Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 12 March 2020
Chileans worry unresolved problems may lead to new protests

By EVA VERGARA went out to march and if I
Associated Press have to do it again, I will."
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — From afar, Chile has been
The southern hemisphere a regional success story
summer has come to a — under democratically
close, and Chileans say elected presidents on the
they fear — or welcome — left and right, a free-mar-
the prospect that the turn ket consensus has driven
of the season could herald growth up, poverty down
a renewal of the vast pro- and won Chile the region's
tests that shook the nation highest score on the United
late last year over the gov- Nations Human Develop-
ernment's failure to chan- ment Index, a blend of
nel one of Latin America's life expectancy, educa-
best economies into well- tion and national income
being for the working and per capita. In 2010, Chile
middle classes. became the second Latin
After the protests, which member of the Organiza-
drew as many as 1.2 million tion for Economic Coop-
people into the streets, the eration and Development,
government promised re- after Mexico.
forms, the massive demon- But a 2017 UN report found
strations grew smaller and In this March 6, 2020 photo, anti-government protesters walk past a mural denouncing Chile's that the richest 1% of the
the country went on sum- President Sebastian Pinera in Santiago, Chile. population earns 33 per-
mer vacation. Associated Press cent of the nation's wealth.
The government increased Small protests by violent day when some 800,000 Juan Carlos González, 42, That helps make Chile the
some social benefits, and groups of masked youths people, by government said he receives slightly most unequal country in
set a nationwide vote for continued regularly even count, turned out for Inter- more than the minimum the OECD, slightly worse
next month on whether to during summer vacation national Women's Day. wage of $367 a month than Mexico.q
write a new constitution. But and led to regular vandal- Some of those interviewed from the factory where he After the protests that be-
Chileans returning to work ism of businesses and clash- in recent days by The As- works as an electrical tech- gan last October with the
and school as vacation es with police. After several sociated Press said that for nician. To make ends meet, burning of metro stations
ended told The Associated thousand people demon- the first time in months, they he said, he works as an and hundreds of business-
Press they felt that none of strated peacefully early were thinking of returning Uber driver at night and on es, President Sebastián Pi-
the fundamental causes of this month, a small group to the streets. Others said weekends. ñera responded with a bas-
the country's eruption had clashed with security forces they worried that that pro- "I'm angry at what's hap- ket of relatively small-scale
been resolved. and incinerated a police tests and attacks on shops pened," González said. reforms like raising retirees'
Some said they believed vehicle with a firebomb. and infrastructure by the "With the resources this pensions from $134 to $201
conditions were ripe for a By far the biggest — and masked demonstrators country has, these prob- a month, freezing domestic
possible new explosion of largely peaceful — recent could swell and grow out lems should have been electrical rates and raising
unrest at any time. demonstration came Sun- of control. solved many years ago. I a tax on the wealthy, q

Mexico City subway trains collide, killing 1, injuring 41

By PETER ORSI that only four of the 16 re- the end of service Tuesday pendent review of the inci- ing to the national newspa-
Associated Press mained in hospitals. She night when one train that dent. per El Universal.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A said the cause of the crash was headed to the ga- Images of the accident Tacubaya is a key station
two-train subway collision was under investigation. rage reversed into another, published in local media for the Metro system, with
in Mexico City killed a male Metro authorities said the parked train, which came showed wrecked subway three of its 11 lines inter-
passenger, injured 41 peo- two drivers of the trains to rest on top of the revers- cars derailed in the Ta- secting there, and there
ple and disrupted service were among those hurt. ing train. cubaya underground sta- were disruptions during the
Wednesday on the bustling Mexico City Metro direc- "That's because these trains tion, and rescuers carrying Wednesday morning com-
metro system serving this tor Florencia Serranía said don't have a system that people away. mute.
megalopolis of over 20 mil- at a news conference that allows, like modern trains, The Mexico City Metro sys- Metro authorities said ser-
lion people. the "black boxes" from both that when they collide the tem, one of the world's larg- vice on Line 1 would be
Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum trains, which will provide a impact is absorbed by the est and most transited, has reduced throughout the
said via Twitter that one of "second-by-second" re- cabins and security ele- seen at least two serious day with Tacubaya and a
the trains apparently re- cord of what happened, ments they have," Serranía accidents since it opened neighboring station out of
versed into the other by ac- were turned over to the said. five decades ago. action and 45 buses de-
cident the previous night, city prosecutor's office and The system is run by a pro- In 2015 a train failed to ployed to bridge the gap
shortly before midnight. their information appeared gram that's monitored brake in time and smashed of about 2.5 miles (4 kilo-
Twenty-five of the injured to be intact. from a control center. Driv- into another at the Ocea- meters).
were treated at the scene, Workers had separated the ers have to perform some nia station in the city's north, Serranía told Milenio televi-
and the other 16 were tak- stacked metro cars and actions, but cannot act injuring 12 people. Authori- sion that about five cars on
en to hospitals, Sheinbaum were working to clear the alone, she said. "If a driver ties later blamed "double each train were damaged.
said. track. does not receive a direct human error." Mexico City's Metro system
All the injuries were "light She said she expected the order, he can't act on his In the most serious incident, transported more than 1.6
to medium" and not life- line to be ready for service own," she said. two trains collided at the billion passengers in 2018,
threatening. Hours later, Thursday morning. She added that an inter- Viaducto station in 1975, according to official fig-
Mexico City prosecutor Serranía said the accident national expert had been killing at least 31 and injur- ures, or about 4.4 million
Rosa Icela Rodríguez said occurred 20 minutes before hired to conduct an inde- ing more than 70, accord- per day.q