The New York Times - USA (2020-10-26)

THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONALMONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 N A

SANTIAGO, Chile — The pro-
tests started over a small hike in
metro fares, then exploded into a
broad reckoning over inequality
that shook Chile for weeks. Hun-
dreds of thousands of demonstra-
tors poured into the streets, call-
ing for sweeping change in their
society, with higher wages and
pensions, better health care and
education.
The movement soon seized on a
vehicle for their demands: Chile’s
Constitution.
The existing charter, drafted
without popular input during the
military dictatorship of Gen. Au-
gusto Pinochet and approved in a
fraudulent plebiscite in 1980, was
widely blamed for blocking
change — and seen as a lingering
link to a grim chapter in Chile’s
history.
On Sunday, just over a year af-
ter the massive demonstrations
swept the nation, Chileans voted
to scrap the dictatorship-era docu-
ment and write a new one — a
process that could transform the

politics of a country that has long
been regarded as one of the most
stable and prosperous in Latin
America.
The referendum was headed for
a landslide victory; with about
half the votes counted, more than
77 percent were cast in favor of a
new Constitution, and it was lead-
ing in almost every part of the
country.
“This plebiscite is not the end; it
is the beginning of a path we
should all undertake together,”
President Sebastián Piñera said
in an address from the presiden-
tial palace.
“Until now, the Constitution has
divided us,” he added. “As of today,
we should all cooperate to make
the new Constitution become one
home for all of us.”
Until the protests last year, the
idea of a new Constitution “wasn’t
on anyone’s agenda,” said Lucía
Dammert, a political scientist and
board member of the research

center Espacio Público. “The fact

we are now discussing a new Con-

stitution is a victory of the social

movement.”

The vote, originally scheduled

for April, was postponed as Chile

went on lockdown during the pan-

demic. Now, with most of the capi-

tal, Santiago, and other areas

gradually opening up, voter turn-

out was high.

Thousands of people flocked to

the Plaza Italia in Santiago to cele-

brate on Sunday night, chanting,

dancing, waving flags and setting

off fireworks. Demonstrators un-

furled banners addressed to Pino-

chet, with messages like “Good-

bye, General,” and “Erasing your

legacy will be our legacy.”

“Today, citizenship and democ-

racy have prevailed, and peace

has prevailed over violence,” Mr.

Piñera said. “This is a victory for

all Chileans.”

On Sunday morning, Chileans

turned out in droves to partici-

pate. Throughout the country, vot-

ers in masks ringed block after

block in calm, orderly lines.

After transitioning to democra-

cy in 1990, Chile’s market-friendly

business environment, framed in

part by the Constitution, attracted

foreign investment. The country

grew consistently and saw pov-

erty go down. But this came at the

cost of an acute concentration of

wealth and growing inequality.

Last year, the United Nations Eco-

nomic Commission for Latin

America estimated that nearly a

quarter of total income goes to 1

percent of Chile’s population.

To cover the high cost of living,

Chileans are greatly indebted.

The Central Bank found last year

that on average nearly three-

fourths of household income was

used to pay debt. The public

health care and education sys-

tems are in shambles, and meager

pensions force most people of re-

tirement age to continue working.

Amalia Gómez, 66, barely gets

by on a $125 monthly pension and

picks up seamstress jobs to com-

pensate. She and many others like

her see a new Constitution as a

path to better lives and a more eq-

uitable country for future genera-

tions.

“Why not, if we are a country

rich in minerals, fish, agricul-

ture?” she said. “Why can’t we use

those resources to our benefit, for

our education and health?”

Sunday’s ballot asked voters

whether they want a new Consti-

tution, and who should draft it: a

body of only newly elected repre-

sentatives or a convention in

which half of the delegates would

be members of Congress.

Voters overwhelmingly opted

for a newly elected constitutional

convention, without automatic in-

clusion of Congress members.

Elections will be held in April to

choose the delegates, among

whom there must be gender par-

ity. Political factions are still nego-

tiating whether to reserve seats

for Indigenous delegates.

Chileans are now scheduled to

vote in 2022 to approve or reject

the Constitution the convention

drafts.

As the nation geared up for vot-

ing, tensions were high.

After last year’s immense pro-

tests — known as the “estallido,”

or explosion — rocked the coun-

try, the pandemic sent demonstra-

tors home for much of 2020. Timid

protests returned last month,

leading to clashes between dem-

onstrators and the police.

In one protest on Oct. 2, a police

officer pushed a teenager off a

bridge and into the bed of the

Mapocho River in Santiago. The

teenager survived with fractures,

and the officer was charged with

attempted murder and expelled

from the force.

Last Sunday, tens of thousands

flocked to the protests’ epicenter,

Plaza Italia, to commemorate the

anniversary of the uprising. The

demonstration was largely peace-

ful, but late in the afternoon small

groups set fire to two churches, in-

cluding one used by the police for

religious services.

Last year’s demonstrations of-

ten devolved into violence and

were met with police brutality.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office re-

ceived 8,827 reports of human

rights violations, including hun-

dreds of complaints of permanent

eye damage from rubber bullets;

two people lost their sight com-

pletely.

By early last November, the

clashes had left five people dead

and nearly 1,800 wounded. Mr.

Piñera was facing competing calls

to deploy the armed forces to re-

store order — or to resign. In-

stead, he announced he was will-

ing to open the process for a new

Constitution — an idea that

sharply divided his own party.

The 1980 Constitution has un-

dergone several changes since it

was drafted behind closed doors

by a Pinochet-appointed commis-

sion. The most significant shift, in

2005, eliminated major authori-

tarian provisions.

Still, many Chileans saw Sun-

day’s vote as highly symbolic.

It “means putting an end to the

chapter of dictatorship,” said

Hernán Becker, 58, a salesman

who participated in a demonstra-

tion last Sunday. “Its origin is to-

tally illegitimate: under military

rule, with no freedom of expres-

sion, no freedom of assembly.”

Rewriting the charter will also

allow greater flexibility for Chile

to make the economic and policy

changes demanded by protesters.

Under the current charter, new

laws may be subjected to scrutiny

by a constitutional tribunal, which

has the final say on whether they

pass muster. And laws that touch

on education policy, political par-

ties, the military, the electoral sys-

tem, mining and reforming the

Constitution, among other topics,

require a supermajority for ap-

proval.

Several provisions make alter-

ing the free market model enacted

under military rule nearly impos-

sible, experts said.

“Chile’s Constitution is neolib-

eral in nature, and its basic role is

to guarantee conditions for the

free market, even in traditional so-

cial areas such as education,

health and social security,” said

Fernando Atria, a law professor

specializing in constitutional mat-

ters. “What we need is a Constitu-

tion that guarantees social rights

more than market conditions.”

While the proposal to write a

new Constitution enjoys wide-

spread support, opponents say it

would be a mistake to scrap a

charter that has been instrumen-

tal in Chile’s economic success.

“It guarantees freedom, pro-

tects individuals from the ex-

cesses of the state, ensures the

protection of property and guar-

antees social rights,” said Gerardo

Jofré, a businessman and one of

the directors of the Independents

for Rejection campaign. “Those

who are rebelling in Chile don’t

want to change the Constitution,

they want to change the model,

and that is a monumental mis-

take.”

Chileans lined up outside a polling station in Santiago on Sunday to vote on whether to scrap the constitution that was ratified in 1980.

JAVIER TORRES/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Chileans Vote to Rewrite

Dictatorship-Era Charter

By PASCALE BONNEFOY

A year after massive

protests, voter

turnout was high.

A treaty aimed at destroying all
nuclear weapons and forever pro-
hibiting their use has hit an impor-
tant benchmark, with Honduras
becoming the 50th country to rat-
ify the accord — the minimum
needed for it to enter into force as
international law.
The United Nations announced
late Saturday that the ratification
threshold had been achieved, a lit-
tle more than three years after the
treaty was completed in negotia-
tions at the organization’s New
York headquarters. Secretary
General António Guterres said
the 50th ratification was “the cul-
mination of a worldwide move-
ment to draw attention to the cata-
strophic humanitarian conse-
quences of any use of nuclear
weapons.”
The Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons is not binding
on those nations that refuse to
sign on to it. The United States
and the world’s eight other nucle-
ar-armed countries — Russia,
China, Britain, France, India, Pa-
kistan, North Korea and Israel —
boycotted the negotiations that
created the treaty and have
shown no inclination to accept it.
American officials have called
the accord a dangerous and naïve
diplomatic endeavor that could
even increase the possibility that
nuclear weapons will be used.
Nonetheless, the nuclear-
armed countries have been un-
able to reverse the growing ac-
ceptance of the treaty, which takes
effect 90 days from the 50th ratifi-
cation: next Jan. 22. Advocates of
the accord have called it the most
far-reaching effort undertaken to
permanently avert the possibility
of nuclear war, a shadow hanging
over the world since the United
States dropped atomic bombs on

Japan 75 years ago, in the final

days of World War II.

“This is the proof that we are in

a completely different era,”

Elayne Whyte Gómez, the Costa

Rican diplomat who led the 2017

negotiations for the treaty, said

Sunday. “This is a strong mes-

sage.”

So far, the governments of 84

countries have signed the treaty,

and the legislatures of 50 of those

have ratified it. Advocates ex-

pected the remainder of the signa-

tories to ratify it in coming weeks

and months.

“This treaty changes the legal

status of nuclear weapons in inter-

national law, and marks a historic

milestone for a decades-long, in-

tergenerational movement to

abolish nuclear weapons,” said

Physicians for Social Responsibil-

ity, a Washington-based group.

The accord outlaws nuclear

weapons use, threat of use, test-

ing, development, production,

possession, transfer and station-

ing in a different country. For any

nuclear-armed countries that

choose to join, the treaty outlines

procedures for destroying stock-

piles and enforcing their pledge to

remain free of nuclear weapons.

Asked for comment on the 50th

ratification, the State Department

spokeswoman, Morgan Ortagus,

reiterated the American opposi-

tion to the treaty.

“The TPNW will not result in

the elimination of a single nuclear

weapon, enhance the security of

any state or contribute in any tan-

gible way to peace and security in

the geopolitical reality of the 21st

century,” she said in a statement.

The 50th ratification was

reached just days after the Trump

administration sent a letter to

other governments that have

signed or ratified the treaty, ex-

horting them to reverse their deci-

sion.

“Although we recognize your

sovereign right to ratify or accede

to the Treaty on the Prohibition of

Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), we

believe that you have made a stra-

tegic error,” read the letter, a copy

of which was seen by The New

York Times.

The letter, reported last week

by The Associated Press, con-

tended that Russia and China

were intent on increasing their nu-

clear weapons, would never vol-

untarily relinquish them and

would only benefit strategically

from the treaty by making other

countries more vulnerable.

“Join with us in publicly calling

on Russia and the PRC to engage

in trilateral arms control negotia-

tions with the United States and

reduce nuclear risks rather than

heighten them,” the letter stated.

“Doing so will do more for advanc-

ing the cause of nuclear disarma-

ment than the TPNW ever will.”

That appeal came as the Trump

administration has been negotiat-

ing with Russia on extending the

START Treaty, the main arms con-

trol accord limiting the size of the

American and Russian nuclear ar-

senals, which is scheduled to ex-

pire in February. China has long

rejected the American contention

that it, too, sign any successor to

the START treaty.

Beatrice Fihn, executive direc-

tor of the International Campaign

to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a

group that won the 2017 Nobel

Peace Prize for its work, said Sun-

day that the Trump administra-

tion’s appeal betrayed American

government nervousness about

the impact of the treaty banning

them.

She cited the impact of other

treaties that have outlawed weap-

ons such as chemical and biologi-

cal munitions, land mines and

cluster bombs. Even if not univer-

sally accepted at first, these

treaties have shamed other coun-

tries into joining them or at least

curbing the use of the abhorrent

weapons.

“They know that even if it does-

n’t bind them legally, it has an im-

pact,” Ms. Fihn said. “Nobody’s

immune to peer pressure from

other governments.”

Nuclear Weapons Treaty Meets Milestone

By RICK GLADSTONE

António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, center,
when the treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons was signed in 2017.

DON EMMERT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

A pact will become

international law, but

the U.S. rejects it.

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