CHILE: Student leaders seek support abroad

Representatives of Chile's confederation of university students, Confech, will travel to Europe to seek international support and raise the profile of their push for sweeping reforms to the nation's education system, writes Joe Hinchliffe for the Santiago Times.

The student representatives will include Giorgio Jackson, president of the student federation of Universidad Catolica, and Francisco Figueroa, vice-president of the student federation of Universidad de Chile (Fech). The students will meet with representatives of the human rights commission of the UN and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and speak before the Commission of Higher Education of the European Union.

"Confech is thinking about internationalising [Chile's education] conflict and the first step will be the trip of some of our representatives to Europe," said José Ancalao, leader of the federation of Mapuche students. The delegation to Europe is a continuation of previous Confech efforts to collaborate with student and labour organisations in other countries of Latin America.
Full report on the Santiago Times site