The president of The Confederation of Copper Workers (CTC) has confirmed that a national strike will take place in Chile due to continuing labour disputes with state-owned mining company Codelco.

Chileans protest at a gold and copper mine in Copiapo, Chile. (Photo: Alex Fuentes)

A national strike of all copper workers will take place any day now, and union members are keeping the dates secret for ultimate impact and to “guarantee their success,” president of the (CTC) Cristian Cuevas said in a statement.

However, copper workers have already begun their demonstrations and in the early hours of this morning a group of contract workers at Codelco’s Andina department set up barricades on the main road to block ongoing traffic to the cities of Los Andes and Portillo.

According to the CTC, the local police violently repressed protesters using tear gas in an attempt to control the protests this morning, leaving dozens injured and some hospitilised.

Codelco and third-party contracting companies are threatening to dissolve the “Acuerdo Marco” deal – an agreement made by Codelco in 2007 that entitled new worker benefits, such as a national base wage of around US$400, an end-of-year bonus, and a better enforcement of new labour laws.

Cuevas said that he would not accept the dismissal of the Acuerdo Marco and that the group is working to make revisions to the agreement to further improve workers rights and benefits.

“Before we go to the negotiating table, we have said we are available only to broaden rights and benefits, and not to turn our back on what was achieved [in 2007],” Cuevas said. “The only changes we will accept to the ‘Acuerdo Marco’ are improvements.”

Cuevas added that there will be protests in all the company’s divisions to create an effective national strike.

“We are calling on all workers to come together with their families and children, as well as those from the social and political world with whom we have marched during this time.”

Thousands of students marched the streets of Santiago, Chile yesterday to continue their campaign for free education. The demonstration marks the second national student protest of the year.

Eighty thousand students met yesterday to demand free public education in Chile, where currently there are no free universities. Protesters also gathered in Valparaiso, Concepcion, Temuco, and Valdivia to march for the same cause.

Students wore costumes to dance and wave banners, and although the march intended to be a peaceful protest, authorities have said that there were isolated clashes between police and student protesters. According to the country’s riot police, officers were attacked with petrol bombs, resulting in the police use of water cannons and tear gas to break up some of the protesters.

Student protestors in Santiago

The leading representatives of the Confederation of Students of Chile (Confech) and other associations of students and teachers asked for Chilean president Sebastián Piñera to fulfil the government’s commitments, and stressed the loss of 3,000 scholarship students in recent weeks.

“If pressed, changes are not going to come and there will be a continuation in the segregation that exists in education,” said the president of the Federation of Catholic University Students, Diego Vela.

Chile’s education system is considered to be the best in Latin America, however as long as government subsidies for state-funded schools are lacking, and university education is still a middle class privilege, students are continuing their campaign against the ongoing inequalities.

Chilean students have been arranging protests for free and better education since 2011.

Due to reforms introduced during Chile’s military dictatorship, the government lost all of its education policies, leaving public universities with no choice but to start charging their students. As a result, students must pay up to US$900 a month for public university education, forcing many of the country’s poorest to seek financial help, such as bank loans or scholarships.

Thee International Court of Justice logo (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Bolivia presented its case against Chile regarding maritime sovereignty to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) this morning.

The Bolivian delegation, headed by former president and current Ambassador Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé and Chancellor David Choquehuanca, has brought the issue to The Hague in hopes that the principal judicial organ of the United Nations would resolve the sovereignty question. Veltzé and Choquehuanca are to present documents to the international court defending Bolivia’s maritime access rights.

Bolivia is calling for control of disputed ports accessing the Pacific Ocean along 400km of coast that it claims to be rightfully Bolivian although currently dominated by Chile.

Choquehuanca said: “Bolivia has resorted to this international meeting convinced that peace should come first between our nations.” He added: “Bolivia is looking to re-establish the rights of a country unjustly cloistered and confined to a sovereign exit to the sea after over 100 years.”

International lawyer and ex-government minister of Bolivia Wilfredo Chávez explained the importance of the issue to Venezuelan news agency teleSUR, stating, “We are convinced that this claim is just. It is transcendental…this is a central issues for all Bolivians. It is not a political concern–it is a state matter… We are united in this claim, we know that it is a difficult matter, but we are completely united.”

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera’s government has announced its confidence that the ICJ will reject the Bolivian claim and affirm Chile’s sovereignty over the port.

As the case is processed through the ICJ, Chile will be invited to present a counter statement against the claims presented this morning by Bolivia. After this is done, with the cooperation of both sovereigns, the international court will set deadlines for submission of written documents regarding claims to the ports and later hold official hearings.

In commemoration of Earth Day, more than 100 Chilean social organisations have taken to the streets of Santiago to raise awareness about critical water issues that concern the country.

Today’s event, the “March for the Recuperation and Defence of Water,” began at 11:30am at three different points within the capital city, with many participants starting to march from the University of Santiago. Protesters walked to the Palacio de La Moneda, the federal building where leaders of the event delivered a letter with the organisations’ demands to government officials.

Water Supply
(Photo: World Bank Photo Collection)

The letter cites grievances with the 1981 federal Water Code that converted hydraulic resources into private property, allowing the state to freely concede rights to water sources to private companies, and in doing so, determined that water sources could be bought, sold, or leased without regards to consumers who depend on them.

Specifically, participants of today’s march are calling for an end to the state’s conceptualisation of water as a marketable product so that it might instead be viewed as a collectively owned resource essential to all human beings. Protesters are hoping to gain greater community involvement in the management of water and for control to be dispersed from the private groups that currently control the resource.

According to Rodrigo Mundaca, leader of the Movement for the Defense of Access to Water, Land, and the Protection of the Environment (MODATIMA): “Today what is happening with water is an embarrassment in our country, an embarrassment in which a national asset of the public domain has been transformed into a speculative and lucrative capital asset that weighs upon the communities of the country.”

Water Supply
(Photo:World Bank Photo Collection)

In a public statement, the event organisers invited all willing citizens to participate in today’s march, stating: “We are making a call to all of the living forces of the metropolitan region that adhere to this legitimate demand for water, life, and the consequent appeal of the Water Code, that they might help […] our voices and our demands be heard.”

The letter delivered to government officials at the march today also requests that laws be drafted as soon as possible to protect the Chilean environment more generally.

Among the organisations present at today’s march are the MODATIMA, the Movement for the Defense of the Sea, and the Federation of Students of the University of Chile, and more indigenous and environmental groups.

Former President Michelle Bachelet addressed goals for her potential presidency to a packed theatre in Santiago on Sunday.

Michelle Bachelet (Photo: wikipedia commons)

More than 6,000 people crowded inside the theatre and even more observed from televisions set up outside.

Bachelet has announced she will represent the Socialist Party and Party for Democracy (PPD) in the primary elections next June, and she said if she wins, her main objective will be “combating inequality.”

“This is not a personal project, it is a collective work,” she added.

Bachelet said she would like to make reforms to ensure that there is public, good-quality education for all. She also called for constitutional reform that guarantees economic and social rights.

“Chile needs a new constitution, one that guarantees economic and social rights and allows us to develop the reforms we need,” she said. “Since we reinstated democracy, Chile has grown and progressed, but to be fair, there were reforms that were not finished. The country needs profound change and because of this, we should construct a new social and political majority.”

She expressed the need to move forward with tax reform that will leave the state “with more resources to contribute more.”

Polls show Bachelet, who ended her term with record approval ratings, has a solid lead over the three other pre-candidates: Claudio Orrego of Christian Democrats (DC), ex-minister Andrés Velasco, and Senator José Antonio Gómez, del Partido Radical Socialdemócrata (PRSD).

Students protest the Chilean education system in Santiago, Chile.

More than 150,000 protesters marched through Chile’s capital yesterday in a bid to denounce the state education system.

The march, which also took place in about a dozen other cities around the country, began in Santiago’s Plaza Italia at 11am. Although relatively peaceful for the most part, the protest turned violent when police used tear gas to diffuse the crowd around Estación Mapocho.

“If we didn’t have these marches, we wouldn’t be able to talk about education, health, and justice,” protester Nito Rojas told local publication, The Santiago Times.

“We are marching because we want free and quality education,” said Valentina Ibañez, a university student, to the same publication. “Education should be equal for everyone, it should be free — we all have the same rights.”

Shortly before 2pm, the Carabineros, the national police force, used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds. Other skirmishes also broke out between masked protesters and police in other locations, with reports showing over 100 people were arrested.

Students in Chile have been engaged in protests over education reform for several years, with several mass demonstrations since May 2011.

International Court of Justice at The Hague by United Nations Photo, on Flickr

Later this month the Bolivian government will lodge an official complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Chile. The complaint centres on the contested ‘sovereign’ maritime sea which Bolivia claims has been usurped by Chile, and which it insists ought to be restored to Bolivia. The case will be headed up by Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca and ex-President Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé.

President Evo Morales announced his government’s intent to pursue the matter yesterday, and hopes that it will restore the country’s sovereign access and control of Pacific Ocean ports. Morales went on to explain at a meeting with the Confederation of Private Bolivian Companes (CEPB) that, “we have worked for two years and we have prepared, not only a national law team, but also an international one.”

Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé, the man appointed to present the case before the Court, said that, “returning the ports to the Bolivians is an ongoing issue that was not able to be solved by consensus, it has been decided that we will go before an international court, but this does not mean that we will no longer be neighbouring countries with high octane commercial trading relations…”

Morales has garnered the “unconditional support” of private companies who back up his decision to favour investment in infrastructure so as to better connect Bolivia with ports in the South of Peru, and to rely less and less on the use of Chilean ones.

The head of the CEPB, Daniel Sánchez, affirmed that it was with “much conviction” that the confederation had allied itself to the president’s cause and that since the departure of Chile’s last president, Michelle Bachelet, relations between the two countries had taken a turn for the worse. He went on to claim that since that time Bolivian employers have been unable to engage in dialogue with Chile as regards commercial affairs, whilst other sectors of the economy espoused that they have found it difficult to move their goods through Chilean ports.

The current standoff between the two sovereigns forms part of a longstanding conflict that began with a war between the two countries in 1879 where Bolivia lost much of its coastline to its Trans-Andean neighbour including 400kms of coastline and 120m km² of land rich in natural resources.

Tensions between the two countries reached a head between January and February when three Bolivian soldiers who were allegedly unaware of having crossed the border into Chile whilst in pursuit of smugglers were arrested. They were released three days later and received a hero’s welcome upon their return.

A 24-hour strike has begun today amongst employees of Chile’s state-owned copper mining company Codelco, along with private mining corporation employees. Union organisers have gathered with 26,000 miners to participate in the countrywide strike.

The strike was called on Monday by the Federation of Copper Workers (FTC) and the Mining Federation of Chile (FMCJ), as part of their campaign for an improvement in pensions and the re-nationalisation of the copper and lithium industry, amongst other reforms. Chile is the world’s leading producer of copper, and it is estimated that its production represents one-third of the world’s copper supply. Chile produces an average of 5.4 million tonnes of the metal a year, with Codelco alone producing 10% of the world’s supply of copper.

A spokesperson for the Federation of Copper Workers (FTC), Jorge Varas said that, “all of Codelco is paralysed, and private mining companies have also been stalled”. Chairman of the FTC, Raimundo Espinoza continued by stating that “at this time we have paralysed the North in both the private and the state sector,” in an interview with Radio Cooperativa at 11:30am.

Employees of foreign private mining companies, such as Minera Escondida, operated by Anglo-Australian petroleum group BHP Billiton, are considered to be the largest private operation of miners in Chile. Miners from Minera Escondida will however only participate in the strike for a few hours, in support of the strike led by Codelco employees.

Codelco’s workers are demanding improvements in their pensions, the health system in the state sector maintained, greater job security, and fairer pay for contracted workers, who receive on average 70% lower wages than permanent employees.

Codelco said that the 24-hour strike being carried out by its employees is the equivalent of a loss of around US$35m in revenues from operations.

La Moneda, the seat of the Chilean president in Santiago, Chile.

The lower house of the Chilean Congress decided today to uphold accusations that Education Minister Harald Beyer failed to control university funds.

Today’s vote of 58-56 immediately suspended Beyer from his federal position. As the case moves to the Senate, the minister is in jeopardy of permanently losing his title.

Beyer is suspected of mishandling university funds in several cases. Among the accusations are one such case in which he failed to properly audit funding of the country’s Universidad del Mar, allegedly benefitting personally in the process.

The education minister has vehemently denied these and other accusations, calling today’s verdict a political scam.

He stated: “I have been the first minister that has put an effort into managing funds, and more that that I have controlled [the ministry's] profits that have increased the capacity of the supervision of the state and have enacted the necessary projects to increase the quality of higher education, in order to also better manage all institutions of higher education and to help finance student fees.”

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has expressed his support of the minister in spite of today’s announcement, commenting to Beyer, “If any minster has fought for transparency in education finances and in combating illicit profits in the economic management of the institutions of higher education, it has been you.”

Beyer is confident that the Senate will revoke today’s decision. However, this is unlikely considering that the government supporting party that also generally backs the minister has a minority in the Congressional upper house.

Beyer’s suspension comes amidst ongoing student protests in Chile in the name of education reforms including broader access to higher education and against profits made from the system. Organisations within the student movement like the Confederation of Chilean Students (CONFECH), the Assembly Coordinator of Secondary Students (ACES), the National Coordinator of Secondary Students (CONES) and the College of Professors announced this Wednesday that they are planning a massive national march to be held on Thursday, 11th April.

Michelle Bachelet (photo: Agência Brasil)

Bachelet became president of Chile in 2006 and had a record popularity rating of 84% when her term ended in 2010. She said she is “committed to her country and that’s the reason she has returned.”

When asked if she will run for reelection throughout the past year, she has said “We’ll talk in March.” Now the time has come for her to announce her decision, and many think that her resignation from the UN Women’s group after two years is confirmation that she will run.

The primaries for presidential election are on 30th June, and the Socialist politician will compete against Christian Democrat Claudio Orrego, Senator José Antonio Gomez of the Social Democratic Radical Party, and independent former Finance Minister Andrés Velasco.

The Concert of Parties for Democracy (La Concertación), a coalition of leftist parties, sees Bachelet as the best hope to win the presidential election on 17th November.

“We don’t have a plan B. I’m serious. In the opposition we’re just not prepared for a negative response from Bachelet,” Jaime Quintana, president of the Liberal Party for Democracy, told AP.

If elected, Bachelet will face several ongoing issues from her last time in office, including criticism over her failure to issue a warning to coastal cities in a 2010 Tsunami as well as ongoing student protests. Polls also show Chileans are frustrated with the quality of public education and the amount of crime in recent years.

Bachelet is expected to officially announce her bid for president sometime this week.