Gabriel Boric: Look who is the new president of Chile | Peace

“We represent an impending process of change and transformation (but definitely) with the necessary gradation,” he once said during the campaign, intending to allay fears that his election could mark the beginning of a period of chaos.

Borich has, as he put it, a “lighthouse illuminating a desert island” tattoo on his left arm and he relaxes reading, but his real life is that of a leftist activist. It was in his hometown of Punta Arenas (south), on the shores of the Strait of Magellan, that this politician began to dream of this model of prosperity for his country.

Boric ran for President of Chile at the minimum age required and was the youngest of seven candidates in a succession dispute over the conservative Sebastian Piñera. He will be the youngest President of Chile in history. His candidacy represents the “I Endorse Dignity” coalition, which brings together Frente Amplio and the Communist Party.

His biggest criticism of democracy after the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) is that continued a liberal economic model that left the middle and lower class in debt to pay for education, health care, and private pensions…

Many supporters and critics have seen him become a political leader since 2011, when he led student protests for free education in one of the most expensive countries in the world.

“Our generation burst into politics in 2011, shedding some of the fears generated by dictatorship and transitional pacts,” he said.

His speech referred to the military regime of Pinochet (1973–1990) and the Concertacion, the center-left coalition that ruled much of a 31-year democracy since 1990, and today it has collapsed, discredited as a reflection of a crisis of institutional trust.

At the last stage of the pre-election race, the young candidate changed his image of a disobedient university student to that of a “well-bred student”, which corresponded to the moderate tone and negotiator of this new stage.

During his time as President of the Federation of Students at the University of Chile 10 years ago, he explains the beginning of the model questions that were important to “challenge to make Chile a more just country,” he said.

At the time, Chilean democracy was only 20 years old, and students began to question the “development model”, wondering why what we thought should be social rights was privatized; why education was a privilege and not a right, why health is for the rich and not for the poor, because pensions have become a business, ”he said.

During the social unrest that rocked Chile in October 2019, Boric played a leading role in signing a political agreement – from which the Communist Party, which now supports him, withdrew – to hold a plebiscite to reform the constitution inherited from the dictatorship.

Borich’s critics reproach him for his inexperience, his alliance with the Communist Party, lack of higher education, despite the fact that he graduated from law schooland your posture also changes.

In this sense, their opponents in the presidential race have unearthed Boric’s tweet welcomes Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s new president following the death of Hugo Chavez in March 2013… During the campaign, however, the young candidate focused on denouncing the regime and rebuked the Chilean communist leader’s compliment on Daniel Ortega’s recent victory in Nicaragua.

“In our government, the commitment to democracy and human rights will be complete, without the support of any dictatorship or autocracy, no matter who it hurts,” he recently wrote on his social media.

His supporters include renowned artists such as director Pablo Larrain, director of No (2012) and Jackie (2016), the son of the Minister of Justice of the Pinera government and whose family belongs to the so-called right-wing elite.

Single and originally from Punta Arenas, in the extreme south of the country, Boric grew up in a family sympathetic to the Socialist and Christian Democratic parties.

“I come from Australian Patagonia, where a world begins where fairy tales and imaginations come together, to Estreito de Magalhães, which has inspired so many novels,” he said, proud of his region.