Chile's Political Pivot

Latin America Correspondent Jon Bonfiglio picks up on notions and topics emerging from the Times Radio interview with Henry Bonsu. 

Transcript

Hi everyone, I just wanted to pick up on a couple of points related to the Times Radio piece with Henry Bonsu from yesterday. I listened back to it and I was reflecting that I didn’t really do justice to a couple of points. The first was related to Henry’s notion and interest in pan-Africanism, when he asked if there was a similar sensibility in Latin America. It’s a really big question, and I answered that there was, but it was a question that blindsided me a bit, precisely because it is such a big question, and - of course - Times Radio pieces are - at most - 7 or 8 minutes long. It got me thinking, though, that it’s a notion that we should address, so I think over the next few days and weeks it’s a topic that we’re going to look at, with special guests. But suffice to say that if there is a shared consciousness, across this vast, hyper-diverse region which comprises everything from the world’s biggest rainforest, to indigenous communities, to some of the world’s greatest cities, it is of shared, collectively understood history at the hands of the conquest, all of which is not simply a history piece, but continues to evidence itself across the day-to-day of life in Latin America, whether it be through political structures, the pre-eminence of specific economic and political elites, inequality, structural violence, and a flawed, easy-to-manipulate rule of law. But much more of this in the coming weeks as we bring in a variety of guests to discuss this all in detail. 

The other point I wanted to comment on was the idea I mentioned that Chile occupies a sort of center left, socially liberal space in the Latin American consciousness, as well as in its politics. 

As regards political representation, the center left has occupied much of the post-dictatorship space, with the governments of Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei, Ricardo Lagos, and Michelle Bachelet (two terms) only being punctuated by that of Sebastián Piñera, of the center-right, who held office for two terms (2010–2014, and 2018–2022).

What’s been clear since the Pinochet dictatorship - right until now - is that whether the country had left-wing or right-wing governments, that returning to the politics of the extreme right, as seen during the Pinochet years, was untenable. That line has been crossed now, in what is a major pivot,  and - as such - the idea of Chile as a modern democracy which is tempered in its electoral choices, has disappeared. It exists no longer. It’s also worth remembering that the run-off was between Jose Antonio Kast, of the extreme right, and Jeanette Jara, a politician of communist principles. The middle ground was squeezed into non-existence. 

But what is really important to understand, which I didn’t mention in the interview, is that much of the social and economic tension in Chile, especially of the last few years, is between this socially liberal, leftist response, especially among young people, and the ingrained neoliberal economics of the Pinochet regime, which are still rooted in Chilean society and policy-making, especially as regards prioritizing private sector leadership, minimal state intervention, and a market-driven approach to essential services, is still in place. More than that, even, they exist through an ingrained structural legacy from the seventies and eighties. Little doubt that democratic governments since 1990 have introduced social reforms tied to inclusion and inequality - which I did mention in the interview - but the foundations of the economy from the Pinochet period remain. It’s a highly palpable tension, and one which collided with crime and immigration in this election cycle to drive people into making extreme decisions based on the belief that standard political models were unable to solve existing problems. It’s also maybe ironic that the nationwide demonstrations demanding change of 2019, and a call for a new, social contract based on equality and inclusion, should have now led to the government of Jose Antonio Kast, which is the polar opposite of those priorities,  but - of course - that moment has passed. The moment in Chile now is focused primarily on Venezuelan immigrants, and the perception of - and partial reality - of crime in a country utterly unused to it. None of this is Chile specific, it’s utterly regional, and whilst many commentators link these sorts of electoral results to Donald Trump, really it is much more the result of the generation-long crisis in Venezuela, and the continued burgeoning strength of organized crime, across Latin America. 

So, whilst Chile is going to live a very particular political experience for the next few years, married to the presence and political inevitability of Donald Trump in the USA, the question is palpably regional, and it revolves around Venezuela, transnational criminal organizations, and economics. There’s a lot at stake. Let’s see what happens.