On the night of Saturday, November 14, two young people lost their lives in the biggest demonstrations that Peru has witnessed for twenty years. Throughout the country, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the ousting of president Martín Vizcarra and the seizure of power by a corrupt group of congressmen.

Those politicians tried to present Vizcarra’s removal as a legal transfer of power, but the protesters on the streets more realistically saw it as a coup. This did not entail a charismatic military leader sweeping to power, but rather a group of political operators blatantly promoting private financial interests. The Peruvian political system reached a deadlock, and the streets took back power, forcing interim president Manuel Merino to step aside after less than a week in office.

In neighboring Chile, opposition to the right-wing government of Sebastián Piñera and the country’s long-standing neoliberal constitution has been building up strength over time, leading to a successful referendum that has now started the process of rewriting the constitution.