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Backstory - As a Riot Rages, a Smartly-dressed Chilean Sips His Soda

   SANTIAGO, CHILE - Wearing dark glasses, a suit and tie and sipping on a
   soda, the smartly-dressed Chilean standing on a Santiago boulevard
   looks surprisingly nonchalant about the tumult around him, with riot
   police chasing down masked protesters.

   Chile's protests began in October over a hike in metro fares but
   quickly unraveled into sometimes violent riots, looting, and arson that
   have left more than 26 dead. Students kicked off early rallies, but
   more than one million more have since joined in anger over social
   injustices and inequality.

   Veteran Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic - who has decades of
   experience in war zones - took the photo with a telephoto lens last
   week, immediately recognizing the moment as a surreal image of calm
   amid chaos.

   The subject of the picture turned out to be 68-year-old retiree Gino
   Rojas, a protester, who later told Reuters he saw nothing unusual about
   the situation.

   "In every movement there comes a time to relax," Rojas said in an
   interview at his apartment in Santiago several days after the Dec. 4
   riot. "Obviously in a revolution... you get hot, uncomfortable in your
   suit and your tie snugs up."

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