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"The struggle belongs to the whole society. All for free education."

[Translations of three articles from August 5, the first from La Tercera, the second and third from El Mostrador. Both publications are in Santiago, Chile. See originals here, here and here and related articles here.]

Government confirms 874 arrested in student protests and 90 police injured

Government spokesman Andrés Chadwick confirmed this morning that the nation-wide total of persons detained in the student march yesterday was 874 and that there are “more than 90 injured police officers.” He further added that the demonstrators’ constitutional right to assemble was not violated since it “depends on a request” and this was denied by local authorities…

In response to student claims concerning violation of the right of assembly, Chadwick declared that “the constitutional right to assemble is subject to a request, to authorization, when it is to occur in a public place, and that has to be submitted to the local authorities and the local authorities determine the place where the right will be exercised.” (more…)

El Mostrador photo

Demonstration in capital draws 50,000

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago for July 14. See original here and related articles here, here and here.]

According to early counts, more than 50,000 people gathered in the center of the capital city on Thursday [July 14] for another march called by the Colegio de Profesores and the Confederación de Estudiantes Universitarios (Confech) to oppose proposals on university funding offered by the executive and to insist on ending profit making in education.

Although the city government had not authorized the demonstration to gather in the Plaza Italia area, it was from there that the column of people, carrying signs and poster, began to move west on the Alameda. (more…)

One-day stoppage falls on 40th anniversary of nationalization law

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, for July 11. See original here.]

Workers in Codelco [Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile – National Copper Corporation of Chile] began a 24-hour strike this morning as a warning against the eventual privatization of the mining company.

Some 15,000 regular workers and another 30,000 contract workers are called on to participate in the strike, which the company says will entail a loss of 41 million dollars.

The president of the Federación de Trabajadores del Cobre [Federation of Copper Workers], Raimundo Espinoza, said on the 24 Horas television channel, “We have in effect a complete shutdown of Codelco; there is no production. After 24 hours we will go back into production, because this strike is a warning in the face of questions we have already presented to Codelco, in the face of the question of privatization, of the participation of this government, which has invested a minimum level of resources into the company.”

According to the leader, the stoppage includes the Chuquicamata, Andina, Teniente, Ventanas and El Salvador divisions and the central office.

“We are undertaking this stoppage because we have concrete evidence of an effort not just by Codelco but by the government to begin a secret privatization of this great state enterprise. We are going to make a presentation to the comptroller and we sent letters to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies and to the presidents of all the political parties, giving them background on our vision of the company,” he said.

In an interview with Radio Cooperativa, the leader asserted that they will send information on this “secret privatization” to the comptroller general of the republic and to Congress.

The mobilization coincides with the 40th anniversary of the law nationalizing copper that led to the founding of Codelco. The enterprise has decided to postpone celebrating the anniversary.

[Translations of two articles, the first from La Jornada of Mexico City, the second from El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, both from July 1.  See originals here and here and related articles here.]

Hundreds of thousands of students demand education reforms
Confrontations with police result in 38 arrests, 20 injuries to cops

By Enrique Gutiérrez

Santiago, June 30 – In one of the largest demonstrations of the past 20 years, some 200,000 Chilean students rallied today at La Moneda, the  presidential palace, to demand reform in public education and to reject  privatization, resulting in isolated confrontations with the police, with at least 38 arrests and two dozen injuries to police officers, and a warning from the president, businessman Sebastián Piñera, that strikes and demonstrations will not improve the educational system.

“Un pueblo educado jamás será engañado” [“An educated people will never be deceived”], “Queremos educación pública gratuita y de calidad” [“We want free, quality education”] shouted the students, among whom were high school and university students as well as professors.  “We want the government to understand that this is a political movement, that what we are fighting for is better education,”  asserted student leader Camila Vallejos. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago for June 18. See original here and related article here.]

The government is preparing to remove demonstrators from the 200 or so educational institutions currently not holding classes because of demonstrations being carried out by secondary school students.

Minister of Education Joaquín Lavín held a meeting in La Moneda [seat of the executive branch of the Chilean government] with President Sebastián Piñera in which, according to El Mercurio, a strategy for ending the occupations of high schools was discussed.

Despite the fact that the Friday meeting seemed to be an attempt to find a means of clearing the educational institutions and resuming normal classes, La Tercera quotes government sources who dismiss that intention.

In another meeting on Wednesday, there was agreement on the need for the president to harden the way he is confronting the student conflict. (more…)

More than 70,000 gather in Central Santiago

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago for June 16. See original here and related article here.]

The president of the Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile (FECh), Camila Vallejo, has called attention to the large attendance of close to 70,000 at the march called as part of the Paro Nacional de la Educación [National Strike for Education] held in the capital, with other similar demonstrations at the same time in most of the other important cities of the country.

A column made up of university and high-school students, as well as workers, teachers and members of congress, began shortly after 11:00 in the Plaza Italia sector, moving westward on Alameda Street. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, for June 9. See original here and related articles here and here.]

Natividad Llanquileo on Thursday confirmed the end of the hunger strike that four Mapuche prisoners in the Angol Prison began on March 15 to protest the application of the anti-terrorist law to their sentencing.

After losing between 20 and 25 kilograms because of the prolonged fast, the comuneros had been transferred to different facilities for medical reasons, according to authorities, but for that day they were brought together at the Victoria hospital.

“We had a conversation and they have decided to end this hunger strike, creating a committee for the defense of the rights of the Mapuche people,” spokeswoman Natividad Llanquileo told Radio Cooperativa.

Ramón Llanquileo, José Huenuche, Héctor Llaitul and Jonathan Huillical decided to end the strike after agreeing to form a work council in which the archbishop of Concepción, Fernando Chomali, and the director of the Instituto de Derechos Humanos, Lorena Fries, will participate.

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…)

[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…)

State of the union address sparks protests

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for May 22. See original here and related articles here and here.  For a petition against the HidroAysén project, go here.]

By Enrique Gutiérrez

Valparaíso, May 21 – In the midst of massive protests and acts of government repression, rightist Chilean President Sebastián Piñera today delivered to the Congress his second report on the government, in which he defended his policies and warned that he will not give up plans for the HidorAysén hydroelectric plants that have stirred indignation in the population.

It is estimated that some 100,000 Chileans in 35 cities demonstrated, 50,000 in Santiago, in marches called by groups of university students and professors, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, government employees, environmentalist groups and hundreds of indigenous Mapuche who are demanding the release of Mapuche prisoners. (more…)

[Translations of articles from La Jornada of Mexico City and El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, for May 12. See originals here and here.]

La Jornada

Thousands of youths reject privatization of education

By Enrique Gutiérrez

Santiago, May 12 – Some 25,000 Chilean students took to the streets of Santiago on Thursday and thousands more marched in other parts of the country to demand a strengthening of public higher education and rejection of privatization of education, and gave the rightist government of Sebastián Piñera until May 21 to repond to their demands.

After a peaceful beginning, the response of the police was to begin suddently to repress them with water cannons and tear gas, using the repressive measures of the ministry of the interior, which sparked encounters with the students that lasted for hours. (more…)