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A12 WORLD NEWS
Friday 25 OctOber 2019
Teachers who don't flee Venezuela get side gigs to survive

By SCOTT SMITH and Cuba. As the political
JORGE RUEDA struggle continues with no
Associated Press end in sight, teachers and
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) school administrators say
— Daixy Aguero holds her their classes shrink, supplies
chin up when students dwindle and the pay barely
wander by and are sur- covers the basics at home.
prised to find their teacher New teachers earn a mini-
selling makeup at a week- mum wage equal to a
end Caracas street market. few U.S. dollars a month,
Aguero says it's the only though pay doubles and
way she can make ends triples with years of experi-
meet on a teacher's pay in ence. Venezuela's Minis-
Venezuela. ter of Education Aristóbulo
Some 40 percent of Ven- Istúriz spoke Tuesday in a
ezuela's teachers have nationally broadcast press
left their schools in the last conference about the so-
three years, according to a cialist party's progress unit-
union representing educa- ing workers, but he did not
tors. They're escaping low mention the teachers' strike
pay and crumbling class- or their grievances.
rooms. Officials recently hiked
Others like Aguero have Venezuela's minimum
stayed behind on the front In this Oct. 7, 2019 photo, teacher Daixy Aguero leads her students during an activity at a school wage and bonuses by
line of the country in crisis. in Caracas, Venezuela. more than 350%, bringing
They keep teaching out Associated Press it to the equivalent of $15
of a passion that first drew bling schools. Teachers in fend the quality of educa- Despite drawing on the a month. But analysts say
them to education, while 17 of Venezuela's 23 states tion for our students" said world's largest oil reserves, hyperinflation will quickly
taking side gigs to feed their walked out of class, gath- Griselda Sánchez, a rep- Venezuela today produces reduce it to a fraction and
families. Aguero tells her ering of hundreds at some resentative of the Trade less than 20 percent of the leave workers again strug-
kindergarten students who protests, while organizers Union Coalition. "We're de- its peak crude production gling to afford basic items.
find her hawking lipstick, said others stayed in the fending a salary that will when the late President The International Monetary
eyeliner and face cream classroom, fearing they allow all of us to live with Hugo Chavez launched the Fund estimates Venezuela's
that she's not ashamed. would be punished or fired. dignity." socialist revolution in 1999. inflation will hit 200,000% this
"I tell them you have to Protesters in Caracas car- Crisis has driven an esti- Opposition leader Juan year.
work," she said. "And you ried banners outside the mated that 40 percent of Guaidó's U.S.-backed effort "This is the only country
have to study." Ministry of Education blast- Venezuela's 370,000 active to oust Maduro, Chavez's where no one is happy
Thousands of Venezuelan ing President Nicolás Mad- teachers from their jobs successor, so far has failed when there is a salary in-
teachers vented their frus- uro, who they say has let since the start of 2017, ac- to budge the socialist presi- crease," teacher Maria
tration in a two-day strike the country down as well as cording to union figures. dent, who maintains a tight Carrillo said. The teachers
ending Wednesday to de- its next generation, which Many are among the more grip on power with sup- demand between $500
mand better working con- they says doesn't get a than 4 million Venezuelans port from the military and and $600 a month.
ditions such as fair wages proper education. have left in search of a bet- dozens of international al- It's not just teachers missing
and urgent repairs to crum- "We are mobilized to de- ter life. lies including China, Russia from classrooms.q

Chile protesters: Government concessions not enough

By EVA VERGARA contain unrest that began for relative stability.
Associated Press as a protest over a 4-cent Much of the discontent
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — increase in subway fares centers on growing inequal-
Demonstrators returned to and soon morphed into a ity in one of Latin America's
Chile's streets on Thursday, larger movement over ris- wealthiest nations. The in-
dissatisfied with economic ing water and medical volvement of multiple sec-
concessions announced costs and other hardships. tors of society, including
by the government in a bid Hundreds of demonstra- students and workers, pos-
to curb a week of deadly tors began gathering in city es a complex challenge for
violence. President Sebas- squares in Chile on Thurs- a government that says it is
tián Piñera acknowledged day, a day after huge pro- hard-pressed to deal with
that the steps taken to ease tests and riots in the capital, rising oil prices and a weak-
public anger won't fully ad- Santiago. Some residents er currency. "One cannot
dress the grievances of spent the morning clearing stay on the margin in an
many people in the coun- debris from the unrest. unequal system," said pro-
try of 18 million. "But we At least 18 people have tester Alfonso Riquelme. He
also know that it constitutes died in violence that has cast the protest movement hile's President Sebastian Pinera addresses the nation, in
important relief," said the swept the South Ameri- as a struggle for people's Santiago, Chile, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019.
president, whose conces- can nation. Most protests rights, recalling resistance Associated Press
sions include plans to put a have been peaceful, but to the dictatorship under oned for political reasons though the spectacle of
9.2% increase in electricity instances of arson, looting Gen. Augusto Pinochet be- during the Pinochet era. soldiers on Chile's streets in
prices on hold until the end and alleged brutality by se- tween 1973 and 1990. In contrast, Piñera was recent days has stirred ugly
of next year. Piñera's ad- curity forces have shocked About 40,000 people were democratically elected to memories of a darker time
ministration is struggling to many in a country known killed, tortured or impris- lead a civilian government, in the country's history. q