Protest-hit Chile mulls rewriting Pinochet's constitution

Campaigning for next month's referendum on changing Chile's dictatorship-era constitution began on Wednesday, more than four months after an outbreak of unrest that triggered the ballot.

More than 14 million Chileans will be eligible to vote on April 26 on changing a charter established in 1980, under the military rule of Augusto Pinochet (1973-90).

It has been changed before by referendum, following a 1988 vote that paved the way for a return to democracy.

"So many tears and so much blood have been spilled so that we could have a different constitution," Camilo Sanchez, the president of the Young Communists, told AFP.

Demonstrations that have left more than 30 people dead first broke out on October 18 last year, initially against a modest metro fare hike in the capital Santiago.

But it quickly mushroomed into wider anger at social injustice. One of demonstrators' main demands -- alongside cheaper education and health care -- has been a change to the constitution.

A month later, ...