Tension had already been mounting in the main Chilean cities in the years leading up to the riots: the unemployment rate was about 7,2 percent, a drug epidemic was ravaging the cities, and gang activity and violent crime were high in the working-class suburbs. | Tension had already been mounting in the main Chilean cities in the years leading up to the riots: the unemployment rate was about 7,2 percent, a drug epidemic was ravaging the cities, and gang activity and violent crime were high in the working-class suburbs. |