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News > Chile

Chile: Constitutional Convention Starts Amid Protests

  • Mapuche Indigenous people representatives attend to Constitutional Convention's inaugural session, Santiago, Chile, Jul. 4, 2021.

    Mapuche Indigenous people representatives attend to Constitutional Convention's inaugural session, Santiago, Chile, Jul. 4, 2021. | Photo: EFE

Published 4 July 2021
Opinion

Representatives of the Convention will have nine months to draft a Constitution set to be approved in a national referendum.

On Sunday, social organizations called for a march in Santiago to support the installation of the Constitutional Convention (CC) set to draft Chile's new Constitution.

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The call was supported by representatives from the Socialist Party (PS), the Broad Front (FA), and Mapuche Indigenous people, who denounced the repression against activists outside the Congress. 

Hours before the CC's installation, 60 representatives signed a letter asking for democratic guarantees, such as the release of all political prisoners from the 2019 social protests.

Demonstrators denounced that President Sebastian Piñera's government did not offer preparation to AC non-professional members, thus affecting this group's influence in the new Constitution.

The meme reads, "Urgent: Constituent session suspended in Chile until genocide Piñera stops repression to demonstrators. Military police Carabineros fired tear gas canisters at protesters in downtown Santiago at the beginning of the session."

After electing the President and Vice-President, the CC will draft its procedures, which could take several months.

The constituents will not affect the competencies and attributions of other State branches, which means that the Parliament will not be dissolved.

The CC will also have nine months to draft the new text to submit it to a national referendum under mandatory vote.

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