'Mentally, we're in crisis mode😢🖤': protests leave Chileans living on their nerves
Chileans are gripped by uncertainty – suspended between hopes of progress, and frustration over an elusive political solution
Chileans are gripped by uncertainty – suspended between hopes of progress, and frustration over an elusive political solution
When a tsunami of unrest spilled into Santiago’s fashionable Bellavista neighbourhood in October, Daniel Gajardo, 33, was torn between sympathy for the protesters and frustration at the harm they were doing his fledgling business.
The recording studio and music shop he co-owns had been thriving, and moved to new premises just a day before the first major demonstration.
“I would sit in my office staring at my phone, but it didn’t ring for two weeks,” said Gajardo. “It’s been like starting from scratch because we have debts to pay without any income. This has hit us incredibly hard,” he said.
Two months after Chile lurched from an illusory calm to a fiery outburst of rage, there is still no sign that life is about to return to normal.
After an agreement last month between political parties, the country will next year hold a referendum on drafting a new constitution – one of the protesters’ main demands.
But widespread anger still simmers over inequality, social exclusion and the high cost of education and healthcare. Demonstrators continue to gather across the country every day, and violence often erupts at nightfall.
Chileans have found themselves in a state of uncertainty – suspended between hopes of progress, and frustration over a political solution which seems beyond reach.
