Chile - Protests & Demonstrations

Wednesday, 23 October through Thursday, 31 October 2019

I was going to make this my first post on Chile, but it seems more appropriate to conclude with it.

A few days before we left for Chile, the country erupted into civil unrest. The tipping point was a 3% increase in subway fares in Santiago. The extremely wealthy president (Piñera) is very unpopular, and while Chile is the wealthiest country in Latin America, it has the highest economic inequality (and that says something in a region beset by inequalities bred in colonization). In a few places, notably Santiago and Valparaiso, demonstrations devolved into rioting and looting. Most of the demonstrations we saw were vigorous but non-violent. Most participants were carrying a pot and spoon to beat out the protest beat: da-da-dadada-

Much of the damage was broken windows and advertising displays.

Broken windows on the upper floors of an office building in Santiago.

Most of the grafitti pertained to removing Piñera from office, but the "recipe" for gunpowder was seen occasionally.

Another "violent" graffiti in Santiago.

In the evening many fires were set in the streets. This one was visible from our hotel's 8th-floor restaurant.

Amazingly, in the early morning, many of the protesters came out with brooms and trash bags and cleaned up the mess from the night before. Streets and sidewalks were generally clean by 8 AM.

The nurses' union in a lunch-time protest walk in Santiago.

A peaceful march in Vicuña, showing both whole families walking together, and the protest beat.

Another peaceful march, this time in Antofagasta.

The march in Antofagasta lasted about 6 hours (3 PM to 9 PM), as the protesters walked all around the town. Here they were walking past our hotel.

Even in remote and calm San Pedro the municipal workers were in solidarity with protests throughout Chile. Like most of what we saw, they state emphatically, "No estamos en guerra" ("We are not at war") in contradiction of President Piñera's pronouncement.

As I write this post, protests continue, especially in Santiago and Valparaiso.