The insurrection in Chile is a consequence of its growing social inequalities imposed by the neoliberal economic model. The popular insurrection results, fundamentally, from the divorce between the neoliberal state and the economically dispossessed civil society that is undermined in their social rights.

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LESSONS FROM THE PEOPLE'S INSURGENCY IN CHILE
Fernando Alcoforado*
Chile's capital, Santiago, is being marred by protests. Seven deaths and thousands of
injuries have occurred since the protests began. Protesters, hooded, engaged in violent
clashes with police in Plaza Italia, the center of the Chilean capital. Protests against the
government began in the capital but spread to other Chilean cities. The increase, between
800 and 830 pesos (corresponding to 1.04 Euros) in the price of subway tickets, which
carries about 3 million passengers daily, triggered violent demonstrations against the high
cost of living and social inequalities in the country.
As a protest, students began to skip the turnstiles to enter the subway platforms without
paying the ticket. Clashes between authorities and protesters began when police tried to
block the demonstrations. The situation worsened as violence took to the streets of the
Chilean capital with fires at several subway and bus stations, looting of supermarkets and
attacks on hundreds of public facilities. President Sebastián Piñera then declared a state
of emergency, which meant sending troops to the protest sites. In addition, the
government ordered curfew. The state of emergency remains in force in the capital and
other regions of the country, with the mobilization of over 10,000 police officers.
Authorities have extended curfew in the Santiago Metropolitan Region and in the
Concepción and Valparaíso regions. The Chilean Army also announced curfew in other
cities, such as Coquimbo and La Serena.
In protest, the people of Santiago took to the streets to express their discontent not only
about the rising price of subway tickets, but also about the rising cost of living and the
government's anti-social economic policy. Chilean President Piñera decreed a state of
emergency in the capital for 15 days and halted the rise in transport prices. However,
demonstrations and clashes continued. Protesters allege the deterioration of social
conditions and social inequalities, as health and education are almost entirely controlled
by the private sector.
The largest trade union central in the country started two days of general strike, calling
for an end to (tariff) increases. The strike comes despite an apology from the Chilean
president who also announced a package of economic measures, described as "a social
agenda of national unity". However, none of these measures and announcements
alleviated the fury of the Chileans participating in the protests. The insurgent people
demand the resignation of the President of Chile and new constitution. President denies
resignation but admits to change Chile's Constitution. In addition, Piñera canceled a
recent 9.2% increase in electricity bills, promised to increase pensions by 20% and
subsidize increases in the minimum wage, among other measures.
Popular demonstrations, however, continue to march with thousands of people on the
streets of Santiago and other cities such as Valparaiso and Concepción who have suffered
serious damage to buildings and public spaces, as well as blockages in ports and roads.
The reasons for the popular uprising in Chile stem from the excessive indebtedness of the
population since 1 in 3 over 18 have a financial situation that cannot afford their lifestyle,
from high prices on basic services such as subway, electricity, water, drugs, from
precarious health services characterized by a lack of hospitals and specialists, long queues
and private health that excludes the elderly and is more expensive for women of

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reproductive age, from the antisocial pension system characterized by individual
capitalization of workers with pensions below the minimum wage of US $ 400, from to
the precariousness of the education system in which the law increases penalties against
students and more than 600,000 students are indebted with bank credits to cover the costs
of their training (4,5 billion dollars in 2018).
However, the popular uprising in Chile is a consequence of the evil legacy left by the
bloodthirsty dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet that is expressed in the current
1980 Constitution that is, made during the regime of exception. Pinochet in power
approved a neoliberal Constitution that does not place the state as guarantor of the social
rights of the population, but as a subsidiary to what the market fails to meet. The result
has been, for example, the abandonment of education and health services by the state that
have been provided by the private sector. The state also abandoned its Social Security
burden with the complete privatization of the system in which people realized that, in
practice, it was impossible to stop working until the end of life to support themselves. In
the 1980 Chilean Constitution there is a blatant neoliberalism of the country's legal and
economic regime constituting Pinochet's cursed inheritances in the country's institutional
system.
On Pinochet's dictatorship, it is important to remember that on September 11, 1973, the
Chilean Armed Forces, under the leadership of the Army Commander, General Augusto
Pinochet, began of one of the most repressive and bloody periods in Latin America in the
twentieth century. For about three hours, coup and legalist forces, which stood alongside
President-elect Salvador Allende, clashed in fighting at La Moneda Palace, the seat of
Chile's presidency in Santiago. After being bombed by air force planes and invaded by
the military, President Salvador Allende was found dead among the rubble of the palace.
A military junta under Pinochet took over and decreed a "state of war", starting a 17-year
regime of terror with more than 3,200 dead and 38,000 arrested and tortured.
In addition to imposing the military dictatorship, Pinochet left as legacy the neoliberal
economic model, which resulted in Chile as an extremely unequal country. According to
the latest edition of the Latin American Social Outlook report, prepared by the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the richest 1% of the
Chilean population retained 26.5% of the country's wealth in 2017, while 50% of low-
income households represented only 2.1% of net wealth. According to the Chilean
National Institute of Statistics, half of the country's workers receive a salary of 400,000
pesos or less (R$ 2,280) per month. With this salary, protesters claim that an increase in
subway passage is inconceivable. Especially considering that public transportation in
Chile is one of the most expensive in the world. A recent study by Diego Portales
University points out that out of 56 countries around the world, transportation in Chile is
the ninth most expensive. Thus, there are low-income families who can spend almost 30%
of their wages on public transportation, while at the richest socioeconomic level, the
percentage of spending in this sector may be less than 2%.
In addition to growing social inequalities in Chile, the Chilean political class has for years
been promising improvements in the quality of life for citizens. Educational,
constitutional, tax and health reforms have been announced, but many have failed to meet
society's expectations. The social unrest resulted in this series of manifestations due to
unmet expectations by the governments by center-left Michelle Bachelet (from 2006 to
2010 and after 2014 to 2018) and center-right Sebastián Piñera - who also led the country

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in a previous period, between 2010 and 2014. It should be noted that the recent protests
were mainly led by students. The first demonstration took place on October 7, led by
students from emblematic schools, mainly from the National Institute. This
establishment, founded in 1813, was the central point of protest organization. Student
complaints have to do with the "lack of resources" for Chilean education and
precariousness in classrooms. The excesses that have occurred in recent days in Chile are
partly the result of the emergence of a new generation of students who are manifesting
themselves with increasing intensity..
Countries like Brazil that have been adopting the neoliberal economic model since 1990
may face the same insurrection that occurs in Chile because of growing social
inequalities. The rulers of these countries may face the popular uprising that results,
fundamentally, from the divorce between the neoliberal state and the economically
dispossessed civil society that is undermined by social rights.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 79, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System,
member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional
Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of
strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is author of the
books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem
Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os
condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de
Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora
Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos
na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica,
Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate
ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores
Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo
e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As
Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba,
2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua
convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro
para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).