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Original article: «Kast es hijo de la dictadura”: CONFECH entrega carta a Mineduc y exige frenar recortes

Students expressed their opposition to the government’s budget cuts and the ‘Protected Schools’ initiative, calling for an urgent dialogue table.

On the morning of Monday, May 11, representatives from the Confederation of Chilean Students (CONFECH) arrived at the Ministry of Education to submit a formal letter addressed to Education Minister María Paz Arzola and Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz. The mobilization, which included various university federations, aims to halt the announced 3% cut in public spending by the government, which would directly impact programs related to food, scholarships, and student health, exacerbating social inequalities in the country.

From near the ministry, student leaders warned that these measures signify a severe setback for the right to education. Bastián López, vice president of FEUSACH, began a public reading of the letter, stating that reducing funds allocated to education «means increasing the hardships faced daily by those who are part of the educational system, ultimately harming millions of children, adolescents, adults, and their families.» For the organization, cutting support initiatives and institutional financing jeopardizes the academic continuity of the most vulnerable students.

The criticism extended beyond economic issues, also targeting the security agenda of President José Kast’s government. Sofía Ávila from the Diego Portales University Federation expressed total opposition to the ‘Protected Schools’ bill, claiming that this initiative «attempts to solve violence with more violence, imposing repressive measures that only deepen the problems.» According to the students, the punitive approach of the government aims to criminalize social mobilization and use access to education as a punishment.

The president of the University Mayor Federation, Diego Torres, emphatically linked the ideological origins of these measures with the country’s recent past, asserting that «this is a strategy that has been applied since the dictatorship. José Antonio Kast is a child of the dictatorship and of the prominent thinkers of the fascist system that prevailed during that period.» As per the leader, criminalizing social movements suits the president to facilitate his agenda of cuts and setbacks in basic rights.

At the press conference, spokespersons condemned that the government maintains a «closed-door» stance on dialogue, making critical decisions in isolated offices, detached from public sentiment. Diego Torres emphasized particular concern regarding cuts to JUNAEB, stating, «Many students depend on this food assistance; it’s working-class families that suffer from this narrow-minded vision that only benefits business owners.»

Regarding future mobilizations, CONFECH declared a state of alert and confirmed that upcoming actions will be defined in open national assemblies. While there is a call for secondary students to mobilize on Thursday, May 14, support from universities will depend on democratic discussions with their members. The leaders reminded that the progress achieved, such as inclusion and free education, were victories gained by previous movements that are determined to defend against what they describe as a «agenda of regression.»

Finally, the student movement demanded an immediate response to the submitted letter, calling for a fiscal cut of «zero percent» in the educational sector, recognizing that a country aspiring to develop must invest more, not less, in its intellectual capital. The university community in the metropolitan area hopes that soon all regions of the country will join these protest initiatives.

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