And although Chile doesn't have debt problems, she said there are nevertheless parallels to the situation in Ecuador and Argentina. Although Duque has only been in power for a year and a half, he has a disapproval rating of 69% according to the the last Gallup poll, and 70% of Colombians believe that âthings are getting worseâ compared with last year. Rather than produce a sense of trust, cops are generally seen as the cause of ⦠Hesse doesn't think so. Stay tuned! "Economic hardship has focused protesters' anger onto related issues such as inequality and corruption," they wrote. Throughout 2019, we saw how mobilizations around the world grabbed headlines across Latin America, Europe, Asia and the MENA region. The only thing they all have in common is the fact that organized left-wing groups are trying to destabilize their democracies," she said. Many protesters began demanding a change in government, using the slogan, âitâs not 30 pesos, itâs 30 yearsâ, referring to the past three decades during which Chileans have been subject to harsh economic policies at the hands of their governments. Using communications technologies safely and privately is key to freedom of expression in the form of demonstrations and protests. The new anger 2019 in review: protest and populism in Latin America. After meeting with heads of the legislature and judicial system, President Pinera has pledged to seek "solutions" to "reduce excessive inequalities" in the country. Morales left Bolivia for Mexico and later Argentina, where he is currently residing with the status of political asylum. | Mobile version, Berlin's new rent freeze: How it compares globally, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Dressed in black, marching silently and raising one fist, around a thousand women have demanded justice for those killed during the civil unrest in Chile. Over the past two weeks, Ecuador and Chile — two Latin American countries separated by more than 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) — have seen intense anti-government protests. POPAYÁN, ColombiaâThis nation known as the âGateway to South Americaâ has become the latest Latin American state to be shaken by widespread, anti-government demonstrations. Latin Americaâs Wave of Protests Was HistoricâThen the Pandemic Arrived The coronavirus and lockdowns have worsened the regionâs economic dividesâand set the stage for more political upheaval. Todos los derechos reservados. The Americas. In Colombia, over 500,000 people marched on the 21st of November after various sectors of civil society called a national strike, that has continued intermittently since then, becoming the most important mass mobilization in the previous decades. Aware that they donât live in real democracies, the people of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia are taking to the streets. Even so, year 2019 ended with 230 social and human rights leaders assasinated while general violence killed more than 10,000 people. In a world aflame with protest, Latin America stands out as a raging ten-alarm fire. QUITO, Ecuador â Protesters here in this capital city dug up cobblestones to throw at the police and set fire to the office of the comptroller general. France), and others occurred in countries in which people mobilized on a massive scale for the first time in decades, such as Algeria, Colombia and Iran. The straw that broke the camelâs back was the rise in petrol prices presented alongside other cuts in order to reduce the countryâs deficit to pay off its IMF debt, a project known as the âpaquetazoâ in Ecuador. But Chile is posting good economic figures, a fact that was recently confirmed in a report issued by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. For all the market shocks, Latin America has a history of exploding unrest when prices go up for essential services and products, which are often ⦠Since then, there have been 22 deaths and 2,200 injuries in the South American country, due to the use of lethal force by the army and the Chilean police, according to the National Institute for Human Rights. But maybe they just aren't because elections are being held on Sunday anyhow," she said. "If they can't attain power [at the ballot box], they seek to gain it through violence.". Read our analysis about the situation in Haiti here. Why are people protesting in Latin America's most prosperous country? What is happening in Haiti today cannot be understood without also understanding its violent and colonial past, and of course the catastrophic behaviour of the international community providing emergency aid that failed to lift the country out of devastation after the 2010 devastating earthquake, whose aftereffects are still being felt today. You can find more information in our data protection declaration. This demonstrator is holding a sign that reads "Let's be realistic, let's ask for the impossible." In Horst's opinion, that's exactly what is happening in Chile. The social dissatisfaction of Latin Americaâs unstable middle and popular classes has triggered social mobilizations at a time when we have been witnessing similar dissatisfaction around the world. The social trends behind the protests can be seen in other South American countries, said Valeska Hesse, director of the Latin America office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), a political think tank with ties to Germany's Social Democratic Party. Now it's Colombia's turn. After months of protests, finally a space for debate about a new constitution has been opened, and important achievements such as a raise in the minimum wage were also gained. (22.10.2019), Germany's Social Democrats are calling for nationwide wealth tax. Haitians demonstrated their malaise this year by protesting against extreme poverty, but they also took to the streets to demand clarity over what happened to the millions of dollars that the country received from Venezuela that disappeared without a trace due to rampant corruption within the current government. Many marches occurred in countries that already have a strong culture of civic participation in protests (i.e. Opinion. Metro stations, buses and businesses were set ablaze as the protests began to turn violent. Is a wave of social protest about to break over all of Latin America? Their march started off a day of demonstrations on a long weekend in the Latin American country, expanding later as tens of thousands answered social media calls to match previous protests that attracted more than a million people. In Chile, 2,500 injured and least 20 dead in weeks of unrest. During his presidency, Evo successfully integrated indigenous and rural groups into Bolivian political life, and he also took a stand against the US and DEA policy of eradication of coca crops, defending its medicinal use by indigenous communities in the country. Whether the reforms will stop the general strike planned for Wednesday remains to be seen. In a country where the monthly wage of 70% of the population is below $700, the announcement of President Piñera that the Santiago metro fare would be rising from 800 to 830 pesos ($1.15) created a social explosion that would turn out to be extremely difficult to contain. A report by The Washington Post published in November also revealed the death tolls for different protests around the world this year. The interplay of those rights entails a set of safeguards that governments in Latin America are failing to ensure. Andres Bernal. The article focuses on Latin America, a region that has experienced substantial protests and demonstrations in the last decade, making use of individual-level data on redistributive preferences and protest participation collected across eighteen countries in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Michael Alvarez is a spokesman for the Green party-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation, and served as the think tank's director in Santiago de Chile for several years. Bettina Horst, deputy director of Chile's conservative think tank Libertad y Desarrollo, is more skeptical. These protests in Latin America are among those that created the biggest impact throughout 2019. However, he also welcomed extractivist industries and weakened constitutional mechanisms that guaranteed democracy in the country to extend his presidential mandate. Chile was ranked seventh. For these reasons, we explore the main protests and civil society movements in Latin America that occurred throughout 2019 that had impacts on the region and beyond. Over the past two weeks, Ecuador and Chile â two Latin American countries separated by more than 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) â have seen intense anti-government protests. Legal notice | María Victoria Murillo outlines some of the immediate consequences of Covid-19 for democratic governance in Latin America for our âCovid-19 and the Social Sciencesâ series. Many Chileans were on a long holiday weekend and the latest protest was relatively small compared to previous efforts. The eruption of protests suggests that Latin American governments are having difficulties delivering what voters care about: fair elections, honest politicians and economic redistribution. During the first two weeks of October, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Quito to express their collective frustration about the aggressive economic measures of Lenin Morenoâs government, who had previously negotiated a set of austerity measures with the IMF that would have negatively affected the most vulnerable of Ecuadorian society. The CIVICUS Watch List, which monitors democratic backslides across the world, included Colombia and Hong Kong in their October publication due to anti-democratic measures implemented against mostly peaceful protesters, attacking the democratic right to protest. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Port-au-Prince to demand the resignation of Moïse and Ceant, protesting against corruption and demanding an end to austerity measures that alongside the increase in prices of basic commodities, have caused extreme suffering in the country. ", Read more: Berlin's new rent freeze: How it compares globally. Only two countries outside of Latin America — South Africa and Rwanda — were ranked among the world's 10 most economically unequal. "[It's] protests with no clear aims and no leadership, simply set on destabilizing the country's democracy.". It pointed out that poverty levels in Chile had gone down by three percentage points between 2016 and 2019. In reality, it was a protest against low pensions, high gas and electricity bills, and unaffordable social services such as health and education that were inherited from an ultra neoliberal dictatorship lead by general Pinochet in the 1980s. He told DW that after much social progress in the early 2000s, many Latin American countries are now tightening their belts. According to the Gini index, the most widely used international measure of inequality - for which the higher the number, the greater the inequality - Chile ranks as the most unequal country among a group of 30 of the world's wealthiest nations. In 2019, we saw protests and disruptions take place in several countries across Latin America. In February of 2019, huge protests against President Jovenel Moïse and Prime Minister Jean-Henry Ceant erupted in Haiti, after a year of intermittent mobilisations. Contact âThe people have said âenough.â They do not want to continue to pay the ⦠"If there was a risk of contagion, I would think people in Argentina would have gone out onto the streets, too. Here, one demonstrator waves a Chilean flag as the troops spread out. Police abuse has been widespread in Latin America for decades, with security forces often violently putting down political dissent and carrying out extrajudicial killings. Protesters seek cover from riot police wielding a baton. That statement was backed by the World Bank's GINI index, which tracks global wealth inequality. "For more than 50 years, the IMF has always trumpeted the same recipe, namely economic liberalization and cuts to public spending," she said. Ecuador and Chile have been the scenes of anti-government protests in recent weeks, many of which have ended in violence. In Latin America, Mr. Pérez-Liñán said, they are also growing more fearful of unrest. "Chile is the most neoliberal country in the world. 277 shares. Protests in Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador and Chile have been all over international news, but, for example, if Belize is covered by Belizean newspapers is that relevant enough? Sign up for the newsletter here. "Every country in Latin America has its economic differences. Yet many Chileans have trouble making ends meet, and that has been an important factor in protests there. Disruptive mobilizations in Haiti, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador are only the tip of the iceberg, and protesters around the world are fighting to force governments to rethink development baased on extractivism and economic paradigms that have shaped the way our world works today. Meanwhile, at least three people died when supermarkets were set on fire. The protests began over a planned hike in transport fares last week, but have turned into a movement against Chile's economic model of creeping privatization, low wages and growing inequality. They have also made it clear that they demand a more effective response to the climate crisis, and to growing inequalities, that are negatively affecting millions of young people in Latin America and beyond. 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