International

Fresh protests to mark anniversary of Chile revolt

Photo: Martin Bernetti / AFP

AFP

Hundreds of Chileans, mainly students, protested in Santiago Tuesday, erecting burning barricades to mark three years since a social uprising they say has not yet yielded the desired societal change.

Demonstrators wearing goggles and facemasks as protection against tear gas stopped car traffic on the central Alameda avenue, and several metro stations were shuttered.

Police deployed 25,000 officers to keep the peace, and used water cannon to disperse trouble-making demonstrators in at least one venue.

Many shops closed early, or did not open at all, while schools sent pupils home early in a country where demonstrations in recent years have frequently been marred by clashes with the security forces.

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“We have gained nothing” in the three years since the movement began, said Andrea Valdebenito, a 43-year-old social worker who was among those gathered.

The protests came exactly three years after the start of a mass revolt against a rise in metro fares in 2019 that quickly escalated into a general clamor for better conditions and social equality.

The government suspended the price hike but protests continued, and dozens were killed over months of clashes. Hundreds of people were injured.

The demonstrations kickstarted reforms that included the government’s agreement to the drafting of a new constitution to replace the one inherited from the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and perceived as market-friendly.

Last December, Chile elected a leftist president in Gabriel Boric, who supported the constitution-writing process.

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But last month, nearly two-thirds of voters rejected the proposed draft despite the new revolutionary mood, amid concerns that parts of the document were too far-reaching.

A constitutional provision to legalize abortion was a key stumbling block in the conservative, majority-Catholic country.

Boric, a former student leader who had supported the 2019 protests, on Tuesday called for a new social dialogue to give shape to much-needed social reform.

The 2019 uprising, he said, “was an expression of pain and fractures in our society that politics, of which we are a part, has failed to interpret or answer.”

Boric came to office with promises of turning the deeply unequal country into a greener, more egalitarian “welfare state.”

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A demonstrator takes part in a protest in the surroundings of the Baquedano square in Santiago, on the third anniversary of a social uprising against rising utility prices, on October 18, 2022. - The sustained movement forced then president Sebastian Pinera to increase tax spending and expand social programs, resulting in 2021 in the largest increase in public spending in the country's history at 33 percent. (Photo by Martin BERNETTI / AFP)

International

Hiroshima survivor who embraced Obama dies at 88

The emotional embrace between Barack Obama and Hiroshima survivor Mori—who was eight years old when the United States dropped the atomic bomb in 1945—resonated around the world.

According to Asahi Shimbun and other local media, Mori died on Saturday at a hospital in Hiroshima.

Mori, known for his research on the fate of American prisoners of war in Hiroshima, was thrown into a river by the force of the explosion on August 6, 1945, during the atomic bombing of the city.

In a past interview with AFP, ahead of his meeting with Obama at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 2016, Mori recalled the chaos and desperation that followed the blast.

He described how, after emerging from the water, he encountered injured civilians seeking help amid the devastation, an experience that stayed with him throughout his life.

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In 2016, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he paid tribute to the victims of the first atomic bomb used in warfare. During the visit, Mori was visibly moved as he met the president, sharing a brief but powerful moment that symbolized remembrance and reconciliation.

The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in the deaths of approximately 140,000 people, including those who succumbed to radiation exposure in the aftermath.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people and contributing to the end of World War II.

International

Colombia seeks ‘total suffocation’ of armed groups with regional support

Colombia is advancing a strategy aimed at the “total suffocation” of illegal armed groups, seeking to corner them in border regions with the support of Ecuador and Venezuela, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said in an interview with AFP.

According to the minister, coordinated pressure from neighboring countries—backed by United States—aims to dismantle criminal networks that use cross-border routes to traffic Colombian cocaine toward North America and Europe.

For decades, armed groups involved in Colombia’s internal conflict have relied on border territories as strategic rear bases to evade military operations and maintain logistical support.

However, Sánchez said that dynamic is beginning to change.

“We expect a total suffocation between both nations so they have no spaces where they can live or feel safe […] to close off any room they might have,” he stated during the interview in Bogotá, less than five months before the end of President Gustavo Petro’s term.

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Regional developments have reinforced this strategy. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation, Washington has increased its influence in Caracas, where interim leader Delcy Rodríguez has implemented a renewed anti-narcotics policy.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa—a key U.S. ally in the region—has launched a two-week security plan under strict curfews to combat criminal gangs, with U.S. support.

Sánchez argued that these combined efforts leave illegal organizations with fewer escape routes and operational spaces, effectively placing them in a “dead end.”

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.