SANTIAGO, Chile, June 17 (UPI) -- It hasn't been a good month for Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, the country's first center-right leader since the Gen. Augusto Pinochet left power in 1990.
Street protests, which have included violence, have been staged around the country over a government commission's approval for a multibillion-dollar dam complex in the region of Patagonia.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Santiago, the nation's capital, demanding educational reforms.
Tons of volcanic ash spewing into the atmosphere from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano range in the Andes temporarily closed airports and led to the cancellation of domestic and international flights. It was also a sharp reminder of last year's earthquake, from which the nation has yet to fully recover.
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And latest opinion research has brought little joy to Pinera, a wealthy businessman, and the technocrats in his administration. According to latest data from the polling firm Adimark, 36 percent of Chileans questioned support the president and 56 percent reject his administration outright.
In April, the figures were 41 percent and 49 percent, respectively.
"The unexpected citizens' movement that appeared after the HidroAysen project was approved without doubt explains the drop in support," Adimark was quoted as saying by The Santiago Times newspaper.
"Also contributing was the public disorder that occurred during student demonstrations and some unfortunate episodes relating to them, like the use of tear gas."
The HidroAysen hydroelectric project, a joint venture of Spanish-owned Endesa and Chilean energy provider Colbun, would involve the construction of five dams on two rivers in southern Chile.
In addition, 1,200 miles of power lines would be strung to transmit 2,750 megawatts of energy produced by the dams.
The combined cost would be about $10 billion.
Proponents of the project, which Pinera supports, say the hydroelectric power is vital to the country, which needs to double its electricity generation.
Chile has little oil or natural gas and is dependent on energy imports. Nuclear power is an alternative but Laurence Golborne, the country's mining and energy minister, said that following the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan, it would be a difficult proposition for Chile, an earthquake prone country, to receive public support for nuclear energy projects.
Government officials argue increased energy generation is needed to help improve the economic lot of Chileans and could also help expansion in the country's mining sector.
But Patagonia is a pristine natural environment, considered a national treasure. Polling indicates more than 60 percent of Chileans want it to stay that way.
Demonstrations calling for educational reform -- and that includes the economics of learning the "Three Rs" -- are pale in comparison to those recently in Britain, where university students -- joined my anarchists -- trashed London in protest over rising tuition costs, but they have nonetheless shaken the Pinera government.
The demonstrator are demanding increased public education funding, full scholarships for lower- and middle-class students and more technical education in state institutions.
Other issues include scrapping the standardized test now used as the as the exclusive vehicle for university admittance.
The issue of rising tuition costs further fuels discontent.
Those issues haven't yet risen to the level of political crisis for Pinera but the potential is there.
