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1 [1] (January 2, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govbeww0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FEh. gognpo goo g , q 's a X 11LULANJILiN, Updated January 2, 2020 Chile: An Overview Chile, a nation of 19.1 million people, is located along the Pacific coast of South America. Chile traditionally has been one of the United States' strongest partners in Latin America due to the countries' common commitments to democracy, human rights, and free trade. Chile also has worked with the United States to promote peace and stability in the Western Hemisphere, as Chile's transition to a higher level of economic development has enabled it to take on additional regional responsibilities. o)- N-a a*d [ lk§ono,,-. - f Zt§-, Chile has a long democratic tradition but experienced 17 years of authoritarian rule after a 1973 military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet deposed the democratically elected Socialist government of President Salvador Allende (1970-1973). More than 3,200 people were killed or disappeared, and some 38,000 people were imprisoned and/or tortured during the Pinochet dictatorship. Chile ultimately restored democracy in 1990. The center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy (CPD) governed Chile for 20 years after the transition. The coalition's ability to implement policy changes was constrained, however, by provisions of the Pinochet-era constitution and the specter of another democratic breakdown. As a result, the CPD largely maintained the market-oriented economic framework inherited from Pinochet while implementing consensus-based reforms that gradually increased the state's role in regulating economic activity and providing social services. Although President Sebstidn Pifiera (2010-2014) broke the CPD's hold on power, his center-right administration generally adhered to the same policy mix. Analysts have credited this policy stability for significant improvements in living standards. Nevertheless, many Chileans have been dissatisfied with the limits of the post-Pinochet policy consensus. They argue that Chile's economic growth has disproportionately benefited a small sector of society and that most Chileans still lack economic security and access to quality public services. Moreover, many Chileans think the country's elites have unjustly used their wealth and connections to advance their own interests while limiting the opportunities available to the rest of the population. A series of corruption and collusion scandals has reinforced those perceptions by revealing how businesses tied to some of Chile's wealthiest families have engaged in influence peddling, price fixing, and other market-distorting and illegal activities-often with few consequences. Over the past decade, Chileans have registered their discontent with the status quo through repeated electoral swings and mass mobilizations. In 2013, they elected former President Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010) and gave her New Majority coalition-consisting of the former CPD and the Communist Party-large majorities in congress. From 2014 to 2018, Bachelet and her congressional allies enacted far-reaching fiscal, labor, education, and electoral reforms intended to reduce inequality. They struggled with low approval ratings and repeated protests due to dissatisfaction with the policy changes, slow economic growth, and corruption scandals. Figure I. Chile at a Glance Populsatipn: 194 I mo Com.parativ. Aree....i. s T:Monpa, nav,:id vi Povert Rate: Source: CRS Graphics; Instituto Nacional de Estadfsticas; Centro de Estudios Pblicos; and the International Monetary/Fund. Chile's political pendulum swung back to the right in 2017, as Chileans voted to return Sebastidin Pifiera to the presidency. Pifiera campaigned on the economic record of his first term, when the economy expanded by 5.3% per year, and argued that Chile needed stronger economic growth to address the middle class's concerns. Pifiera also benefited from the fragmentation of the New Majority; the centrist Christian Democrats split from the coalition to run its own slate of candidates, and a new Broad Front coalition attracted many left-wing voters. Pifiera's center-right Let's Go Chile coalition picked up seats in both houses of Congress but failed to win majorities. Pifiera began his second four-year term in March 2018, pledging to enact business-friendly reforms. He struggled to obtain congressional support for much of his agenda, however, and effectively abandoned it in mid-October 2019, when protests against an increase in transit fares turned violent. As some groups engaged in vandalism, arson, and looting, Pifiera asserted the country was at war; he declared a state of emergency and deployed the military to enforce a curfew. Those measures appear to have triggered a backlash, with millions of Chileans taking to the streets to express their discontent with societal inequality and the high cost of living. Pifiera ultimately lifted the curfew on October 28, 2019, but clashes between protesters and Chilean security forces have continued. According to Chile's National Human Rights Institute, security forces are responsible for at least 5 of the 29 deaths .O 'T

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