Massive anti-austerity protests begin to engulf Latin America: Chile explodes.

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]rom Ecuador to Argentina, from Haiti to Honduras, from Brazil and now Chile, ordinary citizens are mobilising to resist and push back the economic aggression of "Neoliberalism", the naked dictatorship of capital. After more than 30 years of "free marketism" imposed at bayonet point by Pinochet and those "democratic" regimes that followed, Chileans have had enough. They have reached the point of desperation where death is better than living like a serf. Meanwhile, the US media and vassal press in Europe and other countries never tire of praising Chile's "economic miracle", talking about this country being so developed, etc., etc., all of that based on the country's GDP, without ever mentioning that a hefty GDP is useless unless the national wealth is well and fairly distributed, which Chile, profoundly inegalitarian, certainly is not. Obviously, in this wave of legitimate global protests I do not include Hong Kong, a cynical and misguided US engineered color revolution staged by people who hardly understand their own history, and are willing to sell their country's sovereignty to imperialists and colonialists who until recently, historically speaking, saw them and treated them like Untermensch.

Massive Anti-Austerity Protests, Curfew, Repression in Chile
SOURCE: The Real News Network • Eloquent and great images.

Soldiers Patrol Streets of Chile Capital, As Protests Continue

Oct 23, 2019
NOTE: This video is notable for what it shows, and for the description blurb that accompanies it. After all, the VOA is an official organ of propaganda of the United States. Despite that, while the text packs some venom against the protesters, it also admits that Chileans are protesting because, as VOA so tactfully puts it, "they have been left out of the prosperity of Latin America's wealthiest country." Left out, yea. More than 30 years of brutal neoliberalism that has driven 3/4 of the population to near destitution.

Soldiers patrol Santiago streets, Wednesday, October 23, as thousands of people flooded the streets of Chile's capital, on day one of a general strike, upping the pressure on President Sebastian Pinera after days of social unrest that have left at least 15 dead. The protests that began last week over a 4% increase in subway fares in Santiago have spread across the nation, inflamed by the frustration of ordinary Chileans who feel they have been left out of the prosperity of Latin America's wealthiest country. Protesters have set fire to subway stations, buses and banks, businesses have been damaged and looted, and property has been destroyed as rioters demand the resignation of conservative President Sebastian Pinera. Late Monday, the government canceled the proposed fare hike and Pinera said he was ready to meet with the different factions and discuss ways to end the violence.