The Culture of Protest in Latin America
Chile has recently experienced rises in income inequality, cost of living, and privatization. In response to an increase in price for Santiago Metro tickets, a tipping point for many Chileans, civil protests began in Chile’s capital city and spread throughout the country. The protests have been far from peaceful; many have been killed, hundreds have been injured, and thousands have been arrested. Train stations have been burnt down and looting is prevalent. President Sebastian Piñera declared a state of emergency in the country and has implemented strict curfews. Many people did not anticipate the scale of the protests in Chile, as the country has been one of the most prosperous in Latin America, with the highest per capita GDP and HDI in the region. In fact, President Piñera even called Chile a “true oasis” among other chaos in the region. Despite this, protest is not foreign to Latin Americans. The culture of protest and rebellion has been rich throughout Latin American history and instrumental to change in the region.
European countries began colonizing the region starting during the late 1400s. For centuries, the governmental systems in place granted power to wealthy Europeans, who exploited the indigenous people for their land and labor. To combat the extensive exploitation, local populations began to protest and rebel. Starting with the Haitian revolution, which resulted in the end of French rule in 1804, populations around Latin America began to organize their own revolutions. Soon after, figures like Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín helped to liberate other countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador from Spain. These new countries, regardless of governmental structure, were rarely successful though. Groups of Creole elites maintained their power over the newborn nations after their independence from Spain. This resulted in the continuation of repressive structures that initially led to socioeconomic and political instability, often causing extensive civil wars. The cornerstone of Latin American political upheaval has been citizens taking outspoken action to express anger at their government. As many of the Latin American countries and their current political structures were born from protest and rebellion, these forms of political discourse have become deeply embedded in the region’s culture.
The ubiquitous subversion is not intrinsic in Latin Americans; it has resulted from frequent economic instability due to the strong legacy of colonialism in the region.
A 2010 study from Vanderbilt University used surveys and face-to-face interactions to determine that protest has been “normalized” in the region. The authors state that “in many Latin American countries, street protests and marches have come to play a crucial role in citizens’ efforts to influence government actions and policies.” To emphasize this, the authors demonstrated that in Argentina and Bolivia, almost one-third of the people surveyed had participated in protest within a year of being interviewed, and countries such as Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela had rates of protest within a year in the high-teens. These percentages represent millions of people in each country protesting yearly, demonstrating how ingrained protest is to the Latin American way of life.
The fact that protest has been normalized in Latin America in not only means that Latin Americans are consistently willing to put themselves at risk to express their opinions, but also that there has consistently been discontent in the region. This ubiquitous subversion is not intrinsic in Latin Americans; it has resulted from frequent economic instability due to the strong legacy of colonialism in the region. Colonies in Latin America were set up with small groups of European elites profiting off of the work of peasants, resulting in deep inequalities and poverty that persist in the region despite political action intended to diminish them. This economic instability has directly led to distrust in governmental structures and political instability, which has subsequently resulted in a failure to implement economic policies that would stabilize the countries. Chile is among many Latin American countries with recent widespread protests. Ecuador had protests sparked by new economic policies that resulted in thousands of injuries. Protests in response to election fraud in Bolivia recently forced the resignation of President Evo Morales. Common themes of animosity towards economic unreliability and a lack of trust in the government tie all of the conflicts together.
With rebellion so deeply embedded into the foundation of Latin American politics, it is likely that this method of political discourse will remain widespread throughout the often politically and economically unstable region for years to come. Although these protests demonstrate the enthusiasm of the populations to be involved in change, they may soon not be sustainable methods of discourse. Jair Bolsonaro’s son recently remarked that the Brazilian government could adopt dictator-like tactics to stop protests. The protests in Ecuador were violently repressed by President Lenín Moreno. Despite the dangers and threats, Latin American populations continue to demonstrate that they are willing to risk their lives by going to the streets to rebel.
Photo provided by Carlos Figueroa, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
