Chilean President Sebastin Piera said Wednesday that he is canceling two major international summits so he can respond to protracted nationwide protests over economic inequality that have left more than a dozen people dead, hundreds injured and businesses and infrastructure damaged.
The decision to call off the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and U.N. global climate gatherings, planned for November and December, respectively, dealt a major blow to Chile's image as a regional oasis of stability and economic development.
Piera said he was forced to cancel both events due to the chaos unleashed by 13 days of protests. Demonstrators are demanding greater economic equality and better public services in a country long seen as an economic success story. Shops have been vandalized and buildings set on fire, shutting down numerous subway stations.
"This has been a very difficult decision that causes us great pain," Piera said in a televised address. "A president always has to put the needs of his countrymen first."
"That hard deadline and the relatively short period of time available allowed Trump and Xi to give themselves permission to do only easy things and delay indefinitely resolving tough issues." Now, Moon said, "there is no excuse for not pressing forward with the full U.S. agenda of concerns."
Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said she believed there would be "every effort made that some type of ... meeting does happen." "These ... are the venues where the global community comes together to decide how to tackle this problem together," she said. "The climate challenge requires every country to act, but it requires us to act collectively."
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