TheEconomistMarch 14th 2020 231W
alk north-eastalong the Alameda,
the main avenue of Chile’s capital,
Santiago, to the well-heeled neighbour-
hood of Providencia, and for several miles
the scene on either side is one of desola-
tion. Hundreds of businesses are boarded
up, some operating through doors between
shutters. The Baquedano metro station and
a large hotel next to it are partly burned out.
Pavements have been ripped up, leaving
earth and rubble. Traffic lights are disabled.
Walls and statues are plastered with graffi-
ti. Many denounce as “murderers”, vari-
ously, Sebastián Piñera, Chile’s centre-
right president, the Carabineros (the na-
tional police force), the state and
capitalism. Others hail a coming revolu-
tion, or at least a new constitution.
The trouble began on October 6th with a
30-peso (four-cent) rise in the price of
peak-hour metro tickets. That set off mass
fare-dodging by school pupils. Days later
much of the metro in Santiago suffered
arson attacks (by foreign agitators, claimed
the government, without evidence). De-claring that Chile was “at war”, Mr Piñera
imposed a state of emergency for ten days
and sent the army on to the streets for only
the second time since the dictatorship of
General Augusto Pinochet (1973-90). That
prompted peaceful protests, including a
march in Santiago of perhaps 1m peo-
ple—in a metropolitan area of 7m. At the
same time, supermarkets and pharmacies
were looted and several churches and pub-
lic buildings burned. Much of the damage
was in poorer areas on the periphery of
Santiago and other cities. At least 30 people
died. The economy was hurt, too: growth
last year was barely above 1%. The govern-
ment had forecast 2.6%.
The malcontents are a loose confluence
of young people. In the capital nearly
200,000 neither work nor study. Chile has
an intellectual proletariat of graduatesfrom low-grade private universities, many
of whom have large student debt. Over the
past decade anarchist groups that special-
ise in attacking the police have grown in
Santiago. Then there are football hooligans
and the footsoldiers of the drug trade, who
operate in poor barrios. The fact that many
of these people are outside the political
system has made it harder for the govern-
ment to know whom to negotiate with.
Things came to a head on November
12th when, some Chileans feared, the coun-
try faced a choice between anarchy and
martial rule. “Many people called me, des-
perate, saying ‘They are burning the city’,”
Mr Piñera said in an interview in late Janu-
ary. “I had two choices: to call on the armed
forces again, or give another opportunity
for peace, dialogue and agreements. It was
a very difficult decision.”
According to several sources, this time
the military commanders balked at inter-
vening without immunity from prosecu-
tion. “The armed forces would have obeyed
a presidential order,” insists Mr Piñera. For
whatever reason, he drew back. The gov-
ernment swiftly negotiated cross-party
agreements for a plebiscite, to be held on
April 26th, on whether to set up an assem-
bly to write a new constitution. It rushed
through an increase in pensions for the
poorest and a tax increase on the better-off,
and promised other measures.
All this released some of the tension.
The protests faded during the southern-ChileA model country in need of remodelling
SANTIAGO
Why are Chileans so angry?The Americas
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— Bello is away