Civil Unrest

Overall argument of the paper

Anti-American sentiment is rare in Chile, both officially and otherwise. While most demonstrations involved labor unions engaged in approved marches, 2011 saw seven months of continuous student groups protesting for equitable education that became very violent. Although these protests commenced as passive marches, anarchists, delinquents termed encapuchados or hooded individuals, and some students embedded themselves in the marches and incited serious violence, resulting in over 200 Chilean uniformed police being injured by rocks and Molotov cocktails. Police vehicles and empty school buses were burned and overturned, and large parts of downtown Santiago were vandalized and shut down. Chilean uniformed police utilized water cannon and launched tear gas to counter the violence that ensued during the protests. Several student groups took over several dozen school campuses, destroyed school property, and lit some of the schools on fire, resulting in many students not receiving credit for the school year (Wirsching, p.60-79).

Anarchists engaged in an anti-globalization campaign have been active in placing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) comprised of black powder inside of fire extinguishers in front of businesses and, most frequently, banks for several years. Although these IEDs are called noise bombs and are characterized as devices that are more a scare tactic that made a very loud noise when they detonate, they do have the potential to injure passersby in the immediate area. Over 200 homemade IEDs have been found throughout Chile over the past three years. All of these attacks have had an anti-globalization or pro-Indigenous Chilean undertone for which certain groups usually claim responsibility. The modus operandi for these incidents usually involve the explosive device being placed in a low traffic area between the hours of 2400-0400 hours, so as to make a political statement while minimizing the possibility of injury or death to passersby. 2011 saw over 22 incidents, some of which deviated from the anarchists' modus operandi as some devices were placed in areas that were highly frequented by the public and during peak rush hour times. Two IEDs detonated at a memorial to former Chilean political figure Jaime Guzman, directly across the street from the U.S. Embassy. Neither caused injuries, and they were not aimed at Americans, but one detonated at 10:15am on a regular work day, posing a new threat to Embassy employees as well as vehicular and pedestrian traffic (Woo, p.387-426).

Definition of the Problem

Chile, producer of over a third of the world's copper, is facing its biggest threat to copper supply since the strikes of 2007-08. On 11 July, 45,000 workers at state copper firm Codelco (12% of global copper production in 2010) staged the company's first nationwide one-day strike in around 20 years. On 27 July 2011, BHP Billiton declared force majeure at Escondida, the world's most productive copper mine (7% of global output in 2010), due to a strike that began six days earlier. On 30 July, workers at the world's third-biggest copper mine Collahuasi (Xstrata and Anglo-American), staged a one-day strike. The ongoing strike at Escondida ...