UPDATED: Feb. 3, 2021 at 11:50 a.m.
The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard, in partnership with its regional office in Chile, launched an academic forum in December to examine the rewriting and potential adoption of a new constitution in Chile.
The forum follows a national referendum that occurred in Chile on Oct. 25, 2020, catalyzed by widespread protests. In the October vote, nearly 80 percent of voters supported writing a new constitution that would replace the one written by former dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1980.
Though preparatory efforts for the Rockefeller Centerâs âAcademic Forum for the New Constitution in Chileâ began in September 2019, it officially launched with a webinar on Dec. 2, 2020.
Harvard faculty reacted with shock and frustration â but often little surprise â to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob Wednesday that disrupted the counting of electoral votes.
Chaos erupted in Washington, D.C. Wednesday afternoon when rioters breached the Capitol, forcing the Senate to be cleared out and Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers to be evacuated to secure locations. Amid the riots, a woman was shot and killed, and several explosives were discovered around Capitol Hill.
Police managed to clear the mob from the Capitol by early evening, and lawmakers resumed the vote count around 8 p.m.