Chilean president authorizes referendum to replace constitution

[sandensea]

Last edited Sat Jan 4, 2020, 02:45 AM - Edit history (1)

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera signed a decree Friday to hold a referendum regarding the possible replacement of the country's constitution, enacted by the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in 1980.

The president held a press conference in which he explained that the decree invites Chile's 14.4 million registered voters to participate in the constitutional plebiscite set to take place on April 26.

He incorporated the agreement with the opposition amid ongoing anti-government protests. At least 29 Chilean demonstrators have been killed since the recent wave of protests over rising prices and low living standards began on October 19.

Some 300 protesters have reportedly lost an eye in what has been denounced as a deliberate policy on the part of the Carabineros miltarized police to aim for the eyes.

The April 26 referendum will give voters a choice between a "mixed convention," made up equally from members of congress and elected citizens; or a "constituent convention," composed of people chosen solely for that purpose.

If the plebiscite is approved, the election of constituents will take place in October to coincide with regional and municipal elections. And the new Constitution - to be drafted no later than a year from that date - will be ratified in another plebiscite, with a mandatory vote.

According to the latest Cadem survey, 86% of Chileans are in favor of a new constitution - with 61% supporting a constituent convention and 36% a mixed convention.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telam.com.ar%2Fnotas%2F201912%2F419865-chile-plebiscito-constitucional-abril.html

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announces the April 26 referendum on the possible replacement of the country's dictatorship-era constitution.

The referendum will be the first step in promulgating a new constitution, which may be enacted as early as October 2021.

Activists, many of whom have been protesting since October for fundamental changes in the prosperous but highly unequal nation of 19 million, are seeking greater social guarantees in the new constitution.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Isn't it amazing the fascists have been able to keep the Pinochet constitution in place so long?

Everyone knows it was written to keep the greedy murderous grifters in power indefinately, and no one could get organized enough to confront the paralysis left behind by the fear remaining after Pinochet's reign of terror. That has always been the desired goal of tyrants in subjecting entire populations to kidnappings, torture, and murder.

It must be driving the current president Piñera wild being in this position now.

Young people have been protesting for years, and it's only going to grow. It's about time the ruling class starts making the overdue adjustments which should have been made decades ago. Best wishes to the decent people of Chile. They have deserved so much better for so long.

It's still a shock realizing the sniper cops were actually intentionally trying to blind the protesters:that's adding a level of terrorism which absolutely disgusts, and shows they are more than happy to move into heavy terrorism as soon as Piñera says the word.

You may recall when Bolivia's Hugo Banzer dragged out his military sharpshooters to terrorize the people protesting the inhuman privatization costs of water in Cochabamba, they were also able to blind a young man there, too, and that reminds people of the vulgar, cheap, disgusting terrorism employed by "Goni" during his Gas War protests, when he had his soldiers maim, cripple, shoot native Bolivians even in the back, and their accomplishment blowing a hole in the back of a mother who lingered for months, unable to move, with a huge gaping hole in her back before she was finally able to slip into death.

There is NO good side to fascism. They know they are outnumbered, that's why they order the military to be so brutal upon the people of their OWN COUNTRIES.

We live in hope that 2020 is going to be such a far better year than what they heck happened in 2019. The tension created by the right-wing everywhere has inflicted far too much suffering, fear, panic among the powerless, and innocent. The year at hand could start the movement toward healing, and I'm hoping the people everywhere will pull together to make it happen.

Thanks for the information, sandensea.