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| - Long considered a Latin American hub of political stability and economic growth, Chile holds a referendum on Sunday to change the dictatorship-era constitution after a year of social unrest. Some background on the country of nearly 19 million people: In 1973 General Augusto Pinochet toppled Socialist President Salvador Allende in a military coup. Allende committed suicide in the presidential palace as troops closed in. Pinochet imposed a right-wing dictatorship that lasted for 17 years, during which at least 3,200 people were killed or disappeared as a result of political repression. Around 38,000 were tortured. In 1988 he lost a plebiscite on remaining in power and handed over to democratically elected Patricio Aylwin in 1990, remaining head of the armed forces until 1998. Pinochet died in 2006 without standing trial for atrocities under his regime. In 2006 Socialist Michelle Bachelet, who herself had been tortured, became Chile's first female president. Re-elected in 2013, she was barred constitutionally from standing again immediately and was appointed UN human rights commissioner in 2018. The 2017 elections were won by conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera, who had already been president in 2010-2014. Pinochet applied neo-liberal free-market methods, privatizing healthcare, education and pensions. In the 1980s the country became the preferred Latin American host for foreign investors. Today it is the world's biggest copper producer. However, despite the economic model from the Pinochet era, which is still largely in place, inequalities within the population sparked a social crisis in 2019, resulting in Sunday's referendum. Pensioners are cash-strapped and education and healthcare in the country are expensive. In the second quarter of 2020 Chile's GDP fell by 14.1 percent, due to the pandemic, which affected all sectors of the economy apart from mining, which accounts for 10 to 15 percent of GDP and half of Chile's exports. The central bank has forecast that GDP will shrink by up to 7.5 percent in 2020, a 35-year record. The staunchly Roman Catholic country has been rocked by allegations of sexual abuse within the church going back decades. The scandals were highlighted by a controversial visit to the country in 2018 by Pope Francis, who has been accused of not doing enough in response. Some 158 cases of sexual abuse implicating 219 members of the church are being investigated. Ultra-conservative Chile allowed divorce only from 2004 and legalized abortion in certain cases in 2017. Bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes mountain range to the east, long and narrow Chile is one of the world's most seismic countries. In 1960 it was hit by the most powerful earthquake ever registered, measuring 9.5. More than 5,700 people were killed. In 2010 a 8.8-magnitude quake unleashed a tsunami that swept away entire villages in the south and center of the country, leaving around 520 people dead. Chile also has numerous active volcanos. Benefiting from a totally clear sky for most of the year, northern Chile is home to some of the world's most powerful telescopes. The construction of the planet's biggest telescope was launched in 2017 in the Atacama desert by ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere. bur-ber-ang-jmy/eab/db/mtp
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