Inequality in Chile is 43 in the gini index. It is higher than the world average of 38. It is lower though than in Brazil or Colombia (around 45), for example.
Contra la violencia– gathering of music, dance and speeches in front of Palacio la Moneda. It was in that palace that Salvadore Allende ‘was killed’ by a US-backed Pinochet's coup in September 1973.
A chat with a middle-aged Chilean man: Gaza, genocide, the US, Chile, the left, the right and far-right. He seemed a progressive man.
A street in central Santiago should be named Street of Opticians. Tens of opticas shops line up the street. I have never seen such a number of opticians in one street.
A chat with a Venezuelan man. A vet by profession, but is not allowed yet to work in Chile, for he has been in the country for only two months. He is doing some illegal work as celebrations decorator and sells some handicrafts he makes. He thinks that Maduro of Venezuela is an authoritarian who wrecked the country and things started with Hugo Chavez. When I pointed to him the big picture of Latin America, the intentions, the hopes, the history of struggle between the leftist movements and the right and dictatorship, how in Chile Allende was overthrown, how in Venezuela internal and external forces worked to destroy the hope for an alternative …he said that he was neither with the left nor with the right. When I told him that in a time of pre-fascism or a possible fascism what side one should be on, that one cannot sit on the fence, he was not sure how to respond.
The sheer number of street vendors along around calle Sazie and around Estación Central reflects one aspect of the Chilean informal economy. There are also big stores and restaurants run by Chinese. Contrary to what exists in the city centre and barrios such República and Barrio Italia, hygiene and order outside the station are compromised. A huge shocking contrast is also between the shiny and clean interior of the station and the shopping centre and a section of a pavement on Exposición street, where, despite the signs prohibiting urinating and defecation, a strong and repelling smell might drive you away to the other side of the street.
The contrast is also manifested in the goods displayed with a wide range of items of different qualities: brands in the shopping centre, lower quality and even contraband good on the pavement. Prices of fruits are half of what you find in the supermarkets.
The area around El Marcado Central has a few stands and restaurants. Inside there are a few restaurants too. The contrast here is with Vivo shopping centre. Further ahead, the biggest section of el Mercado Central, Vega, consists of a huge indoors space of numerous shops selling all sorts of foods, from fruits and vegetables to meat, spices, nuts, etc. A lot of goods are imported by Venezuelans, Bolivians, Peruvians, Ecuadorians … The space is fairly clean and the prices are in contrast with the ones at the supermarkets. The goods are well-displayed and in abundance. In fact, there is too much of almost everything, more what the population need or afford to buy. It depends on your perspective. Waste is one of the aspects of the capitalist 'free market'. A few vendors just sit and kill the time using their phones.
Avenida Italia is a very clean street lined with shops and restaurants. Like the city centre, the street reflects the significance of the service economy in Santiago. It is a tourist area too.
When people asked me the typical question: 'Where are you from?,’ I often responded with I didn't have a country. Few liked my answer saying: ‘Ah you're a citizen of the world.’ Most people could not comprehend my answer and wanted to know where was born. Most people kept silent upon hearing that I was not married and I didn't have children. Only few thought I was 'clever'.
Luis, a Chilean who spent a few years as a professor of literature in Brasil, is back in Santiago as a vocational teacher at a university in the city centre. He thinks that in the last years, but especially since the election of the left, things have started to change. There are even funds allocated to migrants and immigrants to help them integrate and find jobs. He is proud of the city, but admits that it has not been easy to overcome the years of Pinochet's economic and social policies despite the reforms implemented so far. He told me about the introduction of electric buses, for example. We toured section of Providencia together and I saw how clean and organised the wide streets are, the second tallest building in Latin America, the parks, etc. He also expressed his dislike of the high level of consumerism and commodification, reflected in the big shopping centre in the area. He also thinks that the fact that many Chileans have dogs is another form of 'moda' (fashion). In our visit of el Centro Cultural La Moneda, Luis told me that the current president believed in democratising art, i.e. every body should have access to art spaces and everybody should contribute to art production.
Next to Paseo Bulnes, centre, I passed by teenagers sitting in the ground. They were there for a concert by an American rock star. A picture not different from what I used to see in front of Koko's Camden Town, London.
A Russian visiting Chile for leisure and business. She was in Chile to buy an apartment and let it. She said she knew Russians in Valparaiso. She said she had a couple of apartments in two other countries. She had a narrow definition of politics when I mentioned genocide and those involved in it. She gave the impression that she was not interested in 'politics'.
After an organised visit to the Palacio de La Moneda, while resting on a bench off San Antonio, centre, a middle-aged woman sat next to me. She would quickly be the first fascist I met. First, she said that the city centre is full of 'delinquency' after 7pm. She herself does not live in the centre. I asked her about whether life in Santiago is better now or 20 years ago. She emphatically responded with a nostalgia to Pinochet's era. She thinks that the country today is run by communists (!), that France and the UK, for example, are socialist countries. I mentioned how Pinochet murdered Allende and leftists. She said: “They deserved to be murdered.”
From San Antonio towards the Mercado Central a significant number of street vendors trying to eke out a living lay items for sale on the ground. They have to be careful though as municipality 'workers' might chase them and confiscate their goods. Something common in other cities of world. Many street vendors spend their time with their head down looking at their phones. Nothing to be done, it seems, to attract customers.
On the route Viña del Mar-Valparaíso, a vendor could be seen on a microbus selling stuff such biscuits, chocolate, etc. Once a woman stood behind the driver's seat and with eloquence advertised her product of what seemed to be sweets or chocolate made of 'a quality Colombian ingredients'. She needed only less than 30 seconds to convince some passengers to buy her stuff. It worked. On the metro too one could witness someone singing then goes to the passengers to collect any donation or another trying to sell something. One day and during a trip of two stops two vendors a duo of singers were on the metro. One was selling chocolate and the other 'patches of relief'. The duo sang a 'free-style' rap song and you could see that the few passengers who were not taken by their smartphones or having the ears plugged were smiling and laughing. It was entertaining, but unfortunately I had almost no knowledge of colloquial Chilean. Similarly, at traffic lights one cannot fail to see performers, young men and women, joggling balls, for example, in the hope they get a 1000 pesos from drivers.
In Valdivia, you see less vendors on the microbuses – the sole means of public transport in the city. One Monday morning it was refreshing listening to a man playing a guitar and singing in Spanish. It was a break from the hegemony of the Anglo-American music one hears most of the day. A very interesting incident was a man selling needles on a micro. I never imagined that in 2025 I would a see a man selling needles, demonstrating how to pass a threat through the eye of a needle! A minute later I passed one of the malls in the city with its latest brands.
Human communication and kindness are tangible on the microbuses: Something common on the microbuses is that 99% of people greet the driver when they get on and purchase a ticket and thank him* when they get off. *I think I saw only one female microbus driver during my 5+-months stay. Fit people immediately leave the front seats for any elderly, impaired or obese passengers.
On Santiago line 2 metro similar vendors and beggars walk between carriages trying to get a few pesos. A man with mic was telling stories about social issues, a blind woman with a mic and a disco-type speaker was singing … Once there was a man selling a collection of 'poetry from the south' – he could be from the south of Chile.
In Viña you could pay by a contactless international credit card to access the metro station. In Santiago, however, a comprehensive system of payment has not been established: one needs to withdraw cash and top a travel card at a machine or at a window ticket. You can top up your Bip card with a transfer from your bank account or card online or only at some stations. Inability of having a comprehensive system is a characteristics of 'a middle economy' and combined and uneven development. That applies to lines too. Lines 3 and 6, inaugurated in 2017 and 2019, respectively, are like the Elizabeth Line in London. A few microbuses linking Valparaíso and Viña are very old that would not be on the road if they were in England or France.
In Santiago a Chilean host told me how a party in power that calls itself socialist did not keep its promises of reform and was unable to implement free education at the primary and secondary levels and establish state pension. In this respect, Pinochet's 'neoliberal' capitalism' went further than UK's. Unlike in the UK or France, for example, healthcare is not free. Fortunately, the majority of people own their homes and rent is affordable. Transport too is good and cheap, including long distance travel fares.
Stopped by an Amnesty activist. She knew the origin of my first name. I was surprised. Being one of the typical area of the international human rights organisation campaigns, Alejandra asked me whether I knew a case of domestic violence against women and children.
An owner of a small café in the city Viña del Mar, of a Swedish origin, told me that the Chilean economy was not doing well. He thought that a political change the coming election would change the situation. The main problem according to him was inflation and investment. He paused and thought when I told him of the cyclical crisis of capitalism, the reliance of some countries like Chile on export of raw material, namely copper, and inability to acquire technology to compete in the global market, etc.
Avenida Peru in Viña: many huge buildings overlooking the ocean. A local told me that most of them are apartments and many of the are second homes owned by Chileans. It is a contrast with south Spain where hotels occupy the coast line. Here the monthly rent of such a department is around one million pesos ($1000 US). That is more than twice the monthly minimum salary. The average monthly salary in Santiago is 800,000 pesos, about $850 US. There is a 'complicated' welfare system, but in a few cases the state shoulders 60% of the individual benefits. Healthcare is not universal and free. It depends on the employee and the employer contributions.
01 June 2025, Chile's president Gabriel Boric was in Velapraíso. In front of the shopping centre and less than 500 meters from el edificio del Congreso Nacional de Chile, a woman in her 60s was holding a handwritten sign saying 'I was disappointed'. She was happy to talk to me, with some anger in her tone. She was angry that she always voted for the left, but the current government has been a disappointment: 'corruption, millionaires favoured by the government, neglect of heritage, etc.', but I did not understand why she was upset with the government buying Salvador Allende's house from the family in the aim to turn it into a museum.
Parts of the culture that still persists/survives despite 'neoliberal' capitalism is the warmth of the people, the easy and smooth way to talk to them, the sometimes-embarrassing help that you don't expect, the kiss on the cheek you exchange with a woman although you might have met for the first time. My interactions with Chileans were very smooth. The people were so friendly, embarrassingly friendly sometimes. While walking, and unlike the frequent use of 'sorry' you hear in London, you hardly hear its equivalent. There is no need for it, not out of lack of respect, but because it does not matter whether you pass or enter a place before me, for example. Only when someone bumps into you then you hear the apology. Greetings are so common. In the Jumbo restaurant in San Miguel I saw an expression of comradeship: a server had finished her shift. While leaving she was went around kissing her co-workers a good-bye.
In Vaparaíso I met a teacher working at a university. She was waiting for a friend of hers to have lunch together. She told me that her friend was on strike (paro) with others over work contracts and how colleges are managed and finance allocated. She also cited some form violence by students. Number one demand though was that teachers wanted permanent contractors.
Memoria Implecable at Cine Art Viña del Mar is a documentary film. “The discovery of some forgotten files in a Berlin museum prompts a journey that reveals one of the darkest and most silenced episodes in the history of Chile and Argentina. Margarita, a young Mapuche academic, uncovers the testimonies of Indigenous people who were deported and stripped of their lands during the military campaigns of the 19th century. Moved by the discovery, she sets out on a journey to retrace the deportation routes her ancestors took a hundred years earlier.” I watched the film in a big cinema with no more than 12 other people! Preceded the screening horrible trailers of three horrible American movies. The ticked cost $3.75 US/€3.25.
A young woman, a member of staff, at a museum in Valparaíso told me that the living conditions in the city were better a few years ago. I mentioned the 'reforms' of Michelle Bachelet. The woman said that under Boric government things have got worse, that education and healthcare were among the expensive and unaffordable things. Then she added 'delincuencia' (it means crime in Spanish) and immigrants. When I told her that the argument of immigrants is also used in Europe for political reasons, she was surprised to hear that. When I told her that the question is about the economic model, about Chile's reliance on copper without being able to be a strong capitalist country to compete globally …. She said: 'that is true.' My conclusion is that when the left is in government and fails to provide, people turn to the right and when the right is in government and fails to provide, people turn to the left or the centre. The woman looked to me like someone who would vote for the right in this year election. And it is not a surprise that the extreme right is getting ground more than ever since the fall of Pinochet.
A woman, an architect by profession in Viña, told me that actually the situation today was better. She is 43 years. She is happy that the dictatorship was gone. She owns a house and a car and paying a mortgage or two. Her husband is in Spain and she planning to join him. We talked about Concón, a town, 20 minutes drive from Viña. She showed me the area where the upper class have villas and that most of those tall blocks of apartments overlooking the Pacific were empty, but owned by people who live and work in Santiago for most of the year. She also recounted to me how a building once sunk because it was built on a soft ground near the dunes. We talked about the lack of regulations and how 'developers in collusion with governments relax building regulations and urban planning.
In an another discussion, I asked the architect: what is the biggest problems for Chileans? “Most Chileans here would tell you it is 'securidad' (security/safety). However, in reality there are three main problems bigger than that: education, healthcare and pensions.” Education and healthcare are private, pensions is subject to contribution of both worker/employee and employer. Unlike a passing criminal offence such as theft or robbery. We agreed that the three major problems are daily issues and they put much stress on people in managing their lives. We also agreed on how the big crimes of those at the top is tolerated or not attacked but the small ones become the' main problem'. The economic social model that generates crime is not questioned. The architect questions capitalism itself.
The very same woman, C., also told me how most Chileans do not regard themselves like other Latin Americans and identify more with Spain. Latin Americans find Chileans 'boring', she added. Chileans prefer a quieter atmosphere, for example. In comparison to what I lived in Cuba, she is right. Cubans talk all the time, playing music and interact quickly with each others. Although, Chileans are very helpful and respectful to others and much more spontaneous than the English or the Germans, they are more immersed in their daily activities, especially that the economy is more demanding, and in their smartphones like people in most countries. Very few still read books in their hard copies. The norm is watching clips, playing games or listening to music, WhatApp chats, etc.
I would venture and say that probably more than half of Chileans do not follow a healthy diet and that is more obvious among the older generation and middle-aged people. There is too much bread, fast-food, pastries, coke or other soda drinks, red meat, ice-cream in their daily intake. These category of people are not rich. According to the WHO, 43% of Chileans are considered obese. Chile is ranked 20 in the world in the organisation's list of 2022. According to a video message on a metro platform TV, a woman speaking about the unhealthy diet of the poor said that 1 for every 5 Chileans was poor. It sounded an official figure.
A guide in Atacama told me he lived in Milan, Italy for 11 years working as a cook. Now he has been working as guide in San Pedro de Atacama for 3 yeas. For him, “now is better because in Italy I lived to work, there was no life.”
On a flight to Santiago I met a young Brazilian in her 25 years. She old me a lot about the country to convince me to visit one day. She told me about the 1% in Brazil, inequality, the efforts of Lula to change the conditions of the workers and the poor, how she was lucky to received a good and free education in a public university and become an electric engineer. She has a pale white skin. Initially, I thought she was of a Western European origin. When she use 'we' while speaking about the indigenous people I was surprised. She comes from the region of Minais Gerais of Brazil – a region that historically witnessed a gold rush, extermination of most of the indigenous people then the coffee production and industrialisation.
Visiting Villa Grimaldi is much worth than visiting Salvador Allende Museo. It is a museum that records the atrocities of the Chilean regime after the 1973 military coup. A Chilean woman in her sixties told me that she never heard of Villa Grimaldi. Another woman in her late fifties said that it was the ‘communists' to blame. They had guns and were intending to carry out violence. I disagreed with her on what really happened then. A few hours later, she texted me saying that she was watching a documentary about the events and that I was right. The same woman, who is of a Croatian descent, could not accept the fact that the land was robbed from the indigenous people by conquest. She even denied there was a historical fact of Columbus, saying that ‘it depends on who wrote the history of the period’.
For more than 4 months and in three cities I never heard a shout or an argument on the public transport. A few people took me for a Chilean. Whenever I approached someone it was so easy to talk to even when you ask for direction. In London, for a few time people gave me a strange look, wondering: ‘What's the matter with this guy? He doesn't have google maps?’
18 and 19 September are the days of nationalism and military parades in Chile. It struck me to see the cheer number of houses raising the national flag. It required by law, but half of the household do not display the flag.
Related
One percent of Chile’s population still owns nearly 40% of the nation’s wealth.
Each successive government – including the current leftwing administration of Gabriel Boric – has thus continued to operate within the framework of Pinochet’s constitution.
Why did Chile’s largest-ever popular uprising lead to political deadlock, leaving its principal demands unmet – a new constitution and more social justice?
To pass any laws, Boric depends on a functional alliance with the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, who led the country for 20 years after the dictatorship. In Congress and within the ministries, they have consistently hobbled his initial transformative ambitions. With no strategy for mobilising popular support, and having instead chosen to build parliamentary consensus in a fragmented country, the president has failed to achieve his flagship taxation and pension reforms.
Even so, after many rounds of negotiation, Boric has managed to reduce the statutory working week to 40 hours (phased in over five years), introduced free public healthcare for five million of Chile’s poorest, raised the monthly minimum wage (to around $500) and brought in a mining tax that will support the most underprivileged municipalities.
Since taking office, pressure from the right has forced Boric to prioritise security. Homicides jumped 38% from between 2018 to and 2023, coinciding with increased narcotrafficking in the country – a phenomenon seen across South America. Boric has also faced an immigration crisis sparked by instability abroad: of Chile’s 1.9 million migrants, 38% are Venezuelan and almost 10% are Haitian.
If the left wants a chance at beating right and far-right candidates, it will have to preserve the moderate governing alliance led by Boric. This means working with the Social Democrats and part of the centre to implement a primary-style mechanism that would allow the coalition to select a single presidential candidate. It also means winning a majority in Congress by having a single list of candidates. But even if this joint effort works and Boric is succeeded by someone from his own camp, the deeply held hopes of the 2019 uprising will remain largely unfulfilled.
https://mondediplo.com/2025/02/09chile
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