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Santiago bajo sitio

Oct 28, 2019 Andrés Velasco

SANTIAGO – Diecinueve muertos e innumerables heridos. Media docena de estaciones de metro atacadas con bombas incendiarias. Cientos de supermercados destrozados y saqueados. La sede central de la compañía distribuidora de electricidad más importante del país afectada por un incendio. Una ciudad de casi siete millones de habitantes paralizada. Después de declarado el estado de emergencia, soldados patrullan las calles y hacen cumplir un toque de queda.

¿Cómo pudo llegar a esto Santiago de Chile, la ciudad más rica del país ampliamente considerado el más próspero y respetuoso de la ley de América Latina? Y ¿qué nos enseñan los eventos recientes acerca del descontento de la ciudadanía y del potencial de violencia en las sociedades modernas?

La verdad es que no podemos tener certeza. Todo sucedió con una rapidez vertiginosa. Y, pocos días después de la violencia, llegaron las demostraciones pacíficas. El viernes pasado, un millón 200 mil personas marcharon por el centro de Santiago, la protesta más grande desde las que contribuyeron a remover al general Augusto Pinochet del gobierno hace 30 años.

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Andrés Velasco

Writing for PS since 2001
116 Commentaries

Andrés Velasco, a former presidential candidate and finance minister of Chile, is Dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of numerous books and papers on international economics and development, and has served on the faculty at Harvard, Columbia, and New York Universities.

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bitusch Farhi Nov 6, 2019

One million haitian without health check also one million brnecmzolans came to eork or teceice securiyy solidarite
Between alls arrived revolucionaries prepared fron iranians extremist . Firts in Araucania now in santigo also poor wish for work more than 7 hours a day and inutil control
Of situation by pomicied and ñomity

Sumary cowardyze of senastia piñera who seach all kind of support from oposition dorsnt came because venezuelan dollars ate interrsting dtimulation
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Andrés Galia Nov 5, 2019

It is amazing that Velasco is asking WHY after the President's wife comments to her acquaintances that became viral: "We must give up privileges and share a little more with the rest."

But if Velasco needs a simpler explanation, he is giving it himself: "Chile has joined the OECD club of rich countries, but in many ways it remains a traditional society riven with class privilege. Business leaders and cabinet members tend to come from a handful of private secondary schools in Santiago, especially when right-wing parties are in power, as they are today."

The summary of all that is: neo-liberal policies has failed once more. Period.
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Arturo Arturo Nov 5, 2019

Simple, el modelo no funciona, esta hecho sólo para que los grupos económicos, políticos como tu y transnacionales se hagan millonarios, es por eso que se debe cambiar la constitución.
- Andrés Galia Nov 5, 2019
  
  Absolutamente de acuerdo.
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Rik Rijs Nov 3, 2019

Velasco writes:" How could the most prosperous city of what is, by all accounts, Latin America’s most prosperous and law-abiding country explode in protests marred by riots and looting?". Well, law-abiding is right I think but most prosperous? That's an extreme lie since it creates the impression that Chili's citizen live prosperous. The truth is that many Chileans live in incredible poverty. I was shocked when I was there a few years ago. Really shocked. Even in Eastern Europe you won't see such widespread poverty. What do you smoke mr. Velasco. How can Project Syndicate publish such hoax-text?
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David Lehmann Nov 1, 2019

It's a shame Velasco did not do anything about these failures in the market-driven model when he was Minister. In Chile the Minister of Finance is very powerful. In his explanation, he should have considered a dark question: how was it possible that tens of metro stations (70 according to some) were burnt down within a few hours, all apparently with the same method. I am averse to conspiracy theories, but this is very worrying: there seem to be elements in the security apparatus who are beyond the control of their commanders or of the president and who have some nasty intentions.
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