In 2017, the income of the richest decile was 39.1 times higher than that of the poorest decile, according to a survey by the Department of Social Development.

"Until now, Piñera has failed to generate a notable economic momentum, one of its key campaign promises. Annual growth was only 1.9% in the second quarter of 2019. With no majority at Congress. Piñera has been slow to implement pension and tax reforms, giving the government an ineffective aspect, "he said. L & # 39; economist.

British media recall that Chile will soon host the Apec Summit and COP25, for which Chile "has shown a stronghold of stability in South America. Piñera does not have a lot of time to convince the dignitaries that this is still true. "

As a corollary of the day, the right-wing mayor of Santiago, Felipe Alessandri, asked the government to establish a "cabinet of union with other political forces" in order to deal with the current situation in the country after massive protests against social rights.

On channel 13, the mayor invited President Sebastián Piñera to modify the ministries. "The current cabinet, when we come out of this crisis, must make its costs available," he said.

"In the face of an extreme situation like the one we are experiencing today – the country is another – we need extreme measures," he added.

Until last night, they were under curfew in the metropolitan area, Antofagasta, Copiapó, Caldera, Vallenar, La Serena and Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Rancagua, Talca, Concepcion, Valdivia, Osorno and Puerto Montt.