Growing gap between rich and poor cited as reason
by Kathy Melvin | Presbyterian News Service
The equestrian statue of Manuel Baquedano in La Plaza Italia in Santiago, Chile, was covered with protesters this week. (Photo by Robert Brashear)
LOUISVILLE — Chile, considered one of the most stable countries in South America, erupted into violence this week and the Rev. Dr. Robert Brashear got an up-close view and an experience he wasn’t expecting.
Brashear, a retired minister and seminary professor from New York City, was in Chile at the invitation of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission partners the Theological Community of Chile (CTE) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Chile to lead a series of workshops on urban ministry and the challenges of migration. Understanding the unique dynamics of urban ministry and the realities of the global migration crisis are new areas of discernment and reflection for the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s partners in Chile.
Everything was going well. Brashear felt good after two successful workshops in Santiago and Concepcion, where the participants looked at current global migration realities and engaged in biblical study and theological reflection.
And then, he said, everything took an unexpected turn.
“We knew that protests were taking place in Santiago ever a proposed raise in the metro rates,” he said. It began with simple fare evasion. Graffiti read: “Evade, don’t pay, struggling in a new way.”
Returning to Concepcion from a post-conference visit to the beach with his local hosts, they began receiving texts about “solidarity actions” in Concepcion — and in all other major cities, as it turned out.
“We returned to closed streets and the smell of burning rubber and tear gas,” he said.
Dennis Smith, World Mission’s regional liaison for South America who has been working closely with global partners in Chile, said the rise in metro rates was just the tipping point.
“The key issue is the rapidly-growing gap between rich and poor, and the sense on the part of the people that all social programs are motivated by charity, not by being inherent rights of all citizens,” he said.
In response to the protests, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew.
That same night, Presbyterians Daniel Godoy, Rector of CTE, and Jorge Cardenas, President of the Council of Historic and Protestant Churches, joined with their colleague Raquel Riquelme from the Methodist Seminary to issue a pastoral letter inspired by Isaiah 32: 16-18 and Romans 14:17. The letter reviews the historic circumstances leading up to the uprising and ends with a dramatic call:
“It is time to take the discomfort and the causes of the violence, and address in an emergency the real problems of the people, from the lack of water for the use of the people, their few animals and crops in impoverished areas, while others have it in large quantities, to a pension system that has failed wildly. The problem is no longer solved with more water, gas, and threats of use of force.
“It is time for the government, parliament, and institutions, across the board, all sectors with leadership responsibility, to assume that responsibility and manage the situation, with some simple and immediate measures of relief for the affected population, and not indulge in speeches that blame only ‘the other’ without self-criticism, and to assume the task of building justice from which peace will emerge.”
Simultaneously, CTE faculty member Cecilia Castillo joined with other ecumenical leaders in forming a network “For Life and Dignity” that became a communication vehicle for connecting people through social media to share information and develop common strategies.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Brashear
“On Sunday morning, we walked to the Lutheran church for services where I preached,” Brashear said. Smells of fire and tear gas were in the air. There was broken glass and burned- out buildings. Pastor Luis Alvarez, who had lived in exile for 18 years, welcomed Brashear.
“As I went out, soldiers and tanks were on every street corner. That
night I experienced tear gas for the first time since the 1969 Moratorium March in Washington, D.C.,” Brashear said.
By Tuesday, airports were shut down, stranding as many as 5,000 people. Brashear boarded a bus back to Santiago.
“On the way to the station, long lines wrapped around the one open grocery store,” he said. It was a six-hour ride back to Santiago. The hotel was running out of food. Only sandwiches were left.
By Wednesday, Brashear said streets were jammed. Protesters were drumming, chanting, singing and dancing. Mimes, clowns and a brass band joined the protest.
“The heroic equestrian statue of Manuel Baquedano in La Plaza Italia was covered with people,” he said. “A bus of indigenous people — heroic symbols of Chilean resistance to tyranny — arrived to applause. Everyone was young, like my own millennial sons. There was also tear gas and water cannons. “
Faith leaders issued an open letter based on a prayer for the restoration of God’s favor:
“For he will speak peace to his people… lest they return to madness … justice and peace have kissed. Truth will sprout from the Earth, and righteousness will look from heaven.” (Psalm 85: 8,10-11)
While confessing a share in the complicity that has created injustice, and agreeing that unity must be restored, the faith leaders made this call to Chilean leaders:
“… the only way to achieve this unity will be through sincere gestures of empathy with the feelings and emotions that engulf the citizenry. It will not be possible to restore public order and governance without restoring trust, and for this it is necessary that your government, and all other political sectors, make credible gestures of assuming responsibility and asking forgiveness for their inability to discern the depth of citizen indignation …”
Brashear said it appeared the fare increase (since abandoned) was just the proverbial last straw. Chileans share some of the same concerns as Americans — especially the growing gap between rich and poor, the cost of living, minimum wage, privatized education, health care, student debt and consumer debt.
“On the way back to my hotel, muchachos in black were hurling stones that clattered off the tanks,” he said. “There was more tear gas. Volunteers offered me a mask and a lemon.
Later, at my hotel, I was on my way to have dinner with my friend, longtime Presbyterian pastor Fred Milligan of the English-speaking Santiago Community Church. But volunteer médicos were pulling gassed people into the hotel lobby. Two asthmatics were suffering. I offered my inhaler. There were army trucks outside. The air was thick with gas. No one’s going anywhere. Lentils had been found. There would be soup.”
The government has announced some concessions.
Of Chile’s 16 regions, about half remained under an emergency decree this week. Some were under military curfew — the first, other than for natural disasters, that’s been imposed since the country returned to democracy in 1990 following a bloody 17-year dictatorship, according to CBS news.
Cardenas issued a second pastoral letter:
“As Christians, called to weep with the one who cries and stand beside the one who suffers, the spirit of the Lord constrains us to accompany and to grieve with all those affected without distinguishing between them, and to seek true acts of justice, equity, and reconciliation.”
He concludes:
“It is time for greatness, for willingness to change, for generosity and solidarity. It is time for government, parliament, civil society, as well as the churches, across the board, all sectors that have responsibility for social leadership, and that model customs and values, to assume our responsibility in the task of building justice from which peace will emerge, and to involve ourselves all in making promises a reality. In our case, it judges the truth, the sincerity and the seriousness of our faith.”
The situation remains fluid. PC(USA) ministry partners ask for prayers.
