Chilean President Sebastian Piñera pledged to work with “maximum urgency” on a bill that would grant constitutional recognition to the country's indigenous groups. Piñera also announced the creation of an indigenous peoples' council that fully represents “their history, traditions, culture” and via which “they could raise their strong and clear voice about their future.”
The Chilean government started contacts in an attempt to ease tension and find solutions to the escalating conflict with the indigenous Mapuche in the southern province of La Araucania which has seen killings and properties torched.
After much deliberation, Chilean Education Minister Felipe Bulnes agreed to meet with student leaders this Saturday, Sept. 3, to discuss their demands. The meeting is to take place in the La Moneda presidential palace, and will be hosted by President Sebastián Piñera himself.
Under the heading of: “Chile, the convent of the Americas? A country between the Opus Dei and Liberalism” the German journalist Maurice Weibel analyzes Chilean politics, where the followers of Escriva de Balaguer have a dominating presence in politics and over the agenda to update values in a country on the move to join the developed world.