General Manager of La Piojera restaurant Mauricio Gajardo watches security cameras, in Santiago, Chile, June 14, 2025. REUTERS/Juan Gonzalez
SANTIAGO (Reuters) -La Piojera in downtown Santiago has been a lively bar for over a century, drawing locals and tourists with typical Chilean foods, drinks and music, but now its doors are shutting earlier and sales are plummeting as rising crime has strangled the country and the economy.
Chile is losing an average of 2.6% of its gross domestic product, about $8.2 billion a year, due to rising crime accordingtoastudyreleasedbyCLAPES UC, a research center at Chile's Universidad Catolica.
