Riots after a fare increase damage Chile’s image of stability

AS DARKNESS FELL on October 19th, General Javier Iturriaga, Chile’s head of national defence, declared the first curfew in Santiago, the capital, since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship 29 years ago. The order, which applied to Santiago and areas nearby, was a response to unrest that began weeks ago after a rise in metro fares. On the 18th and 19th rioters had set ablaze metro stations and buses, barricaded streets and clashed with police. Public-transport services were suspended. Protests spread to other cities; curfews were also declared in Valparaíso and Concepción. Chile’s president, Sebastián Piñera, suspended the fare increase. But neither his surrender nor the curfew has quelled the unrest. Supermarkets have been looted, and three people were killed by a fire in one on the night of the 19th.

The violence has stunned many Chileans. Their country is one of South America’s most prosperous and peaceful. Now it has suffered the sort of turmoil that recently occurred in Ecuador, a much poorer country, when its government raised fuel prices to comply with the terms of an IMF agreement. (It also relented.)