Cariola was elected General Secretary of the JJ.CC. amidst one of the most significant mass social mobilization in recent Chilean history – referred by the media as the
Chilean Winter. This mobilization saw students across Chile refuse to return to school or university, from April 2011 to the end of the academic year, in protest and to demand an end to the
privatization of education. Cariola has stated that the student mobilization, protests and strikes had a political nature and she refuted the statement made by the
Chilean government spokesperson
Andrés Chadwick that the
CONFECH (Chile's Confederation of Student Unions) has been taken over by extremist elements. In an interview with
CNN Chile Cariola stated that it was a grave mistake to refer to the student movement in that manner: "
I think our country is at a historic moment, that it is necessary to generate structural changes….We have had a process that has led this country to develop a new consciousness. Chile today is not the same that it was 6 months ago, there is an eagerness to generate changes and the need to do so." ==Parliamentary candidature and general elections==