Thousands of people in Chile staged a demonstration in the capital Santiago last week in protest against the economic plans of President Ricardo lagos. The protesters accused the president of failing to fulfil his commitments to tackle the economic problems afflicting the country, especially his promise of fighting the growing poverty and unemployment.

The recent demonstration by the Chilean people against the economic programs followed the introduction of a new plan by government to create 150,000 new jobs. The demonstrators' spokesman said the new plan can only meet 2.2 percent of the job demands in the country, adding that the revision of the government's economic programs is inevitable.

While expressing the Chilean people's dissatisfaction with the economic situation in Chile, the spokesman threatened that if the government officials ignore the people's demands, more anti-government rallies will be held in the future.

Some analysts have stressed the important role of the opposition parties in shaping the anti-government protest. The analysts consider the influence of the opposition parties over student circles and labor unions as the main factor behind the recent anti-government demonstration.

However, other analysts believe that the United States also played some part in fomenting public dissatisfaction in Chile. They argue that the Chilean president's remark that his country would give priority to joining the South American free trade union, called Mercosur, over signing bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S. has angered the White House officials. Thus, they believe that the American officials, in coordination with the opposition parties in Chile, organized the recent anti-government demonstration in that country.