BREAKING NEWS: 33 Chilean Women Lock Themselves In 9,000 ft Deep Mine

[HS News]

A group of 33 women has taken over the coal mine “Chiflón del Diablo” in Lota, close to Santiago de Chile.

The group is protesting massive layoffs from the Military Job Corps, and have threatened to start a hunger strike 3000 feet below ground, if their jobs are not restored.
http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/breaking-news-33-chilean-women-lock-themselves-in-9000-ft-deep-mine/3005/
Hispanically Speaking News

[Judi Lynn]

1. Don't know if public sentiment will favor them, exploiting someone else's dilemna.

Should be interesting to see the response.

Hope a reasonable resolution can be managed.

Thank you for breaking this story here.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Wow! What an innovative and courageous protest!

Anybody know what the "Military Job Corps" is?

Is it like the CCC during the "New Deal" (government providing jobs to build infrastructure and for other purposes, to jumpstart the economy)? A jobs program of the prior socialist government that the new rightwing billionaire president wants to cut?

If he won't compromise, how will he get the women OUT of their protest site? Thev've put him into a vise. He doesn't dare starve them out. I suppose he could lie to them. In any case, it's fascinating. How did they get down there? (9,000 feet is way deep--about a mile and half down.) How are they maintaining life and limb? What will this rightwing government do, which committed itself so visibly to the rescue of the miners? How will the general public feel about it? Though the rightwinger got elected, I can't imagine that he represents most Chileans, and if he is cutting back jobs programs and other help to the poor and middle class, the public may side with the women, despite their obviously using the rescued miners' plight as a protest idea.

It will be interesting how this plays out, as a prototype for other situations where billionaires are dictating "austerity" (if that is the issue here), while billionaires and multinational corporations clean our collective clocks.

[rabs]

3. When the 8.8 megaquake and tsunami hit that region in February

Thousands of people were left without homes and because of the shattered businesses, without jobs.

The Pinera government began the "Military Job Corps" to aid the homeless and jobless. It was an emergency CCC-style program. It includes the word "military" because army officers were put in charge.


First night in the mine.

The problem is that the program and funds began running out in Oct. and on Nov. 4 the program ceased completely. That is the reason for the women's protest in the mine -- they are trying to put food on the table for their families by having the government extend the job corps.

About the "Chiflon del Diablo (Devil's Chimney), it was opened in the 1830s but was closed to mining since 1976 and is now a TOURIST ATTRACTION. One can take a rickety wire-mesh elevator down to certain levels to see how miners worked extracting coal. No way the women will be 9,000 feet into the mine. The mine now has lights (and probably snack bars) for the tourists.

The mine's entrance is near the coastline and goes deep under the Pacific. It is named the Devil's Chimney because it had a shaft from the surface that provides ventilation to the tunnels. The mine is located about 300 miles southwest of Santiago, not near the capital as the original story says.

In Santiago, the Congress is debating the 2011 national budget, so what the women in the mine are seeking is that the budget include funds for job creation in the region heavily damaged by the quake and tsunami.

The women are not cashing in on the rescue of the San Jose mine 33. They are merely taking advantage of all the attention and fame lavished on the 33. In other words, a protest by the women "a la chilena."

[Mika]

4. Impressive solidarity.

Even this atheist is praying for them.

The perfect shitstorm would be for some/all of the original 33 rescued miners joined them!

Imagine if Mario Sepulveda showed up down there with them!


:applause:

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[Peace Patriot]

5. That thought passed through my mind, too! What if the rescued miners joined them?

And, as you suggest, that is not outside the realm of possibility.

I'm glad to hear that the women are not as deep as I said--I mis-read the story, I think--just from the angle of the sheer peril they might be in.

I don't know how the Pinera government can think that anything as bad as that earthquake could be remediated so quickly. Were they thinking of cutting off aid early right from the beginning? Or maybe Pinera wants the aid extended and won't mind a protest that might help get it. (?) He didn't seem like such a bad dude, during the miners' rescue. Not like some billionaires who buy themselves into power.

Thanks for the info--and correcting my errors!