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The overwhelming victory of Rechazó met with long faces those who promoted and defended the Constitution discarded by Chileans.
With Yasna Mussa, RFI correspondent in Santiago and AFP
The prolonged silence and the seriousness on their faces said it all. When the first calculations that confirmed the overwhelming triumph of the Rejection were beginning to appear, journalists were piling up outside the Approval command, but none of their representatives delivered statements.
Also read: Chileans reject the Constitution proposal, Boric seeks a new constituent process
There, among applause of consolation, several faces that led the campaign appeared, among them Gaspar Domínguez, former conventional and vice president of the Convention.
“It is evident that the people of Chile do not want the Constitution that we have today and they did not want the proposal issued by the Constitutional Convention either, and what remains is to continue having the discussion in a democratic, open, humble manner,” Domínguez told RFI.
Among the public we also find members of the Yo Cuido Association. Romina Fuentealba regretted that what she considers progress with the rejected text is without effect.
“Achieving what this one had achieved with the environment, with care in general… It was at the forefront and the eyes of the world were here. It seems unfortunate and very terrible to me that it was rejected,” Fuentealba acknowledged.
Some 2,000 supporters of “Apruebo” gathered around the central Plaza Italia, the epicenter of the massive demonstrations that broke out in Chile from October 18, 2019, demanding greater social equality.
“We are going to continue in the streets; this is not going to stop us, we must continue the fight,” Cecilia Álvarez, 46, who was wearing a Mapuche indigenous flag around her neck, told AFP.
The proposal to change the current Constitution in force since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) established a “Social State of Rights”, with changes in health, pensions and education, and the possibility of voluntary interruption of pregnancy.
It also established the plurinationality of the country, with greater territorial autonomy and justice for the original peoples.
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