International
Boric announces regiver of university debt and proposes a new financing system
The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, announced his promised bill to forgive part of the debt that more than 1.2 million university students contracted in special credits to pay for their studies, while presenting a new public financing system.
“Most of those who are listening to these words today know someone who is in debt today for having studied in higher education with the State-Endorsed Credit (…) Today the CAE is a problem for all of Chile,” Boric said on national television.
Created in 2005 during the government of the socialist Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006), the CAE allowed thousands of young people with limited resources to access universities, but “over time it became a burden for students and their families,” the president added.
Despite what was promised in the campaign, the pardon will not be universal, but partial, and will be made “based on criteria of justice and merit,” and it will be taken into account if the person ended his career or if he has the debt up to date, Boric explained.
“Thus, we will support debtors with fewer resources, we will recognize those who have responsibly paid their dues and we will encourage the regularization of those who still owe payments,” he said.
The legislative initiative, which will be presented this Tuesday in Parliament – where the Government does not have a majority – replaces the CAE with the so-called Public Financing for Higher Education (FES), an instrument with which beneficiary students do not disburse resources or go into debt, but pay their careers with a kind of progressive tax when they join the labor market, of no more than 8% of their monthly salary.
The FES, Boric said, “will involve a significantly lower fiscal expenditure than the State currently disburses for CAE,” which to date amounts to 9 billion dollars.
“Banks will not participate in this new financing instrument. With the FES, there will be no room for speculation, abuse, or profit, but a fair reward for the training received,” he concluded.
Boric, 38, forged his political career in the student mobilizations of 2011 in favor of gratuitousness and against the CAE.
The initial interest of the CAE was 6%, but after the mobilizations the rate was reduced to 2% during the government of the center-right Sebastián Piñera (2000-2014).
Even so, those who graduate usually earn low incomes and pay credit to banks for years.
International
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
The Venezuela Command, the campaign team of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, denounced the “kidnapping” and subsequent release of political leader María Corina Machado after she led a protest in Caracas on the eve of the Venezuelan presidential inauguration.
In a post on X, the opposition team stated that the former lawmaker was “intercepted and knocked off the motorcycle she was traveling on” after leading a rally in the Chacao area of the Venezuelan capital.
“Gunshots were fired during the incident. She was forcibly detained. During her kidnapping, she was forced to record several videos, and then she was released,” the statement added, which was made public nearly two hours after Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, reported that she had been “violently intercepted.”
International
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer González expressed her sorrow over Venezuela’s political crisis on Thursday and voiced her support for Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, just one day before President Nicolás Maduro is set to take office following the controversial July elections.
“I think it is sad that the Venezuelan people have to suffer the consequences of a dictator who came to power by deceiving the people. I recognize Edmundo González for his leadership,” the governor stated during a press conference, coinciding with a day of protests by Venezuela’s opposition.
“The Venezuelan community has my full support, and, as we have done in the past, we will maintain that line of communication with whatever we can collaborate on,” assured the Puerto Rican head of government.
González Urrutia is currently in the Dominican Republic, the last announced stop on his American tour, where he was accompanied by Dominican President Luis Abinader and former Latin American presidents from the Spain and Americas Democratic Initiative (Grupo Idea).
International
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
Dozens of Venezuelans demonstrated in central Rome on Thursday to show their support for opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia and demand a “democratic change,” on the eve of the presidential inauguration that has deeply divided the country.
The protest took place in the Roman square of Largo Argentina and gathered several members of the Venezuelan diaspora and refugees, who sang their national anthem and displayed signs with the slogan “Glory to the brave people.”
Around 150 participants were present, according to one of the coordinators of the protest, Celeste Puerta from the ‘Aiuto Venezuela’ Civic Movement, who spoke to EFE.
Similar actions have been organized in other Italian cities, including Bologna, Florence, and Milan in the north.
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
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