Chile: Hunger strike by 50 students continues

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Chile: Hunger strike by 50 students continues

fuckyeahmarxismleninism: Santiago, Aug 23 (Prensa Latina) - Almost 50 young students have been on hunger strike for 36 days, demanding free and public education; the health of three of them is seriously deteriorating. The spokesman of the protesters, Matias Villegas, declared Tuesday to Radio Cooperativa that the students are demanding that the Executive solve the problem as soon as possible.

Felipe Sanhueza, Matías Ortega and Gloria Negrete are the ones with the worst health conditions, especially Gloria who remains in the San Luis de Buin hospital, just outside Santiago.

Angel Muños (18) and Fidel Carrasco (16) chained themselves in front of a high school in solidarity with the students of Buin and also joined the hunger strike on Monday.

According to the spokeswoman for the Chilean Students Federation, Camila Vallejo, the government is responsible for these extreme measures, like the hunger strike, since it has not changed its position.

Vallejo warned that the strikers’ lives are in danger, and criticized the Chilean government for remaining indifferent towards this crisis.

Meanwhile, social groups keep joining the 48 hours national strike called by the Workers United Center of Chile starting Wednesday.

Social protests have been taking place in Chile since last April when students took the streets, schools and universities demanding the end of education for profit, established by the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).