What's Next for Bolivia After Military Coup?

Reese Erlich. Common Dreams. November 30, 2019

In 2005, I sat in a lounge off the Senate chamber in La Paz, Bolivia, waiting for an interview. I was wearing my best coat and tie. With my thinning hair and grey mustache, I could pass for a Bolivian of European descent. In fact, numerous people smiled and said "buenos días," as if I was a familiar face.

The senators were mostly white men, reflecting the makeup of Bolivia's political elite at that time. But that changed just a few months later with the election of Evo Morales and his party, Movement Toward Socialism (MAS).

Morales's government nationalized natural gas and electric companies, defying both the U.S. and the Bolivian oligarchy. So it's not surprising that those forces now denounce Morales as a dictator and cheer his overthrow.

Bolivia held elections on Oct. 20 this year. Opposition leaders, claiming vote fraud, organized mass, anti-government demonstrations. Sectors of the military and police sided with the opposition. Morales, his vice president and other top government leaders resigned under military pressure. Some went into exile in Mexico.

While the Trump administration and mainstream media characterized the events as a popular uprising, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, correctly called it a coup.

"It was the military who intervened in that process and asked him to leave," Sanders said during the Democratic Party debate in Atlanta on Nov. 20. "When the military intervenes, in my view, that's called a coup."

Some recent history
In 2005, I reported from Bolivia on the popular movements opposed to then President Carlos Mesa. The rich elite who ran Bolivia in those days followed U.S.-inspired neoliberal economic policies by privatizing government-owned companies, even those providing drinking water and sewage lines.

The privatized water utility was owned by a French multinational corporation. It raised the sewage hook-up charge to $450, roughly eight times the typical monthly income in El Alto, a working-class city located above La Paz.

The people of El Alto sought Mesa's resignation through mass protests. "We used force because this is an issue facing us and our children," street vendor Alejandra Arteaga told me when I was writing for the Dallas Morning News. "When there was a strike or a blockade, we went up to participate."

In June 2005, a new round of mass demonstrations forced Mesa to resign, and by December, Bolivians elected Morales president. He served three terms.

Poverty alleviation and Indigenous rights
At a time when most Latin American economies were slowing, Bolivia under Morales and MAS reduced poverty by 42 percent and extreme poverty by 60 percent, according to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). In 2008, unemployment was cut in half, from 7.7 to 4.4 percent.

MAS made these advances because Bolivia defied conventional U.S. economic prescriptions, according to Guillaume Long, a senior policy analyst at CEPR. "MAS opposed the neoliberal agenda and nationalized resources such as gas," he told me in a phone interview.

The country's Indigenous groups, including Aymara and Quechua, saw significant gains under the MAS government, according to Bret Gustafson, an anthropology professor and Bolivia expert at the Washington University in St. Louis.

"The government passed anti-racism legislation," he said in a phone interview. "Indigenous people were included in the highest level of the government and military. Indigenous languages and culture were celebrated under Evo."

But those gains are in serious danger if the right wing stays in power.

Controversy: Morales runs again
Under Bolivia's constitution, a newly elected president may serve two terms. In 2016, by a narrow margin, Bolivians voted down a referendum that would have eliminated presidential term limits. But in 2017, Bolivia's Constitutional Court ruled that term limits were in violation of the Organization of American States (OAS) treaty on human rights, clearing the way for Morales to run again.

The conservative opposition angrily denounced the ruling, saying the court was packed with Morales supporters. But Gustafson says even some liberal and leftist Bolivians have a "deep memory of past dictatorial governments." Moreover, Morales had not groomed a successor who could maintain party unity. "Morales was the glue that held everything together," Gustafson says.

In the Oct. 20 election, a dozen candidates vied for the presidency, including former President Carlos Mesa and Evo Morales. Under Bolivian law, a candidate can win by gaining just 40 percent of the vote if it is 10 percent more than the second-place opponent. After the final count, Morales won with 47 percent compared to Mesa's 36.5 percent. MAS also won a majority in both legislatures.

The OAS and the Trump administration immediately alleged vote fraud. They claimed the vote count was halted when it seemed Morales would be forced into a runoff and then suspiciously re-opened with a Morales victory.

As explained in an exhaustive election analysis by CEPR, the official vote count never stopped. The unofficial "quick count" did stop, as planned beforehand, after tabulating 83 percent of the votes. The official count, which is the only binding result, continued uninterrupted until officials announced the results.

The last votes to be tabulated, which the OAS claims were suspiciously favorable to Morales, were in fact consistent with votes from areas traditionally supportive of MAS.

From both the quick count and final count, "You could easily determine that Morales won," says CEPR's Long, who was also an OAS observer in the 2017 Bolivian elections.

In short, there was no voter fraud that propelled Morales into power. But the misinformation, along with genuine anger from those opposed to Morales running at all, led to large demonstrations.

The U.S. role
Bolivia is a major source of natural gas and minerals such as lithium, making it of great importance to multinational corporations. The U.S. in the past supported military coups in Bolivia when civilian governments didn't follow pro-Washington policies.

The U.S. has a long history of training Bolivian police and military leaders. One of the leaders of the recent coup attended a course at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas) at Fort Benning, Georgia.

For many years, USAID has funded projects to promote businesses in conservative, eastern Bolivia, pitting them against the movements of workers and peasant farmers.

Washington has the means and the will to instigate a coup in Bolivia. In the months and years ahead, more information will emerge revealing the extent of direct U.S. involvement. But there's no doubt the coup serves US interests and has full U.S. support.

What lies ahead?
After the military forced Morales and other leaders to leave Bolivia, Sen. Jeanine Añez, a little known ultra-right winger, declared herself president based on her position as second vice president of the Senate. Her initial cabinet had only one Indigenous member and reporters quickly discovered racist tweets in her Twitter account.

Widespread looting broke out. MAS supporters mobilized against the coup, blockading highways leading to many cities. On Nov. 20, six indigenous men were shot and killed in El Alto, in an act that protesters attributed to the military. To date more than thirty people have died and dozens have been injured.

In late November, demonstrations were halted in some MAS strongholds but continued in others as protestors demanded release of demonstrators arrested in previous protests. On Nov. 24, MAS legislative leaders and Añezagreed to legislation calling for new presidential and legislative elections in April 2020, while prohibiting Morales from running.

From his exile in Mexico, Morales reluctantly agreed with the compromise. "In the name of peace, sacrifices have to be made and I am sacrificing my candidacy even though I have every right to it," he told The Guardian.

"It was a practical recognition of the balance of power," Gustafson says. "Evo still has widespread support. But any effort to bring him back would galvanize rightwingers, some military officers, and some moderates."

Bolivia remains deeply divided. The right wing is split among several factions. While Morales can't run, MAS will field another candidate for president in April, along with veteran legislators from both houses.

"Morales has a lot of personal appeal, but MAS also has popular support," says analyst Long. "MAS remains a force to be reckoned with."

Mexican President Lopez Obrador says Bolivia's leader Morales was a 'victim of a coup'

Deutsche Welle. December 1, 2019

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday that former Bolivian leader Evo Morales was the "victim of a coup d'etat" and described him as "our brother."

Lopez Obrador made the declaration as he celebrated his first year in office with a speech to crowds of supporters in the center of Mexico City.

"In accordance with our exemplary tradition of offering refuge to persecuted politicians around the world, we decided to grant humanitarian and political asylum to the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and his vice president, Álvaro García Linera," the Mexican leader said during the rally in Plaza del Zocalo.

Brothers in arms

"Evo is not only our brother who represents with dignity the majority indigenous people of Bolivia. Evo was the victim of a coup d'etat! And from Mexico, we tell the world, 'Yes to democracy, no to militarism,'" Lopez Obrador said.

It is the first time that Lopez Obrador spoke directly about the circumstances that led to Morales's departure from Bolivia. Bolivia's first ever indigenous president has yet to meet publicly with Lopez Obrador.

Morales resigned on November 10 amid protests over what political opponents claimed was his rigging of October 20 elections.

He fled to Mexico a day later after losing the support of the military and police, claiming to be the victim of a coup.

While echoing the Bolivian exiled leader's claim, Mexico's president described Morales as "our brother, who represents with dignity the majority of indigenous people of Bolivia."

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Morales expressed support for the proposal of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to create a group to investigate the deaths of citizens that have occurred since the Andean nation became engulfed in political turmoil.

"We support the IACHR's proposal to form an external group that investigates the de facto government massacres," Morales tweeted.

The world reacted with a variety of perspectives on the ousting of Morales last month.

US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said he was "very concerned about what appears to be a coup in Bolivia, where the military, after weeks of political unrest, intervened to remove President Evo Morales."

Mexico, Uruguay, Cuba, Venezuela and Argentina President-elect Alberto Fernandez have also said Morales was unfairly deposed.

The Trump administration had a different take on proceedings, however. Senior US State Department officials said the situation in Bolivia was not a coup, and President Donald Trump said the events in Bolivia sent a strong signal to other Latin American countries, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua, and "that democracy and the will of the people will always prevail."

Duque’s cover-up: Venezuelans expelled after terror plot ‘were street musicians’

Adriaan Alsema. Colombia Reports. December 1, 2019

Colombia’s authorities arrested innocent citizens and expelled innocent Venezuelan migrants in an apparent cover-up of an “orchestrated campaign to sow terror” in Bogota and Cali last week, according to local media.

According to public television network Canal Uno, judges have so far ordered the release of at least 10 Bogota residents who were arrested on fabricated vandalism charges.

Attorneys and investigators additionally told the news network that only one of the 59 Venezuelan migrants who were expelled from the country was formally accused of criminal activity in the aftermath of what increasingly appears to be a state-sponsored terror plot to crack down on peaceful protests.

Of the 146 people who according to President Ivan Duque were arrested on November 22, media have reported on the conviction of only one man who pleaded guilty to stealing a bus and driving it into a supermarket.

A youtuber who filmed herself vandalizing a bus station has been charged, but was allowed to await trial in liberty.

Today, authorities are checking security cameras to identify those who spread fear and to find out if there was a black hand to generate panic.

Ivan Duque: terrorist or useful idiot?
Newspaper El Espectador reported on Friday that authorities in Bogota and Cali had not been able to prove one case of mass robbery cited by Duque to justify the curfew that was imposed in Bogota hours after police violently repressed peaceful anti-government protests.

In his speech, Duque used unverified news reports of mass robbery broadcast by corporate television networks that are notorious for misinforming the public.

After warnings by opposition politicians, dozens of citizens took out their mobile phones only to register evidence of alleged police involvement in vandalism that took place while the curfew was in place.

Unaware of the piling evidence of police involvement, Bogota Mayor Enrique Peñalosa said around midnight that the news reports on mass robberies were part of an “orchestrated campaign to sow terror” that had generated similar mass hysteria in Cali the night before.

Both the Mayor’s Office of Cali and the Mayor’s Office of Bogota confirmed that not one case could be proven… They agreed that the panic spread, above all, in middle class sectors adjacent to poor neighborhoods presumed to be prone to collective robberies.

The cover-up: Venezuelans expelled on bogus charges
While opposition politicians, local authorities and international organizations began investigating the apparent terror plot, national authorities began what increasingly appears to be a cover-up.

Duque announced the arrest of the 146 people on Saturday and the National Police announced the impending expulsion of 60 Venezuelans on Sunday.

On Monday, Migration director Christian Kruger said that “what we will not tolerate is that a group of misfits come to affect the security of our cities,” in a press release in which his office explicitly said the mass expulsion “was taken in a discretionary and sovereign manner,” not because anyone had committed a crime.

“We found out that the practice was that they renounced” their right to an attorney under police pressure, law professor Ana Bejerano of the Los Andes University said.

According to Ronal Rodriguez of the Rosario University, police arrested the Venezuelans only because of their nationality.

“I know several cases of Venezuelan musicians who were arrested only for playing music on the street.” - Rosario University investigator Ronal Rodriguez

Fabricating evidence to prove a conspiracy theory, again
This instance of the Duque administration’s apparent failure in the use of fabricated claims and evidence to validate unsubstantiated conspiracy theories is the second in three months.

In September, the president was humiliated internationally when he presented the United Nations General Assembly with fabricated evidence to “prove” ties between his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and Colombian guerrillas.

Duque’s blunder in New York effectively strengthened the position of Maduro and all but ended international efforts to convince Venezuela’s authoritarian leader to call elections.

This time, the conspiracy theory Duque had been spinning weeks before the national strike also backfired, increased support for the anti-government protests and put the president’s minority coalition on the brink of collapse.

The ongoing investigations will determine whether Duque was purposely terrorizing his own citizens or unknowingly playing a key role.

Colombia's protests prompt Duque to seek $1bn oil dividend

Andrea Jaramillo. Bloomberg. November 30, 2019

Colombia is seeking an additional payout of almost $1 billion from its oil company Ecopetrol S.A. as it faces increased spending pressure amid massive anti-government demonstrations.

The finance ministry called a meeting of shareholders to discuss its proposal for the company to distribute 3.7 trillion pesos ($1.1 billion) in a special dividend. Since the Colombian state owns 88.5% of the company, it can win any vote, and its share of the payment would total about $920 million.

President Ivan Duque this week pledged tax breaks for the poorest fifth of the population as part of a tax bill that is currently being discussed by lawmakers. The reform, which would replace a law overturned by a high court in Oct., needs to be approved by year-end in order for changes including corporate tax cuts to remain in place.

At the same time, the government is trying to curb borrowing to hit its fiscal targets and defend the nation's investment grade credit rating. The nation is on track to meet a fiscal target of 2.4% of gross domestic product this year, but next year is an open question, according to Alejandro Reyes, senior economist at BBVA's Colombia unit.

"What the government has offered protesters has a fiscal cost," Reyes said. "These funds from Ecopetrol are an insurance for what may happen next year. If the tax bill doesn't pass or the government can't sell state assets, it won't find itself against the wall."

The cash for the dividend will come from Ecopetrol's occasional reserve, and won't affect its financial sustainability, the finance ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Ecopetrol shares jumped 1.4% to 3,265 pesos in Bogota trading, their highest level since April. The payout would be equivalent to 89 pesos per share, the company said.

"Ecopetrol has the financial capacity to make the payment," given its strong balance sheet and cash flows, according to German Cristancho, head analyst at Corredores Davivienda brokerage.

Citigroup said in a report that while they welcome the extraordinary dividend proposal, given Ecopetrol's recent acquisitions in the U.S., Brazil and Colombia, the company might be near its leverage target.

The finance ministry said it will use the funds for investment. The payment wouldn't be an advance on the regular 2020 dividend, the ministry said.

The payout would be scheduled for Dec. 23 for minority shareholders and Dec. 26 for the government.

Venezuelan Opposition to Investigate Report of Wrongdoing by Lawmakers

Reuters. December 1, 2019

CARACAS — Venezuela's opposition on Sunday vowed to investigate alleged wrongdoing within its ranks after a media outlet reported that a group of opposition lawmakers had unduly advocated for a businessman linked to the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Opposition leader and congress chief Juan Guaido said the legislature would probe the incident, which according to website Armando.info involved nine legislators from the First Justice, Popular Will and A New Time parties.

The scandal comes as opposition efforts to oust Maduro lose steam and Guaido, who has been recognized by more than 50 countries as Venezuela's legitimate leader, struggles to launch a new wave of street protests.

"(It is) unacceptable to use a state institution to attempt to whitewash the reputation of thieves and corrupt individuals who have looted Venezuela," said Guaido, pounding a lectern as he read from notes during a press conference.

According to the Armando.info report, the lawmakers were involved in writing letters of support for a Colombian national, Carlos Lizcano, despite evidence of his ties to Alex Saab, another Colombian man who is under U.S. sanction for corruption associated with Maduro's state-backed food distribution program.

It was not immediately evident if or how the legislators broke the law.

Guaido said he suspected the legislators received illicit payments in exchange for writing the letters, but that this would be investigated.

The letters were addressed to the U.S. Treasury and Colombia's public prosecutor's office, according to the report.

Neither institution responded to requests for comment.

First Justice, Popular Will and A New Time on Sunday issued statements deploring the alleged corruption and promising to remove the lawmakers from the legislative comptroller commission, which focuses on fighting corruption.

"There is a smear campaign against us and some of our fellow legislators in the Venezuelan parliament," Luis Parra, who was placed under investigation by First Justice, wrote on Twitter, insisting he had been a victim of "extortion."

Freddy Superlano of Popular Will, in a letter to Guaido dated Saturday that he posted on Twitter, denied wrongdoing but said that while the investigation proceeded he was stepping down from his role as president of the comptroller commission.

Reuters was unable to obtain comment from Saab or Lizcano.

The distribution program known by the Spanish acronym CLAP has become a crucial source of food for Venezuelans facing hyper inflation, which has left a minimum wage salary so devalued it can barely buy a day's groceries.

But the program has faced widespread accusations by Venezuela's opposition and U.S. authorities of over-pricing food imports as part of a broad corruption racket.

Maduro has defended CLAP as an effort to help the country weather U.S. sanctions that have hobbled the OPEC nation's oil exports and made it increasingly difficult to import basic goods.

Diosdado Cabello, No. 2 of the ruling Socialist Party, delighted at the opposition's infighting.

"Nobody is clean in that corruption dispute in the opposition leadership, accusations come and go between them, they're a society of political merchants," he wrote on Twitter.

Conservative Lacalle Pou wins Uruguay presidential election, ending 15 years of leftist rule

AFP. December 1, 2019

Center-right candidate Luis Lacalle Pou won Uruguay's presidential election Thursday after his rival conceded, bringing an end to 15 years of leftist rule in the South American country.

Daniel Martinez, candidate for the ruling Broad Front, recognized that an ongoing vote recount would not affect his already slim chance of victory and conceded.

"We greet president-elect Luis Lacalle Pou, with whom I will have a meeting tomorrow," Martinez wrote in a tweet. "I thank everyone who placed their trust in us by casting their vote for us from the bottom of my heart."

Lacalle Pou's National Party acknowledged victory in a tweet saying: "Now it's our turn, let's celebrate everybody's Uruguay!"

The news set off a cacophony of horn-blowing in downtown Montevideo by Lacalle Pou supporters.

Lacalle Pou, a business-friendly conservative, will take power on March 1 at the head of a right-wing coalition of five parties.

The president-elect has been holding talks with party leaders on the makeup of the new government.

Ernesto Talvi, leader of the Colorado Party, is expected to be named Uruguay's foreign minister, the daily El Pais reported.

The election result signals a significant shift in foreign policy, with the incoming right-wing administration making no secret of their intention to recognize Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president and the socialist Nicolas Maduro as illegitimate.

The move will reverse current Uruguay policy under President Tabaré Vázquez, which - contrary to most Latin American governments - continues to recognize Maduro as president.

Guaido saluted Lacalle Pou's victory on Thursday. "We know that we have your support in the struggle for democratic restoration that we wage in Venezuela," Guaido said in a tweet.

Recount call

Martinez had refused to concede on Sunday when the election was deemed too close to call by the electoral court, with just 30,000 votes separating the candidates.

The court ordered a recount on the grounds that the number of provisional or contested votes - around 35,000 - exceeded the margin between the candidates.

Lacalle Pou told supporters he was confident his victory would be confirmed, however.

Opinion polls since last month's first round had indicated the 46-year-old former senator would comfortably win the run-off.

But with almost all the votes counted, his lead over Martinez, a 62-year-old former Montevideo mayor, was just over 1 percent.

The electoral court is expected to declare the official result today, El Pais reported, which would confirm defeat for the long-dominant leftist ruling Broad Front coalition after 15 years in power.

The coalition of leftist movements can point to a record of progressive government since it broke a decades-long conservative stranglehold with an election victory in 2005.

Tiny Uruguay stood out on the international stage by approving abortion and gay marriage, and the small nation pioneered the legalization of cannabis in 2013.

But Lacalle Pou tapped into voter concerns over the country's high tax rates and concerns over creeping insecurity.

Uruguay has long been considered a bastion of peace and stability in an often turbulent region.

But public safety has been eroding, with a sharp rise in some violent crimes reported last year.

The new president's main challenge will be fiscal, according to Robert Wood, Latin America manager for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"Public debt is rising as the fiscal deficit nears 5 percent of GDP," said Wood.

"Mr. Lacalle Pou will pursue this mainly through spending cuts. His congressional majority raises prospects of passage of labor and other market-friendly reforms, but unions, the political left and vested interests will provide resistance.

"Piecemeal progress on reforms is probable, helping to lift the economy, which has been flat since 2018."

Chile protests: The students 'woke us up'

Sandra Cuffe. Al Jazeera. December 1, 2019

Santiago, Chile - For 28-year-old Cristina Paillal and many others from her generation in Chile, protesting has almost become the norm.

All Chileans under 30 years of age, including the vast majority of students, were born after the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet ended in 1990.

During Pinochet's rule, state forces killed or forcibly disappeared thousands of Chileans and tens of thousands were tortured or imprisoned for political reasons. Students and youth dissidents were among the victims.

"The dictatorship lasted a long time. Talking about politics could get you killed. Our parents' and grandparents' generations lived with that fear," Paillal, a Mapuche engineering student, said at a protest in Santiago, where tear gas lingered in the air.

"We are the new generation," she said.

Paillal continues to be involved in student and indigenous movements. But she said because secondary students represent all social classes and are usually not yet affiliated with any political party, they tend to be at the forefront.

"The secondary student movement is fundamental," she said.

Secondary students kicked off more than a month of non-stop nationwide demonstrations when they organised mass fare evasion protests in Santiago against a now-lifted subway fare rise. Protests almost immediately broadened into demonstrations over long-simmering grievances, including growing inequality and the dictatorship-era constitution.
"It is not the subway. It is everything," Joaquin*, a 16-year-old student, told Al Jazeera as he made his way from one protest to another.

'Little has changed'
Students have been at the heart of mass protests movements that have taken place since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship.

Secondary students were the protagonists of the 2006 "Penguin Revolution" movement for education reform, named after the appearance of school uniforms. A new education law was passed in 2009, but it did not fundamentally resolve demands for state control and funding of public education. Mass protests by secondary and university students broke out again in 2011, and have occurred sporadically since.

"Little has changed," said Joaquin. "People cannot afford good education."

Along with protests last month, there were spates of arson and looting, with significant damage to many metro stations and supermarkets. President Sebastian Pinera decreed a state of emergency and sent the military into the streets. The measures were lifted after nine days, but police crackdowns continue.

Prosecutors are investigating 26 people killed amid the turmoil, including four young men in their 20s killed by military forces. Thousands have been wounded and arrested. Of the 7,259 detainees visited in custody by the National Human Rights Institute, 867 have been minors.

In spite of the clampdown, daily marches, rallies, occupations, street barricades, citizen assemblies and other actions continue. Police often crack down with tear gas and force regardless of whether people are in joyous mass rallies, small groups fighting back with rocks, or simply bystanders in the area.

Carla*, a 20-year-old psychology student, told Al Jazeera that everything began with the secondary students but now even universities without a history of social struggle have joined the protest movement.

"This is just the beginning," she said, as thousands of people gathered at a roundabout in central Santiago that has been an epicentre for protests in recent weeks.

'We opened our eyes because of the students'
One of the many unifying demands at protests has been a new constitution written by citizens, and after nearly a month, the government reversed its position on the matter. An April 2020 plebiscite will ask citizens whether they want a new constitution and, if so, whether they want a mixed legislator-citizen or all-citizen convention to write the document, ruling and opposition politicians said in a joint announcement in mid-November.

Citizen elections would take place in October 2020. The convention would have at least nine months to write the constitution and pass it with a two-thirds majority. It would require ratification by citizens in a nationwide referendum.

But many gaps remain concerning key procedural details, including issues of gender parity and indigenous representation. The youth who sparked the movement would also be excluded due to age restrictions from voting in the plebiscite and participating in the convention.

Yet, protesters say the students are the ones who have brought thousands of others to the streets.

"We opened our eyes because of the students," said Mario Hernandez, an unemployed nurse technician. "They woke us up. Then, we all woke up."

Claudio Inostroza continued to joke with Hernandez and other friends but winced slightly as a medical student washed the blood off his calf. He was just relieved police had shot him in the leg, not the eye, with a rubber-metal projectile.

"It bounced off me. I was lucky," he told Al Jazeera as police continued to tear gas protesters along a nearby boulevard and adjacent park in the Chilean capital.

Inostroza supports protesters' collective demands for a new constitution, higher wages, and the right to health. But he said, above all, he is in the streets for his children: a son in primary school and a daughter with more than $50,000 of student debt just halfway through her university degree in nursing.

"I want my children to have free and quality education," he said. "I am protesting for their future."