Manuel Segura, 65, was a frontline witness to the social outbreak of 2019. The drinks and candy seller had his car right in Plaza Italia, ground zero of the revolts, in the center of Santiago. He remembers those days of demonstrations and violence as “chaos.” A couple of years later, in 2021, he voted for Gabriel Boric with the hope that he would generate the change that citizens on the streets had asked for, that he would improve the situation of those who, like him, have fewer resources. “That didn’t happen, it made things worse than they had been and today we have other concerns, such as crime,” he points out. For the second round of the Chilean presidential elections, on December 14, he will vote for the right-wing candidate, José Antonio Kast, leader of the ultra Republicans party. “He is the only one who can use a strong hand,” says the merchant, today located a few streets above the epicenter of the outbreak, who sees in the left-wing candidate, Jeannette Jara, a communist militant, a continuity of the Boric Government.
Read the full piece here.
For more updates, visit our homepage: NewsTimesWire
