SANTIAGO DE CHILE (AP) — Chile’s government announced on Sunday the start of a process to reform the Constitution, one of the demands of various sectors that for weeks have held protests in demand for social improvements. Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumer said the process must go through the establishment of a Constituent Congress that has a “wide participation” of the various social sectors and is then ratified in a plebiscite.
Blumel reported the plan to journalists after a meeting with the president, Sebastián Piñera.” We understand that this is a job that we have to do always thinking about the country,” he said. The Chilean Constitution dates back to 1980, when it still governed the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. As part of the protests that have plunged the South American country into one of its biggest political crises in recent history, the magna letter has been called for amendment. In an attempt to try to calm the situation, Piñera’s government has pushed for social adjustments that include slight increases in pensions and the minimum wage. However, demonstrations continue. Several believe that the inequalities that people protest for stem from the Pinochet Constitution, which remained in power from 1973 to 1990, and which among other things privatized basic services and created accessible education and health systems were how about purchasing power.
