On December 19, a left of center millennial who rose to prominence during anti-government protests in 2019 was elected Chile’s next president after a bruising campaign against a free-market firebrand likened to Donald Trump.
With 56% of the votes, Gabriel Boric handily defeated, by more than 10 points, lawmaker José Antonio Kast, who tried unsuccessfully to scare voters that his inexperienced opponent would become a puppet of his allies in Chile’s Communist Party and upend the country’s vaunted reputation as Latin America’s neoliberal prototype.
In a model of democratic civility that broke from the polarizing rhetoric of the campaign, Kast immediately conceded defeat. Meanwhile, outgoing President Sebastian Pinera — a conservative billionaire — held a video conference with Boric to offer his government’s full support during the three month transition.
Among many things, Boric campaigned with the promise to fight climate change by blocking a proposed mining project in what is the world’s largest copper producing nation.
He also promised to end Chile’s private pension system — the hallmark of the neoliberal economic model imposed by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
He has said, “We are a generation that emerged in public life demanding our rights be respected as rights and not treated like consumer goods or a business. We know there continues to be justice for the rich, and none for the poor, and we no longer will permit that the poor keep paying the price of Chile’s inequality.”
Joining us this episode to discuss this historic victory in Chile is friend and guest Patricio Zamorano who is a political analyst and the Director of The Council of Hemispheric Affairs. Patricio is a Chilean citizen living in the US and voted on December 19 at the Chilean Embassy in Washington DC.
