Protests carried out by students and teachers were suppressed Thursday by the Chilean police as over a dozen of roadblocks were set across Chile’s capital Santiago defying the government’s prohibition. Police suppressed demonstrators with tear gas and water.
In the last week, Chile’s conservative government has made two surprisingly liberal announcements, explained in part by the latest public opinion polls. First, President Sebastián Piñera announced Sunday that he was open to making quality education a constitutional right, just two weeks after he called education a “consumer good”.
After two months of school takeovers and strikes, marches and more, there may be some light at the end of the Chilean student protests. Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced on Sunday his willingness and commitment to exploring constitutional change for national education reform—something long demanded by the students.
Opposition to the Isla Riesco coal-mining project in the extreme south of Chilean Patagonia suffered a setback Thursday when Chile’s Comptroller General rejected accusations of a conflict of interest at the highest level of government.
Only three days after being appointed Minister of Energy, Fernando Echeverría handed in his letter of resignation to Chilean President Sebastián Piñera. He was replaced by former Treasury Undersecretary Rodrigo Álvarez, a lawyer and member of the UDI party.
Chilean President Sebastian Piñera performed a major shake up on his cabinet Monday, reshuffling several key ministers amid plummeting approval figures. Piñera approval rating recently fell to a low at 31% in part to due ongoing protests as students seek broad reforms to the nation's education system.
A haze of tear gas floated through the air, blending in with Santiago’s smog as the Chilean flag atop La Moneda sat in solitude with an occasional breeze. Lemon halves littered the streets as flying glass bottles shattered on the concrete.
In the aftermath of the rescue of the 33 miners trapped in the San José Mine outside Copiapó, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera’s approval rating hit its highest mark in his short term as the Andean nation’s leader at 63%.
Chile's President Sebastián Piñera, beset by mass student protests over education standards and costs which are threatening his legislative agenda, proposed a 4 billion US dollars fund for higher education.
A Chilean court on Monday ordered the suspension of a project to build a complex of five hydroelectric dams in the Patagonian wilderness, bowing to appeals by lawmakers and environmental groups.