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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Chile-General-Strike-Begins-as-Pinera-Asks-for-Forgiveness--20191023-0001.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Chile-General-Strike-Begins-as-Pinera-Asks-for-Forgiveness--20191023-0001.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Chile: General Strike Begins as Piñera
Asks for Forgiveness</h1>
October 23, 2019</div>
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<p>Chile's Workers' United Center (CUT) and over twenty
national organizations began on Wednesday a 48-hour
general strike to demand President Sebastian Piñera take
the military out of the streets.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em><strong>RELATED:</strong></em></p>
<p><a
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Chile-State-Violence-Leads-to-1420-Arrests-and-11-Deaths-20191022-0001.html"
target="_blank"><em><strong>Chile: State Violence
Leads to 1,420 Arrests and 11 Deaths</strong></em></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Santiago, the country's capital, the strike began
with a march from Italy Square towards The Heroes
Square.</p>
<p>"Our goals are to say NO to the State of Emergency,
recover peace and deepen democracy so that the people's
fair demands are met," the CUT Secretary General
Nolberto Diaz explained.</p>
<p>Similar demonstrations will be held in several cities
throughout the country until 6:00 P.M. At this time, the
Chileans are summoned to a "cacerolazo", that is, to
make noise by banging pots.</p>
<p>Among the organizations leading the demonstrations are
the No More Private Pensions Coordinator, the National
Association of Fiscal Employees, the Confederation of
Municipal Health, the Coordinator of Trade and Financial
Unions, the Banking Confederation, Interempresa Lider
Trade Union, the College of Teachers and the National
Confederation of Health Workers.</p>
<p><strong>"The Sebastian Piñera administration repeats
Augusto Pinochet's fascism. What has happened in the
last 72 hours in Chile is outrageous. Grace shots,
torture, forced disappearances, people shot by combat
weapons and false data."</strong></p>
<p>On Tuesday, President Piñera announced some measures
aimed at halting protests with a guaranteed minimum
wage, a hike in the state pension offering and the
stabilization of electricity costs.</p>
<p>The right-wing politician said he hoped to turn recent
violent protests into an “opportunity” for Chile, to
“make up for lost time, pick up the pace and take
concrete and urgent steps” to resolve social inequality,
which has sent tens of thousands into the streets to
demand his removal.</p>
<p>Piñera asked for forgiveness for successive governments
that failed to act sooner to stem deep inequalities in
Latin America´s fifth-largest economy.</p>
<div>
<p> The Sebastian Piñera administration repeats Augusto
Pinochet's fascism. What has happened in the last 72
hours in Chile is outrageous. Grace shots, torture,
forced disappearances, people shot by combat weapons
and false data. </p>
</div>
<p><strong>"Piñera does not announce the end of
this violence. There is no cabinet change. Only ads
that will come with small print. There is no
structural change of the pension system. This is
the most we can expect from him after days with
millions of people marching, a state of emergency and
11 dead."</strong></p>
<p>“It is true that problems accumulated for many decades
and that different governments were not able to
recognize this situation in all its magnitude,” he said.</p>
<p>The Chilean President's ritual repentance, however, was
not accompanied by the immediate cessation of repression
and violence against the people.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the National Institute of Human Rights
(NHRI) presented 26 legal actions in favor of 129 people
who were victims of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment since the mobilizations began. Among the
victims are 35 children and adolescents and 94 adults.</p>
<p>According to official data, the death toll in the
unrest has risen to 15 people and 5,400 people had been
detained by security forces so far.</p>
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