THE Chilean College of Teachers began a 48-hour strike on Wednesday to demand a response to the requests submitted to the administration of President Gabriel Boric.
The Chilean teachers presented an 8-point petition to the Education Ministry.
‘So far, however, the authorities have not responded to these demands,’ said Carlos Diaz, the president of the College of Teachers.
Among their demands is the payment of late retirement bonuses, the end of labour burden, the creation of better working conditions, and the solution to student violence in schools.
Diaz explained that hundreds of professors were travelling from various regions of the country to Valparaíso, where the headquarters of the Chilean Congress are located.
In this port city, teachers were holding a protest rally.
The Chilean teachers are asking the Boric administration to resolve the so-called ‘Historical Debt’ as well.
By this term, Chileans refer to the salary loss suffered by thousands of teachers during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990).
During this period, the administration of public schools was transferred from the central government to the municipalities.
As a result of this decision, professionals did not receive salary readjustments for several years.
According to the College of Teachers, the Chilean State owes some US$7 billion to 65,000 affected teachers, the newspaper La Nacion reported.
If the Chilean authorities do not reach an agreement with the education workers before August 17, the teachers will discuss the start of an indefinite national strike.
On July 26, the national board of the Chilean Teachers’ Association called for a 24-hour national to demand improvements in education and other demands.
In the capital, Santiago, the teachers assembled in Plaza de la Dignidad and marched along the emblematic avenue of La Alameda.
The union demands reparations for the historical debt of the State with teachers, when during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) their salaries were reduced, which also affected their pensions.
Other demands are a plan to confront school violence, the payment of delayed retirement bonuses, changes in the sector’s financing model, an end to the work burden and the revision of the teaching day.
In addition to the strike, assemblies, dialogues with the educational communities, marches and rallies were held throughout the country.
In a letter addressed to the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, the head of the teachers’ association, Carlos Díaz Marchant, recalled that many of these demands were promised by the President during his campaign.
- The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Venezuela relations will deepen, says DRC Minister Sassou Nguesso.
The Minister of International Cooperation and Promotion of Public-Private Partnership of DR Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, expressed in an exclusive interview with teleSUR his confidence that the African country and Venezuela will deepen and develop their relations.
‘I want to congratulate the peoples of Latin America for their resilience, particularly the Venezuelan people who have bravely faced certain difficulties and obstacles,’ said the official in the interview with the multi-platform broadcaster on Wednesday night.
He assured that these obstacles have helped the development of the South American country and said that the Venezuelan people ‘are an example to follow for other peoples who face similar difficulties. I see that they are always looking for solutions. Venezuela is looking for innovation’.
Sassou Nguesso, who was in Caracas at the head of a large delegation of his country, participated on Wednesday together with local authorities in the installation of the Congo-Venezuela Joint Commission.
‘We think that this great Mixed Commission should allow us to develop our relations and have concrete projects between our countries,’ asserted the Minister for International Cooperation of the African nation.
‘It is not normal that after having established our diplomatic relations we have not had a concrete project to develop with Venezuela,’ said the official and added that this was the reason to give life to this bilateral initiative.
- The accelerated deportation of Jamaican migrants to their country increased in the United States in 2022, for the first time in five years.
About 562 people returned to the Caribbean nation last year, compared to the 501 who returned to native soil in 2021, revealed the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2020 (ESSJ).
From the United States, 328 people have arrived, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom.
Of those deported, 80.3 per cent were men. Just over 40 per cent overstayed in the foreign country, entered illegally or were guilty of illegal re-entry.
In 2022, a total of 84 people were deported from the United States for drug possession, 14 for firearm-related offences and 34 for murder, manslaughter or attempted murder.
The above represents a reversal in the downward trend in the number of deportees that Jamaica experienced in recent years; from 1,393 in 2017, to 501 in 2020.
Under the Biden administration, the deportations of Jamaicans increased, while in his electoral campaign he announced more tolerant measures.
This administration has ended up being more aggressive than the previous one in terms of immigration policy.
The numbers have exceeded the number of deportations that took place during the last pandemic.
The deportees arrive to a society that continues to be affected by macroeconomic and fiscal factors.
The trade balance, fiscal deficits and high public debt keep society stuck in high inflation and deteriorating living conditions of vulnerable sectors.
This situation is expressed in daily life, with increasing marginalisation and poverty, as well as high vulnerability to natural disasters.
For this and other reasons, increased deportations are not expected to decrease the flow of Jamaican immigrants to the United States. Immigration in Jamaica continues to grow.
Male immigration continues to be higher than female immigration, with the country ranking 162nd in the world in terms of immigration percentages. Nearly 1.3 million Jamaicans live abroad, at least 36 per cent of the population.
Immigrants, mostly young, imply a high brain-drain for the country, affecting the economic development of the island.
Today, returnees could be integrated into society in an effective way. For them, there are assistance programmes in the country that seek to support forced returnees, especially women returning to rural communities.
