Nearly two months ago, Catalina Santana jumped a turnstile in the Santiago metro and helped launch a movement that changed the course of Chilean history.

Student protests over a fare hike morphed into a nationwide call for socioeconomic equality and better social services that brought millions to the streets and forced President Sebastián Piñera to increase benefits for the poor and disadvantaged and start a process of constitutional reform.

But Santana, 18, isn't done. Although the headlines have faded, she and thousands of other young people are still taking to the streets of Santiago and other Chilean cities almost daily to demand the government follow through on its promises of chance.

Two similar student-driven movements over the last decade and a half led to significant but limited reforms in education policy, including lower costs for university students. The young protesters are hoping that this time around they will be able to force the government to make deep-rooted structural changes that address the fundamental causes of inequality, economic injustice and poor social services in Chile.

"If my grandmother retires, she shouldn't die of hunger," Santana said during a recent protests in central Santiago. "If I go to a hospital, I shouldn't die waiting for treatment. The professor teaching my classes shouldn't be paid so little money. It can't be this way."

Starting with high-school students in 2006, then university students five years later, Chile has been hit by regular, large-scale protests led by young people that have won concessions from the government.

High school students' protests won discounts on public transportation and the waiver of charges for university entrance exams for most students. University students won free tuition for nearly half the students in the country, and lower interest rates on student loans.

In several cases, student protesters went on to become left-wing legislators who are now pushing for the reforms demanded by the street protesters.

"In 2006 and 2011 we won partial solutions," said Fabrizio Termini, a 31-year-old law student who went onto the streets for the third time this year. "Now the support is widespread for all the demands we made, somewhat timidly, for years, and every sector of society is hoping for solutions to their problems."

Piñera has already canceled some interest payments on student loans, but protesters are demanding more relief for education payments and related debt.

The largely peaceful protests have been accompanied by vandalism and violence at the hands of masked young people in cities across Chile, and use of tear gas and non-lethal ammunition fired by police that has wounded thousands.

Tensions across the country remain high despite the government's slight raising of pensions for the poorest citizens, a hike in the minimum wage, a freeze of power prices, increased taxes on the richest people and the granting of additional medical benefits under the public health system.

Protesters say they have no plans to stop and like Catalina Santana, many are high-schoolers, who have shown up at protest after protest even as adults and university-age students stopped attending.

"In many senses, they've been in the vanguard," said Mario Garcés, a historian of social movements in Chile. "Many times they've been a step ahead, announcing what's to come."

Gabriel Boric, a 2011 student leader who became a left-wing congressman, said he was confident that the 2019 student-led movement would lead to important changes in Chile.

"The movement today is part of something that's happening worldwide, with people protesting to express deep unhappiness, and it will end up provoking a much-needed reconfiguration of the political map in Chile."

Gunmen opened fire Saturday on a group of indigenous people in Brazil's Maranhao state, killing two, according to the state's public security secretariat.

The attack on members of the Guajajara group, known for its forest guardians who protect their territory against illegal deforestation, occurred on the margins of a federal highway near El-Betel village. The assailants lowered the car's windows and immediately started shooting, Magno Guajajara, a local leader, told the Associated Press.

The incident comes during the U.N.'s two-week international climate change conference in Madrid, where Brazilian indigenous leaders are present and attempting to draw attention to the importance of protecting their forest territories. Last month, one of the Guajajara's forest guardians was killed.

"How long will this go on? Who will be next?" Sonia Guajajara, coordinator of a network to connect Brazilian indigenous peoples, said in a phone interview from Madrid. "The authorities need to look at our indigenous people. They're taking away our lives."

Brazil's federal police are investigating the killing in El-Betel and its motivation, Justice Minister Sergio Moro said on social media. Moro also said he is evaluating the possibility of dispatching a National Guard team to the state.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said on Tuesday that he had submitted a proposal to offer aid to poor households, which comes amid ongoing anti-government protests.

The proposal, a bill of 124 U.S. dollars per month in cash assistance to 1.3 million families, would cost the country some 185 million dollars in subsidies.

The bill is one of the latest in a string of concessions made by Pinera's conservative government in an effort to placate the protests, which have been ongoing for more than a month and a half.

The measure "represents major relief, some help at a time when so many Chilean families need it," Pinera said at a public event.

Pinera highlighted a plan announced on Monday to reactivate the economy by investing 5.5 billion dollars to promote micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses and create 100,000 more jobs.

His government has also pledged to raise pensions by 50 percent, establish a guaranteed minimum wage, provide catastrophic health insurance, lower the cost of medication, and put a freeze or lower the cost of services such as electricity, water and public transit.

Pinera called on disaffected Chileans "to once and for all put an end to the violence, the fires, the looting, so our economy can start up."

Police officers pursuing fleeing suspects clashed with people at a street party in a Sao Paulo slum, setting off a stampede in which nine people died, Brazilian officials said Sunday.

The state's security agency said police were carrying out an operation when they were attacked by two men on a motorcycle and officers gave chase amid gunfire. The suspects fled into the street party attended by thousands of people in the Paraisopolis district.

Police spokesman Emerson Massera told Globo news that officers were met with rocks and bottles even as the suspects continued firing, and police responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas.

People then tried to flee down a narrow street and some were trampled, with nine pronounced dead at a hospital, according to police. Seven others were treated for injuries.

"The criminals used the people who were at the dance as human shields to block the police chase," Massera said.

The suspects escaped.

The presidential candidate for Uruguay's governing coalition has conceded defeat after a second round of voting.

The announcement Thursday means that Luis Lacalle Pou of the National Party will become Uruguay's next president, ending 15 years of left-leaning government in the South American country.

Lacalle Pou, a center-right candidate, defeated Daniel Martínez of the governing Broad Front coalition in the election Sunday.

Martínez acknowledged that the final tally of votes was still underway, but he said results released so far show that he was defeated. He says he plans to meet President-elect Lacalle Pou on Friday.

Lacalle Pou, a 46-year-old lawyer and a former senator, is the son of former President Luis Alberto Lacalle and his mother was a senator.