This week, we cover a historic vote in Chile, where people want a new Constitution. And how Brazil’s Supreme Court can rub Beijing the wrong way.
Chile votes to bury 1980 Constitution, Pinochet’s last-enduring legacy
Despite an average of 1,500 new coronavirus infections per day, Chileans went to polling places in their droves on Sunday and voted to replace their 1980 Constitution by a landslide 78-to-21-percent margin. The results were far from surprising, as polls prior to the vote showed that a majority of citizens were in favor of a new Constitution — some 93 percent said that guarantees for healthcare and education should become constitutional rights.
- The plebiscite represents a full stop to a year of political turmoil which began in October 2019, with massive protests that often descended into violent clashes between the police and a minority of demonstrators. The crisis nearly brought down the administration of President Sebastián Piñera, who proposed the referendum as a way to preserve his cabinet.
Why it matters. Chile’s Constitution was drafted under the vicious regime of Augusto Pinochet, who ruled the country by terror for 17 years — overseeing the death of more than 40,000 people, while torturing and imprisoning tens of...