At least 29 people were detained Sunday during a march in Santiago marking the seventh anniversary of Chile’s 2019 social outburst, the largest wave of protests since the return to democracy.
The march brought several thousand people to Plaza Italia, organized by social and student groups to remember the roughly thirty victims who died during the unrest and the thousands injured by security forces during the 2019 demonstrations.
The protests were originally triggered by a public transport fare increase during Sebastián Piñera’s government, adding to decades of accumulated discontent with the country’s neoliberal model.
RELATED: Centinela Mine Strike: 5 Critical Facts as Chilean Miners Escalate
This was the first commemoration of the social outburst during the term of far-right President José Antonio Kast, who has consistently criminalized the 2019 protests and refers to them as a “criminal outburst.” Slogans at the march targeted his government’s fiscal adjustments, and demonstrators called for a fairer economic model and greater social rights.
The government has decreed cuts in health, education, science, culture, scholarships, bonuses and subsidies, the closure of a program for women and the end of a plan that for 17 years provided computers to low-income schoolchildren.
🟥 Más de 5 horas llevan los manifestantes en Santiago de Chile, tras la fuerte represión contra la marcha en conmemoración por los 7 años de la revuelta popular de 2019, esta vez, en el marco de la grave situación social y económica que enfrenta el pais a la que se suman los… pic.twitter.com/7ysqKHDQOG
— Pao Dragnic (@PaolaDragnic) October 18, 2026
Kast, seven months into his term, has a 64% disapproval rating, driven by unfulfilled promises, falling economic indicators and rising unemployment, while rejection of social and public assistance cuts grows.
A poll by the firm Criteria published Sunday found that 68% of respondents believe the demands that sparked the 2019 unrest remain unresolved in Chile.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.