The three issues have in common the new friction by the government of Sebastian Pinera with the legislature, political opposition forces, broad social sectors and organizations that defend the environment.
On Wednesday, the draft humanitarian amnesty for prisoners of the revolution that erupted in October 2019 took another step forward when it was approved by the Senate Constitution Committee with votes in favor of opposition lawmakers and two against the right.
On the slow road to becoming law, the amnesty bill will go to the full Senate in upcoming sessions, although heated debate is expected.
Her treatment was closely followed by large sectors who repeatedly demonstrated in the streets to demand the release of prisoners of the revolution.
At least 806 young people can benefit from the amnesty, whose promoters have the background and legal arguments to agree to it, because they are people who have been held in pretrial detention for a year and a half, without trials or convictions and even victims of irregular arrests.
However, the government denies that there are prisoners in these circumstances and has stated that it will appeal all possible cases to prevent the approval of the amnesty.
On the same day, parliamentary debate began to withdraw a fourth from pension funds accessible to millions of people, an issue that has once again focused public attention.
If approved, it will be the fourth opportunity in which Chilean workers can extract their savings from insurance companies of pension funds, to face the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic by their own means.
The initiative faces strong rejection by the government, which it considers unnecessary after agreeing to extradite the emergency family income, which according to La Moneda 15 benefits 19 million Chileans, and can also exercise a veto.
As if that weren’t enough, the unexpected approval Thursday by the Environmental Assessment Committee of a massive mining investment that could cause serious environmental damage sparked controversy and strong criticism of the government.
The Dominga project involves an investment of more than $2.5 billion that includes the construction of a massive iron and copper shipping port in the Humboldt Archipelago, one of the richest ecosystems on the planet.
But environmentalists and other sectors reject it outright because they consider the approval to be fraudulent and illegal, as well as an attack on the environment, precisely at a time when the country is already suffering from the devastating effects of climate change.
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