International
Chile: rocky road to new constitution
AFP
Chileans head to the polls for a referendum on September 4 to vote on a proposed new constitution that would overhaul the country’s dictatorship-era system.
Here is a timeline of the country’s turmoil since bloody protests broke out nearly three years ago, in which a new constitution was a key demand.
2019: violent clashes
Protests in Chile’s capital, Santiago, against a rise in metro fares on October 18, 2019, escalate into clashes between police and demonstrators angry at gaping social inequality.
Center-right president Sebastian Pinera declares a state of emergency.
Soldiers are deployed in the city the following day for the first time since the end of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.
Pinera — a billionaire — suspends the ticket price hike, but protests and clashes continue.
‘Chile is awake’
The state of emergency is extended to other regions as protests spread with people chanting: “Chile is awake.”
About 30 people are killed.
Pinera apologizes and announces more social spending on October 22, but a general strike begins with leaders demanding the military return to barracks.
After some 1.2 million Chileans take to the streets in Santiago on October 25, the curfew and state of emergency are lifted and Pinera reshuffles his cabinet.
The street movement continues.
Constitutional referendum
In a breakthrough on November 15, lawmakers agree to a key opposition demand for a referendum on replacing the Pinochet-era constitution.
The government follows this up in early December with a $5.5-billion social plan, and a month later, the president announces reforms of the health system.
The United Nations, meanwhile, denounces multiple rights violations by police.
2020: New clashes
After a period of calm despite demonstrations every Friday in Santiago, new clashes in late January 2020 turn deadly, with four people killed.
Violence erupts again on February 23 at Vina del Mar near Valparaiso, and then in early March in several other towns.
The president announces police reform.
Virus, referendum put off
Chile declares a “national disaster” in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, with protests paused and a referendum — originally scheduled for April — postponed until October.
‘Yes’ to new constitution
On October 25, Chileans vote by nearly four to one (79 percent) for a new constitution to be drawn up.
2021: more delays
In late March 2021, Chile locks down four-fifths of its population as the virus surges again. The election of the constituent assembly charged with revising the constitution is put off to May.
Leaning left, new president
A third of newly-elected members of the constitutional convention — a majority left-leaning — are independents, with no single group winning a majority.
In the presidential election at the end of 2021, many voters after a polarized campaign — driven either by anti-communist sentiment or fear of a return to rightwing tyranny — opt to cast a protest vote for the candidate they consider the “lesser evil.”
Leftist candidate Gabriel Boric wins the election on December 19.
2022: progressive prospects
The new president introduces several measures addressing the economy and social rights.
In April he presents a recovery plan of 3.7 billion dollars, notably to help families and create 500,000 jobs.
On July 4 Chile’s constitutional convention hands its draft to Boric. If adopted, it will make Chile one of the most progressive countries in the region.
In the first of the new constitution’s 388 articles, Chile is described as “a social and democratic State of law,” as well as “plurinational, intercultural and ecological.”
As well as recognizing the different peoples that make up the Chilean nation, the new constitution accords a certain amount of autonomy to Indigenous institutions, notably in matters of justice.
The right to elective abortion would become enshrined in law. It is today permitted only if there is a risk to the life of the pregnant woman, in cases of fetal non-viability and rape.
International
Mexico Arrests CJNG Leader “El Jardinero” in Nayarit
Mexican authorities arrested Audias Flores, known as “El Jardinero,” on Monday during a naval operation in the western state of Nayarit, delivering another major blow to the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).
Flores was considered one of the top regional leaders within the cartel and had reportedly overseen criminal operations along Mexico’s Pacific coast. Security analysts viewed him as a potential successor to slain drug kingpin Nemesio Oseguera.
The arrest was carried out by Mexico’s Navy Special Forces in a planned operation, according to Security Minister Omar García Harfuch.
The United States Department of the Treasury had previously identified Flores as a “significant foreign narcotics trafficker,” while U.S. authorities offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his capture and extradition.
A U.S. grand jury indicted Flores in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin.
His capture comes months after the reported death of “El Mencho,” an operation that Mexican authorities considered a priority due to the cartel leader’s alleged involvement in a 2020 assassination attempt against García Harfuch.
International
Suspect Armed With Shotgun and Knives Detained at White House Correspondents Dinner
U.S. authorities confirmed Saturday that the suspect who stormed into the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner while President Donald Trump was attending acted alone, adding that there is no ongoing threat to the public following the incident, which left one Secret Service agent injured.
Acting Metropolitan Police Department chief Jeff Carroll said during a press conference that the suspect was carrying “a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives” when he attempted to pass through a Secret Service security checkpoint inside the hotel lobby at approximately 8:36 p.m. local time.
“At this point, everything indicates that this was a lone actor, a lone gunman,” Carroll stated, adding that investigators have found no preliminary evidence suggesting the involvement of additional suspects.
During the exchange of gunfire inside the hotel corridors, the suspect was not struck by bullets but was subdued by law enforcement officers and later transported to a hospital for medical evaluation.
A member of the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division was shot during the incident, though the bullet was stopped by the officer’s ballistic vest, preventing serious injuries. The agent was taken to a hospital and is reportedly “in good spirits,” according to Carroll.
The shooting prompted the immediate evacuation of President Trump, Melania Trump, and several senior officials attending the event after multiple gunshots were heard outside the hotel’s main ballroom.
International
U.S. allows Venezuela to fund Maduro and Cilia Flores’ legal defense
Until now, the U.S. administration had blocked the Venezuelan government from covering the legal fees of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who is also jailed and facing drug trafficking charges, due to international sanctions imposed on Venezuela.
The couple’s legal team had relied on that argument in an attempt to have the indictment dismissed, claiming that preventing a defendant from accessing counsel of their choice violates rights guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
However, the U.S. Treasury Department will now allow “defense attorneys to receive payments from the Government of Venezuela under certain conditions,” New York prosecutor Jay Clayton wrote in a letter dated Friday to Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing the case.
According to the letter, the funds must have become available after March 5, 2026, and cannot come from Venezuelan oil sales regulated in the United States.
Since Maduro’s removal from power in early January, former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has served as Venezuela’s interim leader.
The United States effectively controls Venezuelan crude exports, with revenues deposited into special accounts supervised by Washington.
Court documents filed on Friday show that the defense acknowledged the sanctions exemption and, for now, withdrew its motion seeking dismissal of the charges.
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