2019–2020 Chilean protests


Civil protests have taken place throughout Chile in response to a raise in the Santiago Metro's subway fare, the increased cost of living, privatisation and inequality prevalent in the country.
The protests began in Chile's capital, Santiago, as a coordinated fare evasion campaign by secondary school students which led to spontaneous takeovers of the city's main train stations and open confrontations with the Carabineros de Chile. On 18 October, the situation escalated as a group of people began vandalizing city's infrastructure; seizing, vandalizing, and burning down many stations of the Santiago Metro network and disabling them with extensive infrastructure damage, and for a time causing the cessation of the network in its entirety. 81 stations have sustained major damage, including 17 burned down. On the same day, President of Chile Sebastián Piñera announced a state of emergency, authorizing the deployment of Chilean Army forces across the main regions to enforce order and prevent the destruction of public property, and invoked before the courts the Ley de Seguridad del Estado against dozens of detainees. A curfew was declared on 19 October in the Greater Santiago area.
In the following days, protests and riots have expanded to other Chilean cities, including Concepción, San Antonio, and Valparaíso. The state of emergency was extended to the Concepción Province, all Valparaíso Region and the cities of Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Iquique, La Serena, Rancagua, Valdivia, Osorno, and Puerto Montt. The protests have been considered the "worst civil unrest" having occurred in Chile since the end of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship due to the scale of damage to public infrastructure, the number of protesters, and the measures taken by the government.
On 25 October, over a million people took to the streets throughout Chile to protest against President Piñera, demanding his resignation. As of 28 December 29 people have died, nearly 2,500 have been injured, and 2,840 have been arrested. Human rights organisations have received several reports of violations conducted against protesters by security forces, including torture, sexual abuse and sexual assault.
On 28 October, President Piñera changed eight ministries of his cabinet in response to the unrest, dismissing his Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick. On 15 November, the National Congress signed an agreement to call a national referendum in April 2020 regarding the creation of a new constitution. The referendum was later rescheduled from 26 April to 25 October 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile.

Core issues

Transport fares

The price of public transport in Greater Santiago is determined by the Panel of Public Transport Experts, which uses an automatic calculation formula to adjust fares on a monthly basis. The Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications is advised by the panel and must be notified of any price changes.
On 1 October 2019, the Panel determined the quarterly adjustment of fares for the public transport system of the Province of Santiago and the communes of San Bernardo and Puente Alto. They decided that a fare hike of 10 Chilean pesos for buses and 30 pesos for the Santiago Metro and Metrotrén at peak hours, as well as a fare decrease of 30 pesos at off-peak hours, was necessary. The increase was justified by the panel due to increase of the rate index, which is subject to variations in the value of fuel, the value of the US dollar, the value of the euro, the cost of labor, and the consumer price index among other variables, such that the costs to the subway have risen. The fare change was scheduled to take effect from 6 October.
Some specialists, such as former Minister Paola Tapia, have indicated that there are other factors that explain the rise. Among these factors would be the purchase without tender of a new fleet of electric buses for the Metropolitan Mobility Network and the suspension of the new tender for bus services, both decisions made by the administration of Minister Gloria Hutt.
In addition, there is criticism that rail transit fares in Santiago are the second highest in Latin America. In relative terms, the average monthly cost per person for the city's public transport is equivalent to 13.8% of the minimum wage, well above other cities such as Buenos Aires, Mexico City or Lima, where it does not exceed 10%.

Inequality and cost of living

According to Jose Miguel Ahumada, a political economist and associate professor at the University of Chile, the country is "one of the most unequal countries in Latin America". As described by The Washington Post, while the last three decades of neoliberal policies made Chile "one of South America’s wealthiest countries, with inflation under control and easy access to credit", they also "created stark economic disparities and strapped many Chileans into debt". The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean states, that 1% of the population in Chile controls 26.5% of the country's wealth, while 50% of low-income households access 2.1%. Additionally, according to National Statistics Institute of Chile, while the minimum wage in Chile is 301,000 pesos, half of the workers in that country receive a salary equal to or less than 400,000 pesos.
Protesters interviewed by Reuters said they were struggling to make ends meet because of the high costs of part-privatized education and health systems, rents and utilities, and a privatized pension system has been widely rejected by Chileans because of its low and often delayed payouts.

October 2019 protests

The protests began on Monday, 7 October, as secondary-school students began an orchestrated campaign of fare dodging on the Santiago Metro. In response, the Metro authority began controlling access to several stations.
Under the slogan ¡Evade!, the fare-dodging campaign continued and grew over the remainder of that week and into the next. On Monday, 14 October, several stations on Line 5 were closed in the afternoon after violent incidents were reported.
On 15 October, a major clash between students and police occurred at Santa Ana station and four arrests were made; in the afternoon, a group of protesters kicked down a metal gate at Plaza de Armas station in downtown Santiago, and
stations on Lines 1, 3 and 5 were closed to passengers as security was stepped up.
Confrontations continued and expanded over the following days, with turnstiles and ticket machines being destroyed at San Joaquín station on 17 October and four stations closed in the evening. At that time, 133 arrests had been made and damage to Metro infrastructure was estimated at up to 500 million pesos.
On Friday, 18 October, the situation escalated as protests unfolded in downtown Santiago. Barricades were built, to which the police responded with water cannon and tear gas. The entire Metro system was closed after attacks were reported at nearly all its 164 stations, forcing many passengers to walk home. The headquarters building of electricity company Enel Generación Chile was damaged in a fire which affected its emergency exit stairwell.
A major event that galvanized the day's movement was related to Sebastián Piñera himself. At approximately 21:00 hours on 18 October, while riots and open battles swept the capital, the President was away from La Moneda Palace, busy attending the birthday of one of his grandchildren. The celebration took place at a restaurant named Romaría, an expensive pizza parlour in the northern district of Vitacura, one of Santiago's wealthiest. An unidentified customer who happened to be inside took photographs and posted them anonymously on Twitter, showing a relaxed Piñera eating inside and his private escort convoy sitting outside the building.
Piñera later addressed the nation and announced a 15-day state of emergency in the capital, allowing the armed forces to patrol the city alongside the Carabineros, Chile's militarized national police force.
The violence continued on 19 October and the Metro remained closed to passengers. Shops were looted, buses were set alight and clashes occurred between demonstrators and the security forces. A curfew was imposed between 22:00 and 07:00 hours. As rioting spread to other parts of the country, states of emergency were declared in the Valparaíso Region and Concepción Province. In an address to the nation in the evening, President Piñera announced the cancellation of the fare increase and the establishment of a dialogue panel, with representatives from across society, to discuss the underlying causes behind the unrest.
on 22 October
On 20 October, many supermarkets, shopping malls and cinemas remained closed as the protests continued.
Curfews were imposed for that night in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, and the regions of Valparaíso, Biobío, and Coquimbo; as the curfew began in Santiago, many protesters remained on the street.
Local authorities also announced the closure of schools on 21 October in 43 of the 52 communes of the Metropolitan Region and across the province of Concepción.
President Piñera again addressed the nation on the evening of 20 October. In his remarks, he said the country was "at war with a powerful and implacable enemy" and announced that the state of emergency, already in effect in the Metropolitan Region and the regions of Valparaíso, Biobío, Coquimbo and O’Higgins, would be extended to the regions of Antofagasta, Maule, Los Ríos, and Magallanes. Some opposition politicians described his rhetoric as "irresponsible", while a Latin America editor for BBC News Online expressed concern about the impact his words would have on the protesters and on the chances for meaningful dialogue. Hours shortly after the President's speech, chief of national defense Javier Iturriaga del Campo spoke against this declaration, asserting that he was "content" and "not at war with anyone".
Some incidents of unrest were reported on 21 October in Santiago, Concepción, and other cities. The Santiago Metro remained closed, except for a portion of Line 1, as did all the nation's universities and institutes of higher education. The intendant of the Metropolitan Region announced that schools would remain closed on 22 October in 48 of the region's communes. Michelle Bachelet, a former President of Chile now serving as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a call for open, sincere and immediate dialogue and warned that "the use of inflammatory rhetoric will only serve to further aggravate the situation".
On 25 October, over a million people took to the streets in Santiago, and thousands more throughout Chile, to protest against President Piñera, demanding his resignation.
As of 26 October 19 people have died, nearly 2,500 have been injured, and 2,840 have been arrested.
On 27 October, President Piñera requested all of his cabinet ministers to resign; however, he accepted 8 resignations, including the Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick.
According to Bloomberg, the protests are the worst civil unrest having occurred in Chile since the end of Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship due to of the scale of damage to public infrastructure, the number of protesters, and the measures taken by the government.

2020 protests

On 6 January 2020, university entrance exams to be taken by 300,000 students around Chile were disrupted by protests over inequality and elitism, with some students blocking access to test sites and burning exam papers.
At the end of January 2020, the social rebellion resumed again with large demonstrations. The protests were catalysed by incidents such as the death of Jorge Mora, struck by a Carabinero vehicle after a football match. As of February 2020, an estimated 36 protestors had died. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced the violence of the police and announced that between 18 October and 6 December 2019, 28,000 people had been imprisoned. The Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos reported at the end of January 2020 that 427 persons had received eye injuries at the hands of the police. The INDH also recorded 697 attacks on lone civilians by state actors between the start of the protests in October and 31 January. Of these, 123 attacks were by Carabineros.

COVID-19 pandemic

The protests had to come to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the establishment of several partial lockdowns in Santiago and other cities. Taking advantage of the situation, government agencies erased most of the graffiti and street art in downtown Santiago that was drawn during the protests. On 3 April, President Sebastián Piñera visited an empty Plaza Italia and took some pictures in it, which was considered by many as a way of teasing the protesters under quarantine. Piñera later regretted the situation and mentioned that he was "misinterpreted". Despite the lockdown, some protests appeared during International Workers' Day in Santiago that resulted in the arrest of 57 people by Carabineros. Detained members of the international press were later released without charge. Similar incidents were reported in the port city of Valparaíso.

Incidents and casualties

During the protests 36 people have died as of February 2020, and thousands have been injured and arrested. Amnesty International has received hundreds of complaints about serious human rights violations that range from excessive use of force to torture, illegal raids and arbitrary detention. Similar allegations have been received by Chile's National Institute for Human Rights, which also included reports of sexual violence.

Deaths

According to the National Institute of Human Rights, the use of rubber pellets by security forces has left at least 964 injured, including 222 with eye problems. According to the Chilean Ophthalmology Society, this is the highest number of injuries of this type registered during protests or in conflict zones in the world. Bandaged eyes had become so common that they become a symbol for protesters.
Human rights organisations have received several reports of violations conducted against protesters, including torture, sexual abuse and rape. Amnesty International's investigations "allege that state security forces, including both the police and army, deliberately use excessive force against protesters." Amnesty International went on to state that " are using unnecessary and excessive force with the intention of injuring and punishing protesters." According to Erika Guevara-Rosas, the America's director for the human rights group, "the intention of the Chilean security forces is clear: to injure demonstrators in order to discourage protest." Human Rights Watch stated that "indiscriminate and improper use of riot guns and shotguns, abuse of detainees in custody, and poor internal accountability systems gave rise to serious violations of the rights of many Chileans".

Other incidents

In late November, security forces announced the suspension of the use of rubber pellets as a crowd control method in the protests.

Reactions

International reactions

NGOs

and Amnesty International both expressed concern over the government's response to the protests, citing "excessive use of force" by Chile's Carabineros, as well as "possible arbitrary detentions of demonstrators".

Solidarity protests

In New Zealand's largest city Auckland, hundreds of protesters staged a solidarity march on 27 October 2019.

Others

Polish party Lewica Razem issued official statement strongly supporting protests.