On 18 October 2019 a group of Chilean school pupils began a campaign of fare dodging on the metro in Santiago. In stations across the centre of the capital exuberant teenagers leaped over turnstiles while chanting: “Evadir, no pagar, otra forma de luchar!” (“Evade, don’t pay, a different way to fight!”). Their grievance was a small one, a 30 peso (about $0.04) hike in ticket prices. But it proved the spark. And Chile, long held up as a beacon of prosperity and stability in Latin America, turned out to be the tinderbox.
The country’s economic growth had slowed in recent years, exposing the inequalities in a free-market model that had often been brandished as an example to others in Latin America. Despite having had a left-led government for 14 out of the past 20 years, and falling rates of poverty, Chile remained one of the most unequal states in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Healthcare, education and pensions provision for low- and mid-earners were threadbare. What followed the high school students’ protest in October 2019 came to be known as el estallido social – the social explosion – as citizens surged on to the streets. A state of emergency was declared. More than 1.2 million people marched in the biggest demonstration in Chile’s history.
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