Chile: The Big Gap

CHILE

The Big Gap

Santiago was paralyzed Monday as protesters hit the streets for the fourth consecutive day, shutting stores, banks, and schools.

The unrest sparked last week by a now suspended metro fare hike has turned into a movement against rising inequality in the Andean nation, and killed at least 11, CNN reported.

The chaos forced conservative President Sebastian Pinera to send soldiers and tanks into the city over the weekend for the first time since 1990, when Chile brought back democracy after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. On Monday, more than 10,500 soldiers and police were deployed.

Pinera condemned the riots saying that the country is “at war against a powerful enemy.”

The protests have exposed the divisions in the nation with many Chileans demanding reforms over the rising cost of public services and the decline in living standards, according to the Washington Post.

Former Chilean president and current UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, called for an investigation into the deaths Monday.

Meanwhile, workers at Chile’s Escondida copper mine – the world’s largest – said that they would hold a strike Tuesday in solidarity with protesters, Reuters reported.