Chile's Pinera fires interior, finance ministers amid unrest

President Sebastian Pinera dismissed his interior and finance ministers on Monday in a major Cabinet reshuffle aimed at taming the biggest political crisis since the country's return to democracy in 1990.

Pinera replaced interior minister Andres Chadwick, a cousin and longtime confidant, with Gonzalo Blumel, a presidency minister who serves as the current liason with the legislature. He appointed Ignacio Briones, an economics professor, to replace finance minister Felipe Larrain.

The announcements follow a week of riots, arson and protests over inequality that have left least 17 dead, led to the arrest of more than 7,000 people and caused $1.4 billion in losses for Chilean businesses.

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