The past few days, Santiago has been on national news for the state of chaos we have been under. Fortunately, I am safe, and the violence seems to be calming down, but there is still a lot that needs to be done before Chile can put these issues to bed. Early last week, the government announced they would be raising the prices for the metro, the most popular form of public transportation here. It already cost around US$1.00-$1.15 each time you ride, which adds up quickly. People here are also paid much less on average, so any increase in recurring costs can cause major problems for people. So, as is fairly common in Chile, people began to protest.

The fare increase may have sparked the outrage, but there were a lot of things these protests were about. Minimum wage, education, inequality, healthcare, and several other issues have been fought over recently and these protests brought them all up again. Unfortunately, these protests started to become violent and the situation escalated. The people felt their president had not been listening to them and their government wasn’t fighting for their best interests. Metro stations were destroyed, busses were burned, and protests became more and more intense.

The government’s response was to send police and even military to the streets, which upset people even more. The last time the military was patrolling the streets like this was between 1973-1990 during Pinochet’s military dictatorship. Many Chileans still remember this time period and being reminded of it only caused more outrage. We have had curfews for the past three nights and many businesses have been closed.

It is upsetting to see the Chilean people hurting like this, but it has also been an experience to learn from, as it speaks to Chile’s history and how it affects their culture today. It is common for the people to protest and speak out when they do not agree with their government and hopefully in the coming days, we can see this make a change for the better.