Gabriel Boric, 36, becomes Chile's youngest-ever president, and one of the youngest in the world
(AFP/CLAUDIO REYES)
Miguel SANCHEZ
Thu, March 10, 2022
Leftist former student leader Gabriel Boric will be sworn in Friday as Chile's youngest-ever president, with plans to turn the country that for decades has served as a neoliberal laboratory into a greener, more egalitarian "welfare state."
Aged 36, Boric takes over the reins of a country clamoring for change following mass protests in 2019, which he supported, against deep-rooted inequality in income, healthcare, education and pensions.
The revolt, which left dozens dead and hundreds injured, was the catalyst for a process now under way to rewrite Chile's dictatorship-era constitution.
Boric has vowed to relegate "to the grave" Chile's neoliberal economic model, which dates from the era of military despot Augusto Pinochet and is widely seen as sidelining the poor and working classes.
One percent of Chile's population owns about a quarter of its wealth.
Despite concern over his Frente Amplio (Broad Front)'s political alliance with the Communist Party in a country that traditionally votes for the center, Boric won a surprise runaway election victory last December.
He succeeded in mobilizing women and the youth, with a record voter turnout giving him nearly 56 percent of the vote to beat far-right Pinochet apologist Jose Antonio Kast.
The men, polar opposite political outsiders, had polled neck-and-neck ahead of the vote.
As the stock exchange dropped on news of Boric's victory, he vowed in his first official address to "expand social rights" in Chile, but to do so with "fiscal responsibility."
- Generational change -
A lawmaker since 2014, millennial Boric inherits an economy ravaged by the coronavirus outbreak.
Much of 2021's GDP growth was fueled by temporary pandemic grants and stop-gap withdrawals allowed from private pension funds.
The central bank has been hiking interest rates to curb inflation.
Boric has promised to introduce a European-style social democracy to Chile, boosting taxes to pay for social reform, and all while putting the brakes on spiralling debt.
He will tackle these challenges with a cabinet comprised mainly of women and young people -- their average age is 42.
The team includes two comrades with whom Boric, as a student, had led countrywide protests in 2011 for free, quality education.
Boric's defense minister is Maya Fernandez, the granddaughter of Salvador Allende, Latin America's first elected Marxist president who was ousted in Pinochet's coup d'etat of 1973.
Six cabinet members were born, lived or studied in exile during the Pinochet years.
- 'Fragmented political climate' -
Analysts say Boric's daunting task will be further complicated by a Congress just about equally split between left- and right-wing parties.
This means that much negotiation and compromise will be required to pass laws to bring his plans to fruition.
"This is a government that comes to power in a very fragmented political climate, which does not have a parliamentary majority and therefore cannot make very radical reforms in the short term," political analyst Claudia Heiss of the University of Chile told AFP.
The new president's Broad Front party has never been in government.
Boric replaces the conservative Sebastian Pinera, who completes his second term with a disapproval rating of 71 percent, the worst recorded by a president since the return of democracy in 1990.
More than 20 international guests are due to attend the investiture ceremony in Valparaiso Friday, including Alberto Fernandez and Pedro Castillo -- the presidents of neighboring Argentina and Peru -- King Felipe VI of Spain, and famed Chilean author Isabel Allende.
msa-pb/mlr/jh/je
Miguel SANCHEZ
Thu, March 10, 2022
Leftist former student leader Gabriel Boric will be sworn in Friday as Chile's youngest-ever president, with plans to turn the country that for decades has served as a neoliberal laboratory into a greener, more egalitarian "welfare state."
Aged 36, Boric takes over the reins of a country clamoring for change following mass protests in 2019, which he supported, against deep-rooted inequality in income, healthcare, education and pensions.
The revolt, which left dozens dead and hundreds injured, was the catalyst for a process now under way to rewrite Chile's dictatorship-era constitution.
Boric has vowed to relegate "to the grave" Chile's neoliberal economic model, which dates from the era of military despot Augusto Pinochet and is widely seen as sidelining the poor and working classes.
One percent of Chile's population owns about a quarter of its wealth.
Despite concern over his Frente Amplio (Broad Front)'s political alliance with the Communist Party in a country that traditionally votes for the center, Boric won a surprise runaway election victory last December.
He succeeded in mobilizing women and the youth, with a record voter turnout giving him nearly 56 percent of the vote to beat far-right Pinochet apologist Jose Antonio Kast.
The men, polar opposite political outsiders, had polled neck-and-neck ahead of the vote.
As the stock exchange dropped on news of Boric's victory, he vowed in his first official address to "expand social rights" in Chile, but to do so with "fiscal responsibility."
- Generational change -
A lawmaker since 2014, millennial Boric inherits an economy ravaged by the coronavirus outbreak.
Much of 2021's GDP growth was fueled by temporary pandemic grants and stop-gap withdrawals allowed from private pension funds.
The central bank has been hiking interest rates to curb inflation.
Boric has promised to introduce a European-style social democracy to Chile, boosting taxes to pay for social reform, and all while putting the brakes on spiralling debt.
He will tackle these challenges with a cabinet comprised mainly of women and young people -- their average age is 42.
The team includes two comrades with whom Boric, as a student, had led countrywide protests in 2011 for free, quality education.
Boric's defense minister is Maya Fernandez, the granddaughter of Salvador Allende, Latin America's first elected Marxist president who was ousted in Pinochet's coup d'etat of 1973.
Six cabinet members were born, lived or studied in exile during the Pinochet years.
- 'Fragmented political climate' -
Analysts say Boric's daunting task will be further complicated by a Congress just about equally split between left- and right-wing parties.
This means that much negotiation and compromise will be required to pass laws to bring his plans to fruition.
"This is a government that comes to power in a very fragmented political climate, which does not have a parliamentary majority and therefore cannot make very radical reforms in the short term," political analyst Claudia Heiss of the University of Chile told AFP.
The new president's Broad Front party has never been in government.
Boric replaces the conservative Sebastian Pinera, who completes his second term with a disapproval rating of 71 percent, the worst recorded by a president since the return of democracy in 1990.
More than 20 international guests are due to attend the investiture ceremony in Valparaiso Friday, including Alberto Fernandez and Pedro Castillo -- the presidents of neighboring Argentina and Peru -- King Felipe VI of Spain, and famed Chilean author Isabel Allende.
msa-pb/mlr/jh/je
Leftist Gabriel Boric, the president breaking new ground in Chile
Miguel SANCHEZ
Thu, 10 March 2022
Gabriel Boric has vowed to relegate Chile's neoliberal economic policies, widely seen as sidelining the poor and working classes, 'to the grave'
Boric's father Luis told AFP the new president was politically minded from a young age (AFP/CLAUDIO REYES)
As he is sworn in as Chile's youngest ever president, leftist Gabriel Boric will be breaking new ground in more ways than one on Friday.
The 36-year-old, one of the youngest heads of state in the world, has vowed to send Chile's once-lauded neoliberal economic model -- which dates back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship -- to the "grave" but that is not the only way he will ruffle the establishment's feathers.
Whether refusing to wear a tie, shunning the upscale neighborhoods of Chile's political elites or naming a majority woman cabinet, Boric has already shown his presidency will be a clean break from what has come before in the South American country.
The former student activist only just met the required minimum age to run in last year's presidential race, seven years after being elected to his first political job as a member of Chile's Chamber of Deputies.
But his promise to install a "welfare state" in one of the world's most unequal countries, coupled with a progressive social, ecological and feminist agenda, saw him prevail over far-right rival Jose Antonio Kast in December's election run-off.
- 'Tremendously fractured' -
"If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism in Latin America, it will also be its grave," Boric said on the campaign trail.
The millennial leader of the Approve Dignity coalition that includes Chile's Communist Party, Boric has already aroused suspicion in a country where communist doctrine has few fans.
Despite those fears, his social welfare program proved popular enough to see him trounce Kast in the run-off.
He has distanced himself from other leftist governments in Latin America accused of authoritarianism.
"Venezuela is an experience that has failed and the main proof is the six million strong Venezuelan diaspora," said Boric in January.
He has also slammed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the repression of opposition figures in Nicaragua.
Boric has promised to reduce the work week from 45 to 40 hours, to advance "green development" and to create 500,000 jobs for women.
His 24-member cabinet even has a majority of 14 women.
He has also vowed to reform Chile's pension and healthcare systems to promote access for the poor in a country where one percent owns 25 percent of the wealth, according to one UN agency.
"His honesty and transparence, his openness to dialogue are two of Gabriel's greatest virtues," said his 33-year-old journalist brother Simon.
Boric backed the 2019 anti-government revolt that resulted in dozens of deaths in clashes with police, and prompted a referendum that resulted in a process to rewrite Chile's pro-business, dictatorship-era constitution.
- 'Let's do the impossible' -
In 2011, he led student protests for free schooling.
His detractors say Boric is inexperienced in politics, and he himself has conceded he has "much to learn."
But supporters say his lack of ties to the traditional ruling elite, increasingly viewed with hostility, counts in his favor.
He also cemented that difference by choosing to live in the largely dilapidated but historic neighborhood of Yungay -- on a road called "Orphans" that sits between others called "Liberty" and "Hope."
Boric, of Croatian and Catalan descent, has abandoned the unkempt, long hair of his activist days, seeking to build a more consensual and moderate image.
But while he has adopted jackets, he shuns ties and makes no attempt to hide his tattoos.
He supports marriage of same-sex couples and abortion rights.
Boric was born in Punta Arenas in Chile's far south. He is the oldest of three brothers and moved to the capital to study law, though he never sat for his bar exam.
He lives with his political scientist girlfriend Irina Karamanos -- has no children and is an avid reader of poetry and history.
"It relaxes me to read a lot," he told AFP.
"I come from the south of Patagonia where the world begins, where every story and the imagination meet."
His father, Luis Boric, told AFP a few months ago that the new president had been politically minded from a young age, painting messages such as "let's be realistic, let's do the impossible" and "reason makes strength" on the wall of his childhood bedroom.
"He wants to produce real change in society. He wants to eliminate many injustices that we have today," said the 75-year-old.
bur-mlr-bc/jh/je
Miguel SANCHEZ
Thu, 10 March 2022
Gabriel Boric has vowed to relegate Chile's neoliberal economic policies, widely seen as sidelining the poor and working classes, 'to the grave'
(AFP/MARTIN BERNETTI)
Gabriel Boric hails from Punta Arenas in Chile's far south, where his parents Luis Javier Boric and Maria Soledad Font still live
Gabriel Boric hails from Punta Arenas in Chile's far south, where his parents Luis Javier Boric and Maria Soledad Font still live
(AFP/CLAUDIO REYES)
Supporters of Chilean President-elect Gabriel Boric celebrate following the official results of the runoff election, in Santiago on December 19, 2021
Supporters of Chilean President-elect Gabriel Boric celebrate following the official results of the runoff election, in Santiago on December 19, 2021
(AFP/MARTIN BERNETTI)
Boric's father Luis told AFP the new president was politically minded from a young age (AFP/CLAUDIO REYES)
As he is sworn in as Chile's youngest ever president, leftist Gabriel Boric will be breaking new ground in more ways than one on Friday.
The 36-year-old, one of the youngest heads of state in the world, has vowed to send Chile's once-lauded neoliberal economic model -- which dates back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship -- to the "grave" but that is not the only way he will ruffle the establishment's feathers.
Whether refusing to wear a tie, shunning the upscale neighborhoods of Chile's political elites or naming a majority woman cabinet, Boric has already shown his presidency will be a clean break from what has come before in the South American country.
The former student activist only just met the required minimum age to run in last year's presidential race, seven years after being elected to his first political job as a member of Chile's Chamber of Deputies.
But his promise to install a "welfare state" in one of the world's most unequal countries, coupled with a progressive social, ecological and feminist agenda, saw him prevail over far-right rival Jose Antonio Kast in December's election run-off.
- 'Tremendously fractured' -
"If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism in Latin America, it will also be its grave," Boric said on the campaign trail.
The millennial leader of the Approve Dignity coalition that includes Chile's Communist Party, Boric has already aroused suspicion in a country where communist doctrine has few fans.
Despite those fears, his social welfare program proved popular enough to see him trounce Kast in the run-off.
He has distanced himself from other leftist governments in Latin America accused of authoritarianism.
"Venezuela is an experience that has failed and the main proof is the six million strong Venezuelan diaspora," said Boric in January.
He has also slammed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the repression of opposition figures in Nicaragua.
Boric has promised to reduce the work week from 45 to 40 hours, to advance "green development" and to create 500,000 jobs for women.
His 24-member cabinet even has a majority of 14 women.
He has also vowed to reform Chile's pension and healthcare systems to promote access for the poor in a country where one percent owns 25 percent of the wealth, according to one UN agency.
"His honesty and transparence, his openness to dialogue are two of Gabriel's greatest virtues," said his 33-year-old journalist brother Simon.
Boric backed the 2019 anti-government revolt that resulted in dozens of deaths in clashes with police, and prompted a referendum that resulted in a process to rewrite Chile's pro-business, dictatorship-era constitution.
- 'Let's do the impossible' -
In 2011, he led student protests for free schooling.
His detractors say Boric is inexperienced in politics, and he himself has conceded he has "much to learn."
But supporters say his lack of ties to the traditional ruling elite, increasingly viewed with hostility, counts in his favor.
He also cemented that difference by choosing to live in the largely dilapidated but historic neighborhood of Yungay -- on a road called "Orphans" that sits between others called "Liberty" and "Hope."
Boric, of Croatian and Catalan descent, has abandoned the unkempt, long hair of his activist days, seeking to build a more consensual and moderate image.
But while he has adopted jackets, he shuns ties and makes no attempt to hide his tattoos.
He supports marriage of same-sex couples and abortion rights.
Boric was born in Punta Arenas in Chile's far south. He is the oldest of three brothers and moved to the capital to study law, though he never sat for his bar exam.
He lives with his political scientist girlfriend Irina Karamanos -- has no children and is an avid reader of poetry and history.
"It relaxes me to read a lot," he told AFP.
"I come from the south of Patagonia where the world begins, where every story and the imagination meet."
His father, Luis Boric, told AFP a few months ago that the new president had been politically minded from a young age, painting messages such as "let's be realistic, let's do the impossible" and "reason makes strength" on the wall of his childhood bedroom.
"He wants to produce real change in society. He wants to eliminate many injustices that we have today," said the 75-year-old.
bur-mlr-bc/jh/je
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