SANTIAGO, Chile. Every year, on March 29, Chile commemorates the "Day of the Fighting Young Man".
In practical terms, that means that you have to hurry back home early.
The Day of the Fighting Young Man commemorates the horrific killing of two young brothers, aged 18 and 19, 32 years ago, in the times of the Pinochet administration, at the hands of dictatorship henchmen.
Their names were Rafael and Eduardo Vergara Toledo. They were members of a leftist group. The day was March 29, and the year 1985.
How many people know this story? This writer can not tell. But the story doesn't matter.
What matter is that, every year, come the Day of the Fighting Young Man, if you don't want to risk a stone thrown at your windshield, or being stranded in an overcrowded subway wagon, or, worse still, not being able to find a public bus to get back home (some companies pull their buses early from the streets, buses being an easy arson target), you'd better leave that errand you have to run, that dentist appointment, that birthday celebration, for the next day when, magically, everything will be back to normal.
At the time of writing this story, breaking news reported clashes between the police and young men demonstrating in several slums of Santiago.
In a way, it's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Morning news shows tell you that you have to be extra-careful this day, because typically young men take to the streets late in the day to set barricades on fire.
And typically, companies tell their workers, at about noon, that today, exceptionally, they can leave at 5 p.m. or earlier (workers typically leave at 6 or 6:30 p.m. in Chile), because usually the flare-ups of violence occur in the poor neighborhoods, which is where most workers live.
And for this reason also, shopping malls, supermarkets, cinemas and shops in general close their doors earlier.
The morning news shows, tomorrow, will tell us how bad this Day of the Fighting Young Man was, how many people were arrested, how many were injured, if someone was killed... And people will resume their lives, and soon will forget this Day of the Fighting Young Man, until March 29 next year.
But for now, the safest place to be is home.
In practical terms, that means that you have to hurry back home early.
The Day of the Fighting Young Man commemorates the horrific killing of two young brothers, aged 18 and 19, 32 years ago, in the times of the Pinochet administration, at the hands of dictatorship henchmen.
Their names were Rafael and Eduardo Vergara Toledo. They were members of a leftist group. The day was March 29, and the year 1985.
How many people know this story? This writer can not tell. But the story doesn't matter.
What matter is that, every year, come the Day of the Fighting Young Man, if you don't want to risk a stone thrown at your windshield, or being stranded in an overcrowded subway wagon, or, worse still, not being able to find a public bus to get back home (some companies pull their buses early from the streets, buses being an easy arson target), you'd better leave that errand you have to run, that dentist appointment, that birthday celebration, for the next day when, magically, everything will be back to normal.
In a way, it's a self-fulfilling prophesy. Morning news shows tell you that you have to be extra-careful this day, because typically young men take to the streets late in the day to set barricades on fire.
And typically, companies tell their workers, at about noon, that today, exceptionally, they can leave at 5 p.m. or earlier (workers typically leave at 6 or 6:30 p.m. in Chile), because usually the flare-ups of violence occur in the poor neighborhoods, which is where most workers live.
And for this reason also, shopping malls, supermarkets, cinemas and shops in general close their doors earlier.
The morning news shows, tomorrow, will tell us how bad this Day of the Fighting Young Man was, how many people were arrested, how many were injured, if someone was killed... And people will resume their lives, and soon will forget this Day of the Fighting Young Man, until March 29 next year.
But for now, the safest place to be is home.
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