This song came on my ipod on my way home and it seemed quite appropriately timed, given that we had just had a guest lecture in my "Globalization, Copper and the New Chilean Economy" class about the socio/political/economic effects of drug networks in Latin America, with a special focus on Mexico. Guess where the biggest market for drugs is worldwide? Guess what country refuses to take steps on a policy level to treat drug addiction as a health issue? I was personally really fascinated by the class, although some of my classmates were much less so, although I guess I should technically be more interested since it is kind of my country's fault after all. I feel like people in the US definitely make the mistake of lumping "Latin America" together all the time and assuming that everyone will have the same interest in topics that are "regionally" related. Based on the questions students were asking, I'd say there tends to be a lot more interest in Chile in the topic of violence on the part of the state rather than the topic of the state combating asymmetrical forces, mainly due to the historical circumstances.
My International Human Rights Law Class got canceled today, since the school of Derecho is on paro through the weekend, which I've heard is somewhat rare for them, give how pre-professional they are. Maybe they were grumpy about the fact that they don't get a week off like everybody else. This was secretly kind of good, because I finished up some work for my computer skills workshop. I also had time to walk to class and ran into 3 protests, one featuring a full-fledged live music concert in the middle of a park on the Alameda, the main drag of downtown Santiago. There's also been an interesting postering campaign going on: posters with different variations of the phrase "Machismo Mata" (Machismo Kills) peppered the walls in many of the usual spots.
I'm leaving for Peru tomorrow for "Spring Break"! My friend Regina christened the trip "Alpacas Gone Wild": we're going to see Machu Pichu, spending time in Lima and Cuzco along the way. Definitely the trip of a lifetime! It's going to be really interesting see the differences between Chile and Peru: economically, racially, socially and politically. The two countries are historical enemies with much animosity towards each other. Somewhat understandably so: if not for the War of the Pacific, Peru would have held on to its nitrates, which fueled the first great economic boom for Chile, which, despite leading to the development of an economy essentially centered around 1 primary product, began its first real rise. There's a good deal of racism against Peruvians in Chile and I wonder if it will come up in conversation with anyone at all.
We're coming back in time for the BiCentennial/Independence Day celebrations, which is sure to be absolutely an amazing 4 days, but unfortunately, we won't be here for September 11, which (in an interesting historical coincidence) marks the anniversary of the 1973 coup that installed Pinochet in power. I'm guessing there may be more protest than usual, giving that a right wing government is in power. Would have been interesting to see, but on the bright side, I can be more sure of not getting tear gassed, so that's convenient.
This is pretty much unrelated to anything in Chile, but I found out about this today and it made me upset that I hadn't really ever heard anything about it before and wanted to share it. Although the Mexican drug war gets pretty much all the press, the situation in Venezuela has become equally deadly, for less clear reasons. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/americas/23venez.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Thinking about all this made me appreciate even more how safe I felt on my walk home, something that far too few people in this world ever get to feel.
Don't expect to have time to blog in Perú, but talk to you all soon!
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