19 January 2011

CHILE: Deal Ends Punta Arenas Blockades, Freeing 3,000 Tourists.

BBC/

   The sometimes violent demonstrations and road blocks that kept 3,000 tourists as virtual hostages after the government proposed a 17% increase in the cost of nat gas and outraged residents of the Magallanes region of Patagonia...has apparently ended.
     The government reached a deal to end the week of protests by cutting the increase to just 3%...and increasing subsidies for 15,000 poor families.
    The demonstrations have been President Pinera's biggest challenge since massive earthquakes shook his nation in 2010.