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{{Short description|Violent riot in Santiago, Chile, in 1905}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict    = Meat riots
| image       = File:Mitin de la carne - una cuarta del Dragones recorre calles.JPG
| caption     = Dragoons roaming the streets
| date        = 22–27 October, 1905
| place       = [[Chile]]
| result      = Protests repressed, meeting repressed, Chilean government victory
| combatant1  = Workers protesters
| combatant2  = {{flagicon|Chile}} [[Politics of Chile|Government of Chile]]
*[[Chilean Army]]
| commander1  = 
| commander2  = [[Germán Riesco]]<br/>[[Roberto Silva Renard]]
| strength1   = 
| strength2   = 
| casualties1 = 230 killed
| casualties2 = 20 killed
}}
{{economic history of Chile}}
The '''Meat riot''' (Spanish: ''Huelga de la carne''), in the [[Chile]]an capital [[Santiago]] in October 1905, was a violent riot that originated from a [[Demonstration (people)|demonstration]] against the tariffs applied to the [[Argentine beef|cattle imports from Argentina]].<ref name=mem>{{in lang|es}} ''[http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/dest.asp?id=movimientoshuelgadelacarne Primeros movimientos sociales chileno (1890–1920)]''. Memoria Chilena.</ref><ref name=benjamin>Orlove, Benjamin S. 1997. "Meat and Strength: The Moral Economy of a Chilean Food Riot". ''[[Cultural Anthropology (journal)|Cultural Anthropology]]'', Vol. 12, Issue 2, pp. 234–268.</ref>

==Background==
The establishment of the [[Rail transport in Argentina|Buenos Aires-Mendoza railroad]] in 1885 ended the lengthy and costly trade with [[cart]]s that connected these two regions of Argentina and facilitated cattle exports from the [[pampas]] to Chile, albeit in the last portion of the route the cattle had to walk over the high [[mountain pass]]es of the [[Andes]].<ref name=benjamin/><ref name=Lacoste>{{in lang|es}} Lacoste, Pablo. 2004. [http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0718-23762004000200005&script=sci_arttext&tlng=es La vid y el vino en América del Sur: el desplazamiento de los polos vitivinícolas (siglos XVI al XX)], ''[[Revista Universum]]'', 19, pp. 62–93.</ref> These imports resulted in a lowering of meat prices in Chile.<ref name=benjamin/>

In 1887 ''[[Sociedad Nacional de la Agricultura]]'' (National Agriculture Society), a landowners organization, proposed to put a tariff on the Argentine cattle that Chile was importing from Argentina.<ref name=benjamin/> In 1888 the attempt to pass this as a law in the [[Chilean Congress|Chamber of Deputies]] was frustrated by several urban workers social organizations, the [[Democrat Party (Chile)|Democrat Party]], and [[mining in Chile|mine owners]] that protested against it.<ref name=revista/><ref name=benjamin/>

''Sociedad Nacional de la Agricultura'' continued to support the implementation of a tariff and in 1897 it was passed as a law in congress, principally as part of a [[protectionism|protectionist]] law package.<ref name=benjamin/> The package was supported by the Democrat Party, but in 1898 and 1899 it called for the abolition of the tariff returning to its old stance.<ref name=benjamin/> In 1902 a series of demonstrations against the tariff took place.<ref name=benjamin/> Scholar Benjamin  S. Orlove suggest that it was the rise of staple [[food prices]] that led to renewed protests against the tariff in 1905. This would have been because high staple prices would have led people to have less money available for buying meat.<ref name=benjamin/> The prices of meat themselves remained stable in the period preceding the Meat riots.<ref name=benjamin/>

==Demonstration==
In September 1905, members of the [[Democrat Party (Chile)|Democrat Party]] and several [[Benefit society|mutual aid societies]] of Santiago met to form an umbrella organization named ''Comité Central de Abolición del Impuesto al Ganado'' (Central Committee for the Abolishment of the Livestock Tariff).<ref name=benjamin/> The new organisation called for a demonstration on Sunday October 22.<ref name=benjamin/> State authorities approved a demonstration route.<ref name=benjamin/> The plans for the demonstration spread through word of mouth and support from the [[political center|centrist]] Catholic newspaper ''[[El Chileno]]''.<ref name=benjamin/>

At the place and time of meeting in Santiago on Sunday, it has been estimated that fifty thousand people gathered.<ref name=benjamin/> Another estimate puts the number at twelve thousand of which at least 6000 belonged to the [[working class]].<ref name="revista">{{in lang|es}} 2006. [http://www.estudioshistoricos.uchile.cl/CDA/est_hist_simple/0,1474,SCID%253D18812%2526ISID%253D650%2526PRT%253D18809,00.html Una Mirada al Movimiento Popular Desde dos Asonadas Callejeras (Santiago, 1888–1905). III. La “Huelga de la Carne”], [[Revista de Estudios Históricos]].</ref> Considering that Santiago at the time had 320 000 inhabitants, the demonstration was huge.<ref name=benjamin/> Apart from those that gathered in Santiago demonstrations were held all over Chile.<ref name=revista/>

From the meeting point at [[Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins|La Alameda]], a demonstration group that included ten neighborhood associations plus 41 trade unions and mutual aid societies marched to [[Palacio de La Moneda]] where they planned to deliver a petition to president [[Germán Riesco]].<ref name=benjamin/>

==Red Week==
Upon arrival to La Moneda it was found that president Germán Riesco was not there. A minor group of protesters were told by government representative that the president was at his residence a few blocks away.<ref name=benjamin/> This minority group marched to the residence where protest leaders were allowed to enter to deliver the petition document and to chat with the president.<ref name=benjamin/> The chat went over to lengthy discussions. Meanwhile, the majority of the protesters were unaware of the meeting and thought that the president had turned his back on them by refusing a meeting. A rumour saying that the president had left Santiago spread.<ref name=benjamin/> In this atmosphere violence erupted. Demonstrators attacked "buildings and public structure" and police attacked the demonstrators.<ref name=benjamin/>

Police stations, private residences, telegraph and telephone lines were attacked and stores were pillaged.<ref name=benjamin/><ref name=revista/> At 4–5 o'clock most workers retired from the city centre.<ref name=revista/> By the same time the looting intensified.<ref name=revista/>

==See also==
* [[List of food riots]]
{{Portal bar|Chile|Society|History|Food}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography==
* [http://www.biografiadechile.cl/contenido.php?IdContenido=278&IdCategoria=8&IdArea=32 La "huelga de la carne"] retrieved 03. September 2008

{{coord missing|Chile}}
[[Category:1905 labor disputes and strikes]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Chile]]
[[Category:Massacres in Chile]]
[[Category:Food riots]]
[[Category:History of labour relations in Chile]]
[[Category:1905 riots]]
[[Category:1905 in Chile]]
[[Category:Protests in Chile]]
[[Category:October 1905 events]]
[[Category:1905 murders in Chile]]
[[Category:Attacks on police stations in South America]]
[[Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1900s]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1905]]
[[Category:Looting in South America]]
[[Category:20th-century mass murder in South America]]
[[Category:Argentina–Chile relations]]