Chileans begin work on roadmap to new constitution

France24 – AFP, 28 October 2020 

Demonstrators supporting the reform of the Chilean constitution celebrate while
waiting for the referendum official results at Plaza Italia square in Santiago
on October 25, 2020 Pedro Ugarte AFP

Santiago (AFP) - Chile pressed ahead with the task of creating a roadmap to a new constitution Tuesday as Congress debated rules for choosing the body tasked with drafting the new charter. 

Citizens of the South American country voted by a landslide in a referendum Sunday to throw out their dictatorship-era constitution, blamed for the jarring economic and social inequalities that led to months of violent protests. 

Much of the path ahead is already clear, with the election of a constitutional convention, which will draft the new charter, slated for April 11. 

However, independent candidates face an uphill battle in the race for seats on the convention, as they aim to limit the influence of the traditional parties. 

Congress on Tuesday discussed removing one of the roadblocks to political independents playing a full part in the process. 

Under current rules they need a minimum of signatures equal to 0.4 percent of voters in their electoral district, a tough task amid Chile's coronavirus epidemic. 

Prospective independent candidates say the threshold is too high and want it halved. 

Overwhelming rejection 

Citizens overwhelmingly rejected an option in the referendum for lawmakers to take part in the drafting of the new constitution, handing that role instead to a new body whose members will be elected from scratch. 

Several Chilean artists and celebrities have signaled their intention to run for the convention. 

Sitting members of Congress are banned from participating, but independents fear the traditional parties -- seen as administrators of the dictatorship-era constitution for decades -- are preparing to stack the new body with their members anyhow. 

Some of President Sebastian Pinera's advisors have expressed an interest in running. The president's daughter Magdalena Pinera is reportedly aiming to represent his conservative National Renewal party, part of his ruling Vamos coalition. 

Also signaling her intention to run is Francisca Desbordes, daughter of Chile's defense minister Mario Desbordes. 

There is lively debate on the number of seats that should be set aside in the new body for the Mapuche people, Chile's largest ethnic group. 

"The task of the parliament is to ensure reserved seats for the indigenous people, so that this new constitution contains all the views and cultures there are in Chile," said Mapuche lawmaker Emilia Nuyado. 

The constitutional convention will be composed of 155 members, who will be elected in a vote on April 11 that coincides with Chile's local elections. 

Anybody can put themselves forward, but those involved in organizations and unions must renounce their positions if they are to participate. 

Similarly, civil servants will also have to resign to participate and all 155 members will have to renounce running for public office for one year after its work is completed. 

Members of the new body will receive a monthly salary equivalent to $3,200, around a third the amount earned by members of Congress. 

'Two-thirds' confusion 

The new constitution must be approved by two-thirds of its members. 

However, "it's not clear whether each provision must be approved by two-thirds or if it is only the constitution as a whole, a difference of interpretation that could have important consequences with respect to what's agreed upon," constitutional lawyer Sebastian Zarate told AFP. 

It remains possible the convention will alter this provision once it sits, said Zarate. 

"However it's interpreted, the last word will go to the constituent body," said Zarate. 

Once established, the convention will have nine months to draft and adopt the new constitution. If required, that timeframe can be extended once, for three months. 

The text will be put to the electorate in a new referendum in 2022. 

Failure to approve it will mean dictator Augusto Pinochet's 1980 constitution will remain in force.

Trump to meet with Venezuela's Guaido: White House

Yahoo – AFP, February 5, 2020

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido (C) waves as he is acknowledged by
US President Donald Trump during his the State of the Union address at the US
Capitol on February 4, 2020. (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump will receive Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Wednesday for talks on how to speed a democratic transition in his country, the White House said.

Guaido, whom the United States and more than 50 other countries recognize as Venezuela's acting president, is seeking renewed international support for his push to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

The Oval Office meeting at 2:15 pm (1915 GMT) follows Trump's vow in a State of the Union speech Tuesday night -- with Guaido in the audience as his guest -- that "Maduro's grip of tyranny will be smashed and broken."

"The visit is an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to the people of Venezuela and to discuss how we can work with President Guaido to expedite a democratic transition in Venezuela that will end the ongoing crisis," the White House said in a statement.

"We will continue to work with our partners in the region to confront the illegitimate dictatorship in Venezuela, and we will stand alongside the Venezuelan people to ensure a future that is democratic and prosperous," it said.

Maduro so far has weathered Guaido's yearlong push for his ouster, which initially spark massive anti-government protest but has since lost momentum despite a deep economic crisis that has driven millions to emigrate.

As head of the National Assembly, Guaido proclaimed himself acting president in January 2019 after the legislature declared Maduro a "usurper" who was re-elected through fraud.

In Peru, 'they teach you to be ashamed,' indigenous trans candidate says

Yahoo – AFP, Carlos MANDUJANO, January 26, 2020

Gahela Cari hopes to become the first indigenous transgender person
elected to the Peruvian Congress (AFP Photo/Ernesto BENAVIDES)

Lima (AFP) - The first indigenous transgender candidate to run for parliament in Peru says it's time to end the culture of machismo in the South American country.

"I suffered, in my own flesh, the consequences of inequality, discrimination, violence and corruption," Gahela Cari, 27, said in an interview with AFP before Sunday's nationwide parliamentary ballot.

"We have to stop educating future macho men," she said during a break from campaigning.

Her candidacy comes as awareness of transgender people and their rights is growing in many countries.

"I'm an animal-rights advocate, an ecologist and a student leader," Cari told AFP. "I come from that part of the left that has always fought."

Cari, who has promised to support the anticorruption reforms of President Martin Vizcarra, is running as a candidate of the leftist Together for Peru party, which seeks to end the political crisis that led Vizcarra to dissolve Congress on September 30.

Small, thin and calm in demeanor, she sported an Andean hat over braided hair during her interview, with bright red lipstick and, tied to her left wrist, the green scarf that symbolizes support for legalized abortion.

What motivated you to run for Congress?

CARI: "We want trans people to have more opportunities. We don't enjoy the same conditions as the rest of the population. It's no coincidence that our life expectancy is less than 32 years. Here the state doesn't guarantee our rights."

Cari, who supports the anticorruption reforms of President Martin Vizcarra, is 

running for office amid growing awareness of transgender people and their rights 

globally (AFP Photo/Ernesto BENAVIDES)

"(Congress) has been more concerned with defending the corrupt. I'm tired of traditional politics. That's why I entered politics, to put Congress at the service of the citizenry."

How do you present yourself to voters?

CARI: "I introduce myself as a trans, indigenous, migrant woman. I was born in the south of the country. My mother is from Ayacucho and my father is from Puno. In this country we receive an education that aims to repress who we are, to repress our sexual identity and to repress our cultural identity. They force us to be ashamed of our roots."

"In a country that teaches you to be ashamed, a country that educates in order to repress you, to describe yourself as an indigenous trans person is already revolutionary. It is using your body to fight; fighting without even uttering a word."

What is the main point in your platform?

CARI: "We want to finish (Vizcarra's) political reform, to complete the reform of the justice system and to launch an economic reform that guarantees the voices of the citizenry and of vulnerable populations."

"We do not want the situation facing women and LGBTQ people to continue, which is why we are proposing a reform to put the fight against gender-based violence and all forms of discrimination on the table."

"We need to stop raising future macho men, future homophobes, future transphobes and woman killers. We need education with respect. I have suffered transphobic bullying in school."

"We're fighting to decriminalize abortion in all cases because we don't believe that a democratic state can continue to condemn a woman to be a mother against her will."

Facts about Peru (AFP Photo/Gustavo IZUS, Nicolas RAMALLO)

Is it true that you practiced prostitution?

CARI: "I had to be involved in prostitution though I didn't want to. It was for a short time... but it was the most complicated stage of my life."

"It was when I was about to finish university. I had gone five days without eating and my stomach was empty. It was a matter of necessity. I got out of it thanks to a network of contacts and thanks to feminists who saved my life."

Were you also a catechist?

CARI: "I was a catechist. I am a believer, I believe in a loving God. I believe that no religion can serve to justify hate."

If you studied law, why aren't you practicing as a lawyer?

CARI: "After finishing my university studies, those in charge refused to let me join the professional association. Without that membership, you can't work, though I tried hard. That depressed me for a while."

Is it difficult to campaign in a country with a tradition of machismo? 

CARI: "We have had to face situations of discrimination throughout the campaign. We have been threatened and have suffered situations of harassment and physical violence."

Venezuela contact group recognises Guaido as speaker

Yahoo – AFP, January 9, 2020

Juan Guaido, pictured on January 5, was re-elected speaker of the National Assembly
while rival lawmaker Luis Parra also claimed the title after a separate vote (AFP Photo/
Yuri CORTEZ)

Brussels (AFP) - A dozen countries working on ways to end Venezuela's crisis on Thursday gave their backing to opposition leader Juan Guaido as parliamentary speaker, rejecting the claims of a rival.

The International Contact Group on Venezuela said it was deeply concerned by events in the Venezuelan National Assembly this week in which the security forces of President Nicolas Maduro tried interfered in the vote to choose a speaker.

Guaido, whose claim to be acting president is recognised as legitimate by more than 50 countries, was re-elected speaker of the assembly on Sunday while rival lawmaker Luis Parra also claimed the title after a separate vote.

Twelve European and Latin American countries from the contact group issued a statement saying the vote for Parra "cannot be considered legitimate nor democratic".

"We support Juan Guaido as President of the National Assembly, and reaffirm our commitment to actively support genuine efforts towards a peaceful and democratic resolution of the crisis in Venezuela," the statement said.

Guaido was re-elected by opposition lawmakers in a session held at a newspaper office after police blocked him from entering the National Assembly, while Parra proclaimed himself speaker after claiming to have been elected with 81 votes in the 167-member chamber.

"These events together with the continuous intimidation and reprisals against the members of the National Assembly, democratically elected by the Venezuelan people, further aggravate the crisis, creating more obstacles to the peaceful return to democracy and the rule of law," said the statement -- signed by all members of the group except Uruguay.

Guaido's re-election is important for his struggle against far-left leader Maduro, as the National Assembly is the only branch of government in opposition hands.

While Guaido enjoys international support including from Washington, Maduro appears entrenched with the crucial backing of the armed forces, despite presiding over the oil-rich country's collapse into economic ruin.

The EU has an arms embargo in force against Venezuela as well as individual sanctions on various members of the regime over human rights abuses.

The statement was signed by Bolivia, Britain, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Panama, Portugal, Spain and Sweden -- a diplomatic vehicle set up to help mediate a political solution to the Venezuelan crisis.

Chile president signs off on constitutional change referendum

Yahoo – AFP, December 23, 2019

A demonstrator in front of the presidential palace during a protest against Chilean
President Sebastian Pinera's government on December 20, 2019 (AFP Photo/
Martin BERNETTI)

Santiago (AFP) - Chile President Sebastian Pinera enacted a law on Monday that will allow the South American country to hold a referendum on April 26 to change its military dictatorship era constitution.

Changing the constitution enacted under former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973-90, was one of the main demands made of Pinera as he bids to end two months of protests against his government and inequality.

"This reform opens the doors and defines a path to achieve a great constitutional agreement," said Pinera in signing into law a bill approved last week by Congress.

Many Chileans believe the constitution to be a source of many inequalities affecting them.

They will be asked two questions on April 26: do they want a new constitution and who should draft it.

The second question refers to whether or not those tasked with the redrafting should be specifically elected by the public to do so, for example in the formation of a new constitution assembly.

The government favors a committee made up half of existing lawmakers and half by a new group elected directly by the public to draft the constitution, while the opposition prefers a committee made up entirely of specifically elected members.

The decision to hold a referendum to change the constitution was reached following an agreement last month between the government and left-wing opposition parties and came just two days after particularly violent protests.

Pinera signed the enactment at the presidential palace in the company of socialist former president Ricardo Lagos, who 15 years ago introduced a number of significant constitutional reforms.

Should Chileans vote to redraft the constitution, a new poll to elect those responsible for the task in hand would be held in October 2020, during regional and municipal elections.

The constitutional body would then have nine months to come up with a new text, a deadline which could be extended by a further three months.

"This referendum, the first in 30 years, should serve us in leaving behind the violence and divisions that we've painfully and sadly seen resurging these last few days," said Pinera.

One of the protesters main demands is that Pinera resign.

Pinera was initially opposed to constitutional reform when he was elected to replace socialist Michelle Bachelet last year.

The constitution has been changed numerous times since it was enacted in 1980.

New president promises to put Argentines before debt repayments

Yahoo – AFP, Nina NEGRON, December 10, 2019

Argentina's new president, Alberto Fernandez, waves next to Vice President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, after receiving the presidential sash from outgoing
leader Mauricio Macri (AFP Photo/Alejandro PAGNI)

Buenos Aires (AFP) - Center-leftist Alberto Fernandez vowed to put his people first ahead of debt repayments after he was sworn in as Argentina's president on Tuesday to singing and applause from lawmakers and supporters.

After taking over from the market-friendly Mauricio Macri, Fernandez sent a message to the International Monetary Fund, saying "it's impossible to pay external debt without growth."

Fernandez, whose vice president is controversial former leader Cristina Kirchner, will govern until 2023, presiding over a country beset by recession, high inflation, rising unemployment and poverty.

While the South American country wants to pay back its debt, it doesn't have "the means to do so," he said, promising to deal with Argentina's social emergency.

Fernandez was swept to power in large part due to a public backlash over the terms of a $57 billion loan Macri negotiated with the IMF last year.

With Argentina's rising debt came deeply unpopular austerity measures.

Argentina has so far received $44 billion of the agreed IMF loan, taking its external debt to $315 billion, around 100 percent of gross domestic product.

"We want to have a good relationship with the IMF but without growth we won't be able to pay," said Fernandez, accusing Macri of leaving the country in "virtual default" following 18 months of economic turmoil triggered by a currency crisis.

Speaking in a televised address, the Peronist leader promised a "new, fraternal and caring social contract."

Fernandez also said Argentina needs to "overcome the rancor and hate" that has become a feature of its increasingly polarized political landscape.

He twice hugged Macri tightly during the ceremony.

Notable absentee

The new head of state will host a lunch for fellow Latin American presidents -- including Cuba's Miguel Diaz-Canel -- before addressing a crowd at the Plaza de Mayo in the evening.

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera was due to attend but canceled after a Chilean Air Force plane went missing with 38 people onboard. It would have been Pinera's first foreign trip since the outbreak of social unrest in Chile in early October.

Another notable absentee was Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist who has recoiled at Argentina's swing to the left.

Argentina's Alberto Fernandez receives the presidential sash from outgoing leader 

Mauricio Macri during his inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires (AFP Photo/

Ronaldo SCHEMIDT)

Bolsonaro at first declined to send a cabinet minister to represent him, but in the end sent Vice President Hamilton Mourao to represent his government.

Ahead of Fernandez's election victory, Bolsonaro had said that his government would turn Argentina into the new Venezuela, with Brazil likely to face a flood of Argentine refugees.

Fernandez's was among the loudest voices to call for the release of leftist icon and Bolsonaro adversary Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from jail.

Backroom strategist

Moderate and pragmatic, Fernandez has never served in elected office but brings years of experience as a former top aide to late president Nestor Kirchner from 2003-2007, and briefly for his wife Cristina after she succeeded him.

After joining forces with Cristina Kirchner to unite a fragmented Peronist camp to win October's elections, his main challenge will be to deliver on his promises to improve the economy, according to analysts Eurasia Group.

"He was elected to improve economic conditions, and there is a large share of the electorate that will be actively opposed to Fernandez and the Peronists," said Eurasia.

"If he fails to deliver on the economy, they will become more active and popular support for him could drop quickly."

His pick for economy minister, Martin Guzman, 37, will have the task of negotiating with the IMF and other international creditors on restructuring Argentina's massive debt.

Guzman, an academic at Columbia University in the United States, has criticized the use of austerity policies to solve debt crises, signalling a sharp shift from Macri's belt-tightening.

"We are already working with the IMF. It's work that must be done quietly, so Argentines can rest assured that we have been dealing with the issue for weeks," Fernandez said over the weekend.

"We have opened a negotiation process, we are satisfied with how it's going."

Monetary controls

Economist Hector Rubini of the University of Salvador said the government is likely to maintain the strict exchange controls put in place by the Macri government in October, at least initially.

He said a new budget law will likely reallocate funds to fight poverty, which Fernandez called "a moral imperative."

Fernandez has also pledged to move to legalize abortion, a bitterly divisive issue in Roman Catholic Argentina, pledging last month to send a bill to Congress as soon as possible.

He inherits a dismal economy that is projected to shrink 3.1 percent this year, with inflation running at 55 percent, poverty near 40 percent, and unemployment at over 10 percent.

Despite the bleak outlook, Fernandez is likely to be able to count on a period of calm from the powerful unions, and will have Congress and debt timetables on his side.

Chile to amend constitution, a key demand of protesters

Yahoo – AFP, November 11, 2019

The Chilean government is in the process of preparing "a draft amendment of the
constitution," President Sebastian Pinera has said (AFP Photo/MARTIN BERNETTI)

Santiago (AFP) - Chile has announced it will move to draft a new constitution and replace one dating back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship -- a key demand of protesters who have rocked the country for three weeks.

The new constitution will be drafted by a body called a constituent assembly and then put to a referendum for ratification, Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel said Sunday.

Blumel made the announcement after meeting with a coalition of center-right and right-wing parties, which had been reluctant to change the constitution inherited from the era of the US-backed general Pinochet (1973-1990).

The government was in the process of preparing "a draft amendment of the constitution," President Sebastian Pinera said in an interview published Saturday by the daily El Mercurio.

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera says "a better definition of human rights" is 

among proposed changes to the constitution (AFP Photo/JAVIER TORRES)

Among the proposed changes are "a better definition of human rights" and their means of enforcement, plus clarification on "the obligations of the state" and "better mechanisms of participation" for citizens, added the president.

The current constitution, in force since 1980, has already undergone more than 200 changes in more than 40 articles, Pinera said.

But it does not establish the state's responsibility to provide education and healthcare -- two demands made by millions of Chileans who have taken to the streets.

Some opposition leaders reacted optimistically.

"The government is beginning to have a sense of reality," said Felipe Harboe of the opposition Party for Democracy.

Protests in Chile have left 20 dead - five at the hands of state forces -
and more than 1,000 injured (AFP Photo/Dante ROSSI)

A general public- sector strike began on Monday. Dozens of people protested before the presidential palace in Santiago and protests snarled traffic elsewhere in the capital.

The crisis is Chile's biggest since its return to democracy in 1990, leaving 20 dead -- five at the hands of state forces -- and more than 1,000 injured.

The unrest that began on October 18 with protests against a rise in rush-hour metro fares has mushroomed into a broader outcry against the status quo, with burning, looting and daily confrontations between demonstrators and police.

Protesters cite low wages, high costs for education and healthcare and a yawning gap between rich and poor in a country dominated politically and economically by a few elite families.

The unrest in Chile began on October 18 with protests against a rise in rush 

hour metro fares (AFP Photo/RODRIGO ARANGUA)

After weeks of sometimes violent demonstrations, most polls show the protest movement is supported by 75 percent of Chileans.

A slightly larger number -- 87 percent, according to a survey by pollster Cadem published this month -- say they favor the protesters' demand for constitutional reforms.

A few days after Pinera became president in March 2018, his government announced it would not allow the consideration of a bill to amend the constitution that the previous president, the socialist Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018), had submitted to congress.

Chile said it will hold a referendum to replace the country's dictatorship-era constitution -- a key demand of protesters after nearly a month of violent civil unrest https://t.co/aTZcJH5Lfm

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 16 november 2019

Bolivia's Morales seeks new election but army calls on him to resign

Yahoo – AFP, Francisco JARA, Raul BURGOA and Francisco JARA, 10 November 2019

Bolivian President Evo Morales, seen here at a news conference
November 10, 2019, calls new elections

President Evo Morales called new elections Sunday but the commander of the armed forces asked him to resign "for the good of our Bolivia" after an OAS audit found serious irregularities in elections last month that gave the leftist leader a fourth term.

Morales, Bolivia's first president of indigenous descent, promised new elections under the direction of a revamped Supreme Electoral Tribunal in a televised address but did not say whether he would run again.

With no sign of violent protests abating, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Williams Kaliman, told reporters he was asking Morales "to resign his presidential mandate to allow for pacification and the maintaining of stability, for the good of our Bolivia."

Kaliman said the armed forces had ordered "military operations in the air and on land to neutralize armed groups that are acting outside the law" by attacking opposition demonstrators.

The commander of the police, General Vladimir Yuri Calderon, also called on Morales to step down.

There were signs of disarray among Morales supporters, with the head of the lower house of parliament and the ministers of mines and of hydrocarbons announcing their resignations.

Two of those resigning cited risks to their families after mobs attacked their respective houses in the city of Potosi.

The opposition runner-up in Bolivia's recent polls, Carlos 

Mesa, has called for President Evo Morales to resign

Protests have flared across Bolivia since Morales was declared the winner of the October 20 election, beating his nearest rival, centrist Carlos Mesa, by just enough to avoid a second round.

An audit of the election by the Organization of American States, however, found "irregularities that range from serious to indicative," in virtually every area reviewed -- in the technology used, the chain of custody of ballots, the integrity of the count, and statistical projections.

"This leads the technical auditing team to question the integrity of the election results," the report on their preliminary findings said.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said the results giving the leftist leader a fourth term in office "must be annulled and the electoral process must begin again."

Calls for resignation

Opposition leaders were not appeased, however.

Mesa said Morales should resign "if he has a speck of patriotism left."

The leader of a protest movement, Luis Fernando Camacho, said Morales "has fractured the constitutional order and must resign."

In Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the OAS to send a full mission to Bolivia to ensure free and fair new elections.

"In order to restore credibility to the electoral process, all government officials and officials of any political organizations implicated in the flawed October 20 elections should step aside from the electoral process," Pompeo added.

Police officers march with protesters against Bolivian President 

Evo Morales in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on November 9, 2019

The October 20 results showed Morales, in office since 2006, defeating Mesa by slightly over 10 points, just enough to ensure an outright first-round victory.

It is possible that Morales came in first place in the first round but "statistically improbable" that he obtained the 10 percent margin of victory needed to avoid a second round, the OAS report said.

It said "the manipulations of the informatic system are of such magnitude that they should be thoroughly investigated by the Bolivian state to get to the bottom of them and determine responsibilities in this serious case."

Police rebellion

The dramatic turnabout came two days after police in three cities joined anti-government protests and a day after the opposition rejected Morales' appeal for urgent, open-ended dialogue.

Three people have died and more than 350 were injured in three weeks of often violent protests calling for new elections and Morales' resignation.

On Sunday, three people were injured, one with a gunshot wound, after a bus carrying miners to La Paz to join opposition protesters outside the presidential palace came under attack.

On Saturday, demonstrators overran two state-run media outlets and forced them off the air, while some police stopped guarding the square where Morales' presidential palace is located.

Profile of Evo Morales, who called Sunday for 

new elections after violent protests and claims 

of electoral fraud in the first-round presidential 

vote, which he claimed to have won

In announcing the new elections, Morales said, "I want to lower the tension. Everyone has an obligation to bring peace to Bolivia."

Morales said that in the new elections "the Bolivian people will be able to democratically elect new authorities, incorporating new political actors."

That begged the question whether Morales would stand again for re-election, a source of controversy because Bolivia's constitution, which he promulgated himself a decade ago, limits presidents to two terms.

Morales said Bolivia's bicameral legislature, which his party controls, would meet in the coming hours for the parties to work out procedures for changing out the electoral tribunal.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis on Sunday exhorted Bolivians to await the full results of the OAS audit with "peace and serenity."

Cuba called on the international community to condemn the protests against its close ally Morales as an attempted coup by "imperialism and the oligarchy."

Related Article:

Bolivia President Evo Morales announces resignation - New

Chile's middle class takes to streets over crushing debt

Yahoo – AFP, Jordane BERTRAND, November 1, 2019

Clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Santiago have been
going on for two weeks (AFP Photo/Martin BERNETTI)

Santiago (AFP) - It is not poverty that is driving Chile's middle class into the streets to join massive protests: it is debt, brought on by sky-high private health and education costs that have created an economic fragility many find unbearable.

That is why so many have taken part in two weeks of social upheaval, protesting against the economic policies of Chile's ruling elite.

Chile has an economic record that is the envy of Latin America: poverty has never been lower, dropping from 40 percent to less than 10 percent in 30 years, and transforming this country of 18 million into one where middle class citizens are the majority.

But for many, the ultra-liberal economic model inherited from the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-90) -- which privatized water, health, education and pensions -- has generated a "permanent worry" about unexpected expenses.

Nicolas Achondo, 33, was forced to close his restaurant.

After paying bills, wages and taxes, he had nothing left for private health insurance.

A motorbike accident left him owing thousands of dollars for treatment.

"I couldn't pay, they put me on the debtors list. That closes all doors to you: you can no longer get a bank loan or rent an apartment," he said.

Protesters are mostly angry about high private health and education costs --

 alongside low public standards -- and insufficient state pensions (AFP Photo/

Martin BERNETTI)

"I no longer had access to credit and my business started generating debts. It's very unfair."

Thanks to help from his family, he managed to pay off his debts but has no capital to relaunch his restaurant business. He now wants to emigrate to Canada.

"We don't get state subsidies. The only thing we can do is access bank loans to pay for housing, health, education, clothing," said Achondo.

His parents suffered the same fate. They owned a video store in the 1980s-90s but fell victim to evolving technology.

They managed to pay for their two eldest children's private education without needing loans, but could not afford the same for their younger two children, both of whom are in the vastly inferior public school system.

'With or without uterus'

Marisol Berrios, a social worker, took out loans to pay for her two children's higher education.

"Now they're both university professors but they have insecure contracts. They receive the minimum wage and have no health care."

At least 20 people have been killed since the protests began two weeks ago, 

with sporadic incidents of looting, arson and street violence (AFP Photo/Martin BERNETTI)

In a model with minimal state intervention, profitability is king.

As is often is the case, women are the hardest hit. They have to pay up to three times as much as men for health insurance when they want children.

"There are 'with uterus' contracts and 'without uterus' contracts that are cheaper. You pay a higher percentage when you're fertile," said Berrios.

Women also pay more in old age, says the 59-year-old, who admits to fearing retirement.

"I will retire in one year and my pension will be 170,000 pesos ($230)," said Berrios, who currently earns 1.2 million pesos ($1,620) a month.

"I went into depression about it this summer."

Health, education and pensions may be the biggest worries but on top of that are increases in electricity costs, a proliferation of motorway tolls around Santiago and an unregulated medication market.

For fed-up Chileans, it's this accumulation of expenses that weighs so heavily.

Decades of pent-up frustration have come pouring out over the last two weeks as 

Chileans protest against social and economic inequality (AFP Photo/Martin BERNETTI)

It was against this backdrop that a seemingly innocuous 3.75 percent hike in the price of a metro ticket lit a fuse under decades of pent-up frustration.

In a bid to douse the flames of discontent, conservative President Sebastian Pinera announced a raft of social measures: suspending a 9.2 percent hike in electricity bills and an annual 3.5 percent increase in toll charges.

But that didn't calm the public.

"Chile has awoken," has become one of the main slogans of anti-government protesters since October 18.

"We've woken up to the brutality of the system," said Berrios.