From the barricades of Plaza Italia to the polls, the day before the vote in Chile from the zero point of the demonstrations | International

Tear gas and the water launch car returned on Friday afternoon to the area of ​​Plaza Italia, the nerve center of social protests in October 2019 against the economic model of one of the most unequal countries in the world. OECD and which have been marked by serious acts of violence, such as looting and burning of metro stations, buildings and businesses.

In the midst of a crisis that seemed hopeless, the political class agreed on an institutional way to respond to citizens’ demands, which triggered a plebiscite in which nearly 80% of the population decided to put end to the Constitution imposed under the dictatorship of Augustus. Pinochet, through a body that will be composed of 155 people, with gender parity and 17 positions guaranteed for representatives of indigenous peoples. All will be elected this Saturday and Sunday in a mega election, where the Chileans will also elect their municipal authorities and, for the first time, the highest authority in their region.

But, unlike October 2019 or on the eve of the plebiscite, there are no more than 150 people there, demonstrating peacefully in support of the Palestinian people.

Chile prepares to create a new constitution

There are no streets full of demonstrators or barricades, there are no hooded men and the statue of General Manuel Baquedano has not been vandalized. This is the opposite of the image of a demonstration in the area. This time it is just people waving flags, and the use of tear gas and water nozzles by special forces is – in the opinion of the protesters – completely disproportionate.

Instead is Nicole Kramm, photographer and documentary maker, who captures images. For her, it’s not just any day. This Friday marked his return to a neighborhood where he lived during the demonstrations of the social epidemic, where he kept a daily record of the mobilizations, which ended abruptly on December 31, 2019, when he was shot in his right eye. by officers of the Carabineros Special Forces, which caused him the permanent loss of his vision and which, for months, made him believe that his career had been cut short.

Nicole says she had not returned to the industry since October 2020, on the eve of the plebiscite. Being there always scares him. “It’s difficult for me to go downtown. I have been in therapy for over a year and I know that I am progressing, but it will never be the same again, ”he admits.

Although he sees with “suspicion and mistrust” the constituent process indicates that it will vote “so that the same, as always, do not come out”. “Although the epidemic has conditioned this new Constitution and there are now votes, they guarantee absolutely nothing, because if we demobilize, they will fuck us,” he said.

Strolling through Plaza Italia is to see the vestiges of what was a mobilization that put institutionality in check. The buildings maintain the improvised metal protections, several stores have been closed for months. Some restaurants have slowly started to open, amid the easing of restrictions in the wake of covid-19, where although the pandemic remains out of control, the conservative government of Sebastián Piñera has highlighted the progress of the vaccination plan, where 7.4 million people have completed their immunization schedules, which is equivalent to half of the target population.

Going west, it is possible to see the ruins of the Church of San Francisco de Borja, belonging to the Carabineros, and which was completely set on fire to commemorate the first anniversary of the social epidemic. A few more steps to the west, the walls of the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center (GAM) begin to appear, containing hundreds of slogans and street art exhibits.

Kevin Villalobos is at the scene walking with his partner, Paula. “I came almost every Friday and I have many memories. On the one hand, there were people who protested peacefully with posters, batucadas, and on the other, those who defended this mobilization of pacos (as the Chileans call the carabineros), who tried at all times to evacuate. The area. », He remembers.

“I am quite suspicious of the process, which was an agreement of the political class for the political class. In any case, I will vote, because even if I am wary of myself, I want to take advantage of the minimum tool I have, which is the vote, to try to change things so that they are not always the same Says Kevin, 22, who until before the pandemic worked as a bartender and is now unemployed.

A few blocks south is Fabian, 51, who sells books on the streets. A field in which he embarked on five years ago, after being unemployed. Unlike Nicole and Kevin, Fabián saw the epidemic as a “mere spectator” which, he admits, causes him embarrassment. “I’m very critical of the system, but I haven’t done anything to change it. Instead, these young goats, because it was born out of a young spontaneity, are doing it, ”he says from his informal bookstore. Regarding the vote, he assures us that yes or yes he will go this Sunday.

But Plaza Italia is also a place of contrasts and for decades it has been seen as a symbolic border between the upper and lower classes. Although these boundaries have been blurred, it is enough to move only a few meters from the zero zone of the protests to start to see changes: Providencia begins in the east and the presence of green spaces increases considerably and several of the damage caused during the protests has been repaired. We see people walking dogs or playing sports, others sitting in local bars, and old people watching the afternoon’s progress in front of their eyes.

Nélida Rojas is 75 years old and is determined to go and vote, even if she admits that she still does not understand very well the role that the governors will play, because the regional leaders, elected by the citizens, will be called: “I will vote. because otherwise, no, I will have the right to claim. I am interested in that if the most appropriate, the most serious and the least profitable come out ”. Norma, her sister, who accompanies her in the park, explains that she will be absent from the vote this time: she is 79 years old and her polling station is too far away.

A few meters to the south, another elderly woman categorically excludes speaking to this medium: “How am I going to give you my name, which lends itself to scams,” she said.

The unknown of participation

“The electoral environment has deflated,” said Marta Lagos, director of Latinobarómetro, Latin America’s largest pollster. The economista reported that el jueves, horas antes de la mega elección, fue a la Vega, uno de los main mercados in the capital, donde aprovechó de conversar y “encuestar” a las personas, algo que suele hacer cada vez que está en la street.

Lagos says she came out worried: most of the people she spoke to told her she certainly wouldn’t vote. A figure that correlates with a poll carried out in April by Latinobarómetro – which was never released due to the postponement of the elections until May – and which showed that 60% of those polled were unclear on what for they would vote. the election.

“For the most important election in recent years, a low turnout would be a defeat. God willing me to be wrong and there to be a high vote, ”says Lagos, who attributes the“ lack of environment ”to quarantines, suspension of campaigns after postponement of elections, lack of information on the process and its importance, among other factors.

Misinformation about the process is one aspect that the candidates themselves have had to contend with. Claudia Pizarro is seeking re-election for a new term as mayor of La Pintana, a town on the outskirts of the capital, one where the internet connection remains unstable and where there are barely two bank branches for 190,000 inhabitants, on the other hand higher income municipalities, where banks are around the corner. This campaign, he says, was special not only because they weren’t able to speak face to face with people, due to the quarantines, but a good chunk of the conversations focused on the explanation. of what is voted and what is happening. bet with the result of this Sunday.

“Chile will not change as we wish with the sole election of mayors. Chile will start to change the day we have a new constitution, ”he assures us.

For Marcela Ríos, Area Governance Coordinator at the UNDP Chile office, the election on Saturday and Sunday is “perhaps the most difficult to predict” amid the quarantines and lack of information campaigns on the process. .

However, he warns that “beyond official information, it is likely that many citizens have met candidates at the fair or in the square. The territorial part can have an effect that is not so obvious to the media and the elites, and we might be surprised ”.

To this, says Ríos, we must not forget that the plebiscite of October 2020 recorded the highest citizen participation since the entry into force of the voluntary vote in Chile, which is explained by the increase of 20 points of the participation of voters under the age of 30, who are the ones who mostly took to the streets in 2019.