Chile and Chilean News

Student led Protest in Chile
What began as a quiet plea for improvements in public education has now erupted into a wholescale rejection of the Chilean political elite. More than 100 high schools nationwide have been seized by students and a dozen universities shut down by protests.Classes for tens of thousands of students have been suspended since May 2011, and the entire school year might have to be repeated.


Support for the Student Protest


Polls show an estimated 70% of the Chilean public backs the students' demands and an equal percentage find the government's proposal insufficient, according to figures from Chile's leading newspaper, La Tercera.

Camila Vallejo Student Leader


Camila Vallejo President of Chile's leading student body, known as Fech (Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile), Vallejo – who is also a member of the youth arm of the Communist party, the JJCC – has presided over the biggest citizen democracy movement since the days of opposition marches to General Augusto Pinochet a generation ago.

In just a matter of months, Vallejo has been catapulted from anonymous student body president to Latin American folk hero with more than 300,000 Twitter followers.



Protest Marches


Throughout the six-month revolt, Chilean students – in many cases led by 14- and 15-year-olds – have seized the streets of Santiago and major cities, provoking and challenging the status quo with their demand for a massive restructuring of the nation's for-profit higher education industry.
In support of their demands for free university education, since May they have organised 37 marches, which have gathered upwards of 200,000 students at a time.

                                                












                                                    Sign reading 'Education is not for sale'

With Kiss-Ins and Dances, Young Chileans Push for Reform

Students-led Protest Demands -

• New Framework for Education in Chile 
• More Direct State Participation in Secondary Education and 
• End to the Existence of Profit in Higher Education.

 Forest Fire in Chile
Firefighters in Chile battled three huge wildfires Monday Jan 02,2012 that have burned about 90 square miles (23,000 hectares) of forest, destroyed more than 100 homes and have driven away thousands of tourists while causing millions of dollars in losses.
Chile's normally rainy southern regions are suffering from a nationwide heat wave, on top of a drought that makes fires increasingly likely. The country was battling 48 separate fires on Sunday alone, and red alerts were declared for the regions of Magallanes,Bio Bio and Maule.
In Magallanes, more than 7 percent of the famed Torres del Paine National Park had burned, ruining vacations for some of the 150,000 tourists.Strong winds grounded helicopters and planes for long periods, leaving the fight to more than 750 firefighters on the ground, who have contained four of six areas where the fire spread.

In the Bio Bio region, the timber industry is threatened by a fire that destroyed an Arauco company mill. Shares in Arauco's parent company, Copec SA, dropped nearly 4 percent before recovering in Monday trading. One of the Bio Bio fires also killed a 75-year-old man who refused to evacuate.

 

 

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake shook central Chile

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck central Chile Sunday March 25,2012 night, the strongest and longest that many people said they had felt since a huge quake devastated the area two years ago.

The quake struck at 7:30 p.m. about 16 miles (27 kilometers) north-northwest of Talca, a city of more than 200,000 people where residents said the shaking lasted about a minute.The quake’s epicentre was in the Maule region of Chile, 27 kilometres north-west of Talca and about 220 kilometres south-west of the capital, Santiago.
Buildings swayed in Chile's capital 136 miles (219 kilometers) to the north, and people living along a 480-mile (770-kilometer) stretch of Chile's central coast were briefly warned to head for higher ground.