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
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
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Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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