Chile unrest spreads, with 12 deaths reported in violence

The Chilean capital was virtually paralysed on Monday as streets were blocked by protesters out for the fourth day in a row, subway stations that were ransacked remained shut, and stores, banks and schools were also shuttered.

>>Pascale Bonnefoy and Clifford KraussThe New York Times
Published : 22 Oct 2019, 08:49 AM
Updated : 22 Oct 2019, 08:49 AM

The government sent out 10,500 soldiers and police officers to patrol the streets and calm protests that left at least 12 people dead.

The authorities tried to get the capital moving again by clearing debris and deploying hundreds of buses. But they could not stop clashes between demonstrators and police, and most workers stayed home.

The protests, which started over a small increase in transportation costs, have gained momentum and grown into an expression of deep anger that despite economic growth, wages have remained stagnant and people’s lives have not improved.

Over the weekend, the situation escalated into Chile’s most serious political crisis since the country’s return to democracy in 1990 following the 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

President Sebastián Piñera, one of the nation’s wealthiest businessmen, appeared rattled on Friday night as he deployed the army around the capital and imposed a state of emergency that he later extended to other Chilean cities.

“We are at war against a powerful enemy, who is willing to use violence without any limits,” he said in a televised address from the Chilean army’s headquarters in Santiago.

He blamed organised criminal groups for the violence.

The president’s remarks were widely viewed as incendiary, and on Monday, Gen. Javier Iturriaga, the national defence chief, who is also in charge of security around the Santiago metropolitan area, distanced himself from them.

“I’m not at war with anybody,” Iturriaga said.

Piñera took to the airwaves Monday evening, telling his fellow citizens in a speech that he had been speaking with leaders of congress, mayors and others.

On Tuesday, he said, he will meet with political leaders, including members of the opposition, “to explore and advance toward a social agreement that may bring us closer to better solutions to the problems faced by Chileans.”

“This is the first step of a long road,” Piñera said.

The demonstrations started over a subway fare increase two weeks ago, which Piñera canceled on Saturday night. But his move failed to quell the wave of demonstrations, and on Monday protesters returned to the streets in defiance of the military.

“Everything has to burn,” said Alexis Toro, a 24-year-old student on his way to a demonstration on Monday. “The president announced he would wage war on the people, so he is getting his war.”

Army troops guarded subway stations after many were ransacked or burned.

Chile had been a model of stability in the region for decades, with a solid economy and political parties of the centre-left and the right alternating power through peaceful elections.

But in recent years, reduced demand for Chilean copper, rising oil prices and a stronger dollar have led to lower economic growth. Coupled with a deeply unequal distribution of wealth, this has resulted in growing disaffection.

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a socialist and now the UN human rights chief, released a statement on Monday calling for a “profound examination of the wide range of socio-economic issues underlying the current crisis.”

Three people were killed in fires at supermarkets that were looted on Sunday, and another five people were found dead in a warehouse that had been burned, said government officials. In addition to the three people who died on Saturday, a man was run over by a navy truck.

That brought the total number of deaths over the weekend and on Monday to 12.

The interior minister, Andrés Chadwick, said Sunday that nearly 1,500 people had been arrested.

The National Institute for Human Rights said on Monday that 88 people had been shot. The institute has filed 12 legal cases accusing the police and the army of torture and excessive use of force. The police were also accused of forcing women they arrested to strip naked in police stations.

After violent skirmishes on Sunday between demonstrators and the police filled Santiago’s Plaza Baquedano, a central landmark, an even more massive — but peaceful — demonstration assembled there on Monday. And thousands of demonstrators gathered again on Monday in Ñuñoa, a middle-class neighborhood, for the second day in a row.

Violent protests broke out in Santiago, as well as Valparaiso, Concepción and other cities, in some cases filling the streets with tear gas. Molotov cocktails exploded around the Court of Appeals in Concepción, south of the capital, and the slogan “We are no longer afraid” was painted in the city’s streets.

Fearing shortages, many people waited in long lines outside stores and gasoline stations.

The disturbances led at least two airlines to cancel or reschedule flights into Santiago. About 5,000 people were forced to stay overnight in the airport on Sunday because of canceled flights or suspensions of public transit into the city.

Transportation authorities said damages to the Santiago subway system would cost up to $300 million to repair.

The government imposed a curfew in Santiago for Monday night — the third night in a row.

© 2019 New York Times News Service