As Chile’s president-elect Sebastian Piñera promises to perfect its anti-terrorist laws, repression against the Mapuche people seems likely to increase during his second presidential term.
Building on the student-led mass protests of 2006 and 2011, a newly forming leftist coalition in Chile is well-positioned to challenge Sebastián Piñera’s incoming right-wing administration.
Rightwing businessman Sebastián Piñera will be president in Chile, again. But a new Left movement could bring hope for the country’s political dynamic.
The making of a long-term right to housing has constrained the largely unfettered free-market policies embraced by the Pinochet dictatorship and the democratic presidencies that followed.
It remains to be seen how President Michelle Bachelet will weather the current discontent with her presidency, and whether she can effectively deal with the corruption that threatens her ability to govern.
A new Chilean law bans profits, tuition, and selective admissions in private primary and secondary schools that receive state subsidies--but students say much more is needed to dismantle the most commodified education system in the world.
