Wednesday, January 16, 2019 // The Statement 
7B
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 // The Statement
7B

V

iolence in Chile is an idea that 
I tie closely to my parent’s 
generation. Sept. 11, 1973 — a 
day that echoes in the history of Chile.
Sept. 11 was the date of the mili-
tary coup that would redefine Chilean 
politics, economics, and by extension, 
society. The coup brought on a com-
plete overhaul of the health care sys-
tem (loosely based on the American 
system), failing schools, poor pensions 
and even the systematic privatization 
of water.
It marked the beginning of two 
decades of violence. It was on this day 
when the CIA-backed military took 
the country away from the people and 
with the mantra of national recon-
struction, completely altered the fab-
ric of Chile. Those decades would be 
marked by systematic political repres-
sion and the persecution, torture and 
murder of dissidents. 
The consequences of Sep. 11 are not 
just a traumatic memory for Chileans: 
The day’s legacy lives on in the coun-
try. 
But now I am seeing violence play 
out during my lifetime. Violence lives 
on in response to the protests that 
broke out in Chile about a month ago. 

Onlookers are in shock as the often-
lauded capitalist success story is going 
up in flames. But to really understand 
what is happening in Chile, we first 
have to understand its history.
F

rom abroad, Latin America 
is a region plagued by eco-
nomic and political instabil-
ity. Uncertainty is a word that thrives 
in Latin America, and it takes hold of 
every political party — left or right. 
Systemic corruption runs in Chile and 
the rest of Latin America. 
But it wasn’t always like that. 
We need to think about the history 
of Latin America with an understand-
ing of the broader geopolitical context. 
From the late ’40s to the early ’90s, the 
United States fought to contain com-
munism during the Cold War. Dur-
ing this time, the U.S. government, 
through its use of the military and 
the CIA, enacted policies to expand 
American dominion beyond its geo-
graphic boundaries. Through econom-
ic engagement, both by private means 
and 
government 
treaties, 
military 
intervention or regime changes, Amer-
ica imposed its free-market ideology 
on to the rest of the world, including 
Latin America. 

In Chile, the 1960s 
and ’70s represented 
an era of social hope. 
Chile was one of the 
first 
countries 
to 
freely elect a social-
ist president, and with 
the election of Salva-
dor Allende in 1970 
lay the promise of a 
prosperous Chile. But 
this social hope was a 
threat to the American 
ideological project. 
In one fell swoop, 
everything 
changed. 
What took place in 
the country instead 
was the fast transfor-
mation of a neoliberal 
dreamland. At its core, 
this resulted in dereg-
ulation 
and 
priva-
tization 
of 
several 
facets of government 
as well as the devel-
opment of a state that 
guaranteed the rights 
to 
promote 
private 
entrepreneurship. As 
a result of the history of 
American intervention, Chile is now 
witnessing the growing inequality of 
its people. The imposed political trans-
formations have left in their wake the 
displacement and destruction of entire 
communities and a country unable to 
reconcile its political divide under a 
crumbling neoliberal banner.
T

he idealized image of Chile’s 
success story is now frac-
turing as a result of recent 
protests. What originally began as 
unrest because of an increase in sub-
way tariffs has transformed into a 
countrywide movement of Chileans 
demanding economic reform and the 
expulsion of its President Sebastián 
Piñera. Chileans are crying out in 
favor of better access to health care 
and education, pension system reform, 
nationalization of natural resources, a 
crackdown on government corruption, 
recognition of indigenous rights and a 
new constitution that replaces the one 
written during the dictatorship. 
But the president has responded 
to the surge of protests with hostile 
words and actions. He first declared a 
state of emergency, a right of the state 
that has not been invoked since the 

dictatorship (1973-1990). Along with 
an enforced curfew, the state of emer-
gency was intended to ensure private 
order by restricting people’s civil lib-
erties, movement and right to assem-
bly. Piñera has even gone so far as to 
claim that Chile is at war with people 
he deems are “enemies of the state.” 
He has sent about 10,000 armed mili-
tary personnel to Santiago and other 
areas to contain the growing unrest. 
Though he has since taken the mili-
tary off the streets of Santiago, prom-
ised higher pensions, better health 
coverage, higher taxes and even sup-
ports a referendum to write a new 
constitution, these promises are not 
enough to get people off the streets. 
The people do not believe his words. 
And how could they trust their govern-
ment? 
Official reports of human rights 
violations are circulating, but the gov-
ernment does not take responsibil-
ity, and social media is flooded with 
accusations of biased reporting. There 
are videos of police snorting cocaine 
to remain more vigilant circulating 
on social media. There are videos of 
people being taken from their homes 
on Facebook. It was recently reported 
that a destroyed subway stop, Estación 
Baquedano, was being used as a tor-
ture room. Women have claimed to be 
sexually abused after getting arrested. 
Countless photos are circulating of 
people getting shot in the eye and los-
ing their vision. 
These drastic measures are reopen-
ing the wound of the dictatorship. It 
is invoking the memory of a violent 
past into a turbulent present. These 
protests may have been started by stu-
dents, but they are now fighting hand 
in hand with older generations who 
survived the dictatorship. The time-
line of Chile’s history is blurred on the 
streets of Santiago and beyond. The 
cries of the past are echoed in the cries 
of today.
Piñera is wrong. Chile isn’t at war 
with enemies of the state, Chile is still 
fighting the oppressive legacy of the 
dictatorship. It was never about the 
30 pesos tariff increase. It is about 30 
years of political repression and a peo-
ple whose desire for an equal and wor-
thy life has endured. What lies at stake 
is the opportunity for a rebirth of the 
country, one that can finally lay to rest 
the bones of the dictatorship. 

The price of a free market

BY MARTINA VILLALOBOS, STATEMENT COLUMNIST

COURTESY OF ORIZON VILLALOBOS