Piñera is excused and announced a set of improvements – News

Chile experienced a fifth consecutive day of chaos on Tuesday, with long battles between security forces and protesters, looting of shops and mass demonstrations, forcing President Sebastián Piñera to "apologize" and announce a program of "social change". "to stop a social explosion that left 15 dead, hundreds wounded and more than a thousand inmates.

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Crisis in Chile: announcements of President Sebastián Piñera. Electricity rates will have a stabilization mechanism to cancel the increases. He proposes an increase in taxes for those who earn the most and a sharp reduction in political spending. pic.twitter.com/lLS4jEPSZo

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The panorama of violence and repression has been restored in downtown Santiago and other cities in the interior of the country, such as Concepción and Valparaíso, in the midst of the militarization of public spaces unpublished since the dictatorship Augustus. Pinochet

While the riots dominated the streets of the Chilean capital, Piñera received at the headquarters of the heads of government of the political parties of the ruling alliance and the opposition, to analyze the measures to train the demonstrators, which require improvements in health services, education and income distribution.

The head of state has heard demands that the army be removed from the streets and put an end to the state declared exception in the midst of the social outburst, a- he admitted tonight in a message to the country but said that he would not do it for the moment.

Instead, he announced a set of better pay and better rates as part of a "social agenda of national unity" with which he seeks to turn off demonstrations.

Piñera announced the creation of a minimum salary equivalent to $ 481 per month, a 20% increase for pension funds, the cancellation of the recent 9.2% increase in electricity rates and the increase Taxes of people earning more than $ 11,000 per month, among other measures.

"I recognize this lack of vision and I apologize to my compatriots," said the president in his speech, in which he stressed his concern about the restoration of order and "return to normal".

Several left-wing and center-left organizations have preferred not to attend the meeting convened by the president, who declared Monday in another speech in favor of reducing drug prices and implementing measures. to improve health and education systems.

Meanwhile, a central corner of Santiago was yesterday the real battlefield on which protesters and security forces clashed for more than two hours.

The riots erupted at one of the ends of the iconic Plaza Italia, scene of historical mobilizations in Santiago, where thousands of people rallied to express their protests.

Although the majority of protesters remained peaceful, groups of people were seen running to escape the clouds of smoke from the tear gas canisters fired by security agents, who were acting in a protected manner. behind several armored tanks.

Groups of protesters challenged the use of force and confronted the police with stones or simply raised their arms in front of the tanks, which were sometimes surrounded by two groups of demonstrators.

According to the latest official report, 15 people died in the five days following the social episode, 11 were burned in the middle of vandalism or looting and the other four due to repression by the armed forces or security.

Three of those killed by the crackdown were hit by bullets fired by security guards and another by a navy truck in Talcahuano, a town near Concepción, about 500 km south of the capital, reported the agency EFE.

The riots also left hundreds of injured (at least 88 bullets) and 2,643 detainees.

The wave of violence led the government to first declare the state of emergency throughout the country, then the curfew in several cities, in a context in which Piñera ended up saying that Chile was "at war with a powerful and implacable enemy" whose origin and objectives it has not identified.