The Society hosted a webinar entitled:
'The Twin Challenges Facing Chile: Covid-19 and Social Unrest' our guest speaker was Prof Andrés Velasco, Dean of the School of Public Policy at LSE and was moderated by Dr Peter West. It was our second virtual event and was a great success. There were just under 200 attendees from the UK, Chile and USA.
Prof Velasco talked for just of half an hour and gave us all a very up to date insight into the issues facing Chilean society compounded with the impact of the virus. Above all he talked about the lack of trust in Chilean institutions which has was one of the reasons for the social unrest but has now made confronting the Covid-19 epidemic that much harder. He mentioned that Chile was in a better position than some of the other countries in Latin America and that along with Peru had come into to the crisis with a low public debt. However, with commodity prices falling and a lack of direction from Chile's politicians the country is going to face a very tough year.
After Professor Velasco's presentation there was some time for Q and A. Unfortunately, there was not time to answer all the questions, but it was great to see the attendees interacting with the event. By all accounts, the event was a huge success.
Virtual event has been a steep learning curve during this crisis, but they seem to be very popular and it is a great way for us to engage with people in Chile.
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