SANTIAGO — Chile's Senate began to vote Wednesday on whether to strip a former interior minister of his right to hold public office over allegations he failed to prevent abuses by security forces during days of violent protests. Andres Chadwick, a cousin and close confidant of center-right President Sebastian Pinera, was ousted by the president shortly after protests began in October, part of a cabinet reshuffle designed to quell increasingly violent riots. Opposition lawmakers in Chile's lower house nonetheless moved to censure Chadwick in late November for his alleged role in human rights abuses during the first, and most violent, week of unrest. Nearly two months of protests over inequality and social injustice have since left at least 26 dead, billions in damages and thousands of injuries in the once-stable South American nation.

Source: International New York Times December 11, 2019 16:52 UTC