During the summit between the president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, and the US president, Barack Obama, it was proposed that the Pacific Free Trade Agreement (FTA) would be improved. 10,000 people rejected the nuclear energy agreement.
On Monday, in Chilean government offices, the leaders of both countries held a press conference. The Chilean head of state called for a deepening of the FTA between the two Pacific countries. Meanwhile, the US president suggested incorporating Colombia and Panama, to achieve the “largest trading bloc in the world.”
Furthermore, Piñera said to Obama that “free trade must not be only goods but also ideas, not just one way but mutual, and not just investment but also technology.” Obama described Chile as “one of his closest associates”, while adding that the countries are “expanding clean energy partnerships”.
Meanwhile, in contrast to the show of unity between the presidents, Chilean social organisations marched through the streets of Santiago to denounce the agreement of nuclear energy cooperation reached by the two governments.
The mobilisation was carried out by 10,000 people from 40 different civil society organisations on Sunday.
The executive director of Greenpeace Chile, Matias Asún, said that “nuclear energy does not solve the problem of global warming.” He stated that it “generates less than 10% of the world’s energy.”
Organisations which participated in the march were Chileambiente, Ecosistemas, ACCION and the Atacama Defence Bureau, among others.
Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the news agency of AMARC-ALC.
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