Chileans took to the polls last Sunday (16 May 2021) to vote in both regional elections and to also to elect 155 members to a Constitutional Convention tasked with drafting a new constitution. The elected conventional deputies have a year to write the new constitution before the public will vote on whether to ratify it. The demand for this constitutional convention stems from the protests beginning in October 2019 that rocked the country as millions took to the streets to vent frustration at the current constitution which was drafted under the US backed dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1980.
Tag Archives: Chile
Poetry Corner: The Men by Pablo Neruda
The Men by Pablo Neruda, translation by Alfred Yankauer
Pablo Neruda was a prominent Chilean Communist, as well as a Nobel prize-winning poet in both literature and peace. Neruda played key roles in two Chilean governments and experienced the outlawing of Communism in 1948 and later became a close adviser to the Socialist President Salvador Allende only to die in hospital of cancer at the time of Pinochet’s US-backed coup. Better known nowadays only for his poetry, he was a hugely popular poet in Chile at the time and remains popular throughout the world today.
Breaking with Pinochet’s terrorist and neoliberal regime of the past in Chile
On 25 October 2020, Chileans will have the right to vote for a new constitution and a new constituent assembly of representatives. Lautaro Carmona, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Chile, told Nuevo Mundo on 27 August that October’s referendum will be “decisive for the future of the country” and “for conquering a societyContinue reading “Breaking with Pinochet’s terrorist and neoliberal regime of the past in Chile”
Poetry Corner: The United Fruit Company by Pablo Neruda
The United Fruit Company by Pablo Neruda , 1950.
Pablo Neruda was a prominent Chilean Communist, as well as a Nobel prize-winning poet in both literature and peace (slightly more deserving than the current warmongering president of the US). Neruda played key roles in two Chilean governments and experienced the outlawing of Communism in 1948 and later became a close adviser to the Socialist President Salvador Allende only to die in hospital of cancer at the time of Pinochet’s US-backed coup.
