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Union claims plot to privatize is behind contract workers’ strike

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago for June 8. See orignal here. Codelco is the Corporación Nacional del Cobre, the state-owned National Copper Corporation; the El Teniente division of Codelco, about 80 kilometers south of Santiago, works the largest underground copper mine in the world.]

by Claudia Rivas Arenas

“A political conspiracy” to weaken Codelco is the charge leveled on Wednesday by the Federación de Trabajadores del Cobre [Federation of Copper Workers] of the El Teniente division, which has been on shut-down for five days, resulting in a loss to the country so far of 50 million dollars.

The workers travelled to the National Congress to seek the backing of Senators Juan Pablo Letelier (Partido Socialista) and Guido Girardi (Partido por la Democracia), who criticized the administration harshly for its role in the conflict and because, they assert, neither the Minister of Mining, Laurence Goldborne, nor the Minister of Labor, Evelyn Matthei, has attempted to solve the problem. (more…)

[Translation of an essay from Generacción of Lima for June 8. See original here and related article here.]

by José Suárez Danós

Once the democratic triumph of Ollanta Humala as president elect of Peru was known, even before the official vote count was finished, the first thing heard in national and international circles was the unhappiness over his win felt by the transnational forces of the defeated neoliberal system. And what better way to express it than to sound the bugles of war for their hostility and vexation over the interruption of 20 continuous years of unhampered feudal exploitation of the Peruvian economy.

With the goal of suggesting that real political power in Peru still rests with “The System,” and that they intend it to be so, they have taken it upon themselves to send early messages, both open and veiled, through diverse entities and members of their economic, political and media clergy on the continent.

These have ranged from the fierce measure of bringing down by force their own stock market, the Bolsa de Valores of Lima, and the country’s macro-economic indicators the day after Humala’s win, to bringing in a media chorus of news agencies who predict “great fluctuations” in the economy because of his indisputable electoral success, which would continue until a stangely alluded political “stabilization” was achieved. (more…)

[Translations of two articles from El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, for June 2. See originals here and here and related article here.]

Piñera’s approval rating falls to historical low

According to the Adimark poll for the month of May, President Sebastián Piñera and his administration are receiving the lowest level of citizen support since the right returned to power. And this in a period marked by citizen movements in opposition to the HidroAysén mega-project, student marches and the state of the union address of May 21.

According to the poll, 36 percent approve of the president’s performance, that is, five points less than in the Adimark poll for April. Disapproval, meanwhile, stands at 56 percent, seven points higher than in the previous poll. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El País of Madrid, Spain, for May 19. See original here. Ricardo Lagos was president of Chile from 2000 to 2006.]

By Ricardo Lagos

Since the second world war, growth of the gross national product has become practically universal as a standard economic measure, which has in turn become the final object of development policies. There is a history here; since the industrial revolution it has been thought that an increase in production of goods would bring with it greater well-being and better living conditions for the members of a society. Nevertheless, today for the first time we can verify that in the 30 richest countries of the world, growth of the economy does not account for the realities of a society. It does not necessarity imply an improvement in the social indicators of health and education.

Great advances have been made in the reduction of poverty in Mexico, Brazil and Chile. (more…)