Chile Proposes Bills To Resolve Mapuche Hunger Strike

Senate President Jorge Pizarro on Monday urged President Sebastián Piñera to begin talks with 32 Mapuche activists who have been on a hunger strike for almost two months. 

“The state cannot allow these men to die,” said Pizarro, who met Monday with Lorena Fries, head of the National Human Rights Institute and with Senators Patricio Walker and Jaime Quintana.

Environmental groups rally against construction of plant near marine reserve

Since the Regional Environmental Commission of Coquimbo (Region IV) Tuesday approved plans for a coal-powered thermoelectric plant about 14 miles from the Punta de Choros marine reserve, environmental organizations have used broad social networking to push harder against the initiative.

On Tuesday night, around 2,000 demonstrators gathered on Alameda Ave., the principal street in Santiago, to voice their opposition to the plant and to pressure president Sebastian Piñera to stand by his campaign promise to oppose the plant.

Voice concerns about transportation costs

A large number of Santiago high school students were not in class Wednesday morning. Instead, they were marching toward Santiago’s central plaza, waving banners and beating drums, to protest changes in student public transportation fees.