Rioting, arson attacks and violent clashes wracked Chile for a fifth day on Tuesday, as the government raised the death toll to 15 in an upheaval that has almost paralyzed the South American country long seen as the region’s oasis of stability.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Tuesday night announced a program calling for modest boosts to the lowest incomes and increased taxes on the wealthiest as he sought to calm anger in the streets.
About half of Chile’s 16 regions remained under an emergency decree and some were a under military curfew, the first — other than for natural disasters — imposed since the country returned to democracy in 1990 following a bloody 17-year dictatorship.
Photo: AFP
Unrest sparked last week when a relatively minor, less-than-4 percent rise in subway fares led to students jumping station turnstiles in protest.
The defiance exploded into violence on Friday with demonstrators setting fire to subway stations, buses and a high-rise building.
Demonstrations escalated with wide-ranging demands for improvements in education, healthcare and wages, and spread nationwide, fueled by frustration among many Chileans who feel they have not shared in the economic advances in one of Latin America’s wealthiest nations.
Photo: AFP
“I fight so that all that will end and so that all of us will have something fair,” said Jose Tomas Lopez, a cook.
He said he took to the streets “because I’ve seen how my mother lives, with a salary of not more than [US$700 a month] to maintain my three siblings, and I know her debts and all her efforts to meet them.”
Riot police on Tuesday used tear gas and water cannons to break up marches by rock-throwing demonstrators in several parts of Santiago, while soldiers and police guarded other Chileans who formed long lines at supermarkets.
“I’ve walked several kilometers searching for milk, but the supermarkets remain closed and neighborhood stores have run out,” retiree Carmen Fuentealba said.
Many stores, subway stations and banks were burned, damaged or looted during protests over the weekend, and some people have reported problems getting cash at ATMs.
Long lines of cars also continued to snake from gas stations as drivers worried about supplies in a country that imports nearly all its gasoline.
“People are desperate,” gas station attendant Jacqueline Zuniga said. “They think the gasoline, the petroleum is going to end, and they keep filling and filling their tanks... This has all led to aggressiveness.”
Marta Lagos, director of the polling firm Latinobarometro, said problems have accumulated over at least the last four governments, which were of both the left and right.
Officials can argue “that we have reduced poverty, that there’s no inflation these days, that the economy is controlled, etcetera, etcetera,” Lagos said. “And all those arguments mean nothing to the people who can’t make it to the end of the month.”
Pinera on Tuesday met with members of his administration and three of the six main opposition leaders to explore a “social agreement” on solving “the problems that affect Chileans.”
Hours later, Pinera announced an agenda calling for increasing the lowest monthly pensions from US$151 to US$181, raising the monthly minimum wage from US$413 to US$481 and rescinding a 92 percent rise in electricity rates scheduled to take effect next month. It would also include a tax increase for anyone earning more than US$11,000 a month.
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