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
María Corina Machado: “Venezuela is closer than ever to regaining freedom”
Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado declared on Friday that Venezuela is facing “the most decisive moment in its contemporary history” and that the country is “closer than ever to regaining freedom and democracy.”
Her remarks were delivered via video message during the 81st General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Machado emphasized that the situation in Venezuela remains “extremely serious” due to censorship and repression imposed by Nicolás Maduro’s regime, particularly in a global context where “society is built on information.”
She warned that authoritarian governments manipulate public opinion through “psychological warfare” and disinformation, while shutting down media outlets and persecuting journalists.
“The only way to topple these regimes is through the constant, relentless, and unrestricted preaching of the truth. It is absolutely true that the truth will set us free,” she stated.
International
Millions to join “No Kings” march in U.S. amid Trump’s growing authoritarian backlash
Millions of Americans are set to take to the streets this Saturday in more than 2,500 cities across the United States for the second edition of the “No Kings” march, a massive protest organized by progressive groups and activists against what they describe as the authoritarian direction of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
The demonstration, expected to be the largest since Trump’s return to power, comes amid a federal government shutdown, further heightening political tensions in Washington.
From the White House, press secretary Abigail Jackson dismissed the event with a brief “Who cares?”, while senior Republican leaders labeled the march as an act of “hate against America.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson accused Democrats of blocking negotiations to reopen the government and claimed they were “unable to stand up to their raging base.” He also linked the protests to “supporters of Hamas and the Antifa terrorist group.”
President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, blamed Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for the legislative deadlock.
“He’s got nothing else left to do. Everyone’s hitting him hard,” Trump said.
The organizers — a coalition of Democratic leaders and more than 200 civil society and labor groups — argue that the Republican refusal to reopen the government is a clear symptom of the authoritarianism they seek to denounce.
The main rally will take place in Washington, D.C., which has been under heightened National Guard surveillance for weeks, officially to control rising crime. However, organizers contend the deployment is aimed at intimidating and silencing dissent.
Protesters have been urged to wear yellow, a reference to the 2019 pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
“With this color, we align ourselves with a historical context and remind the world that power must come from the people, not from crowns,” organizers stated on their website.
In addition to the capital, large marches are scheduled in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, and Honolulu, as well as abroad in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and several Spanish cities — Madrid (Puerta del Sol), Barcelona (Plaça Sant Jaume), Seville (Plaza Nueva), and Málaga (Plaza de la Marina).
During the first edition, held in June, the movement gathered around five million people, a figure organizers expect to surpass this weekend.
International
Petro expresses concern over fatal shooting during mass protests in Lima
Colombian President Gustavo Petro voiced his “concern” on Thursday over recent events in Peru, following the death of a protester reportedly shot during a massive demonstration in Lima against the government and Congress.
“I must express my concern over the events in Peru. A young artist has been killed in citizens’ protests,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Colombian leader also noted that in Peru, “a popularly elected president remains imprisoned without conviction,” referring to Pedro Castillo, who led the country from July 2021 to December 2022 until he was removed by Congress following a failed attempted coup.
“This is a blatant violation of the American Convention on Human Rights,” Petro stated, adding, “I hope Peru seeks social and political dialogue to legitimize its public institutions.”
On Wednesday, Peru experienced widespread protests in several cities, with the largest demonstration in Lima in recent years, driven by citizens’ concerns over corruption and public insecurity.
During the capital’s mobilization, the Ombudsman’s Office confirmed the death of Eduardo Ruiz, 32, and reported clashes that left over 100 injured, including 78 police officers and 24 protesters, as well as ten arrests.
The Attorney General’s Office, investigating Ruiz’s death “in the context of serious human rights violations,” confirmed that the protester was shot.
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