Chile’s government held talks with opposition leaders Thursday in a bid to quell anti-government protests, now entering their third week. The protests erupted on October 19, sparked by a hike in subway fares, but quickly grew into nationwide demonstrations against inequality, the high cost of living and privatization.
This week, Chile’s embattled President Sebastián Piñera canceled two major international summits as a result of the protests: the upcoming APEC economic summit and United Nations climate talks. He announced Thursday that Spain has offered to host the climate summit, known as the COP.
President Sebastián Piñera: “Yesterday I spoke with the president of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, who made the generous offer to organize the COP25 summit in Madrid, Spain, the same days it was planned to be carried out in Chile, meaning from the 2nd to the 13th of December this year.”
Spain will have just one month to prepare for the global summit in Madrid, which will follow snap elections on November 10. Democracy Now! will be covering the U.N. climate summit.