Chile’s new President Boric: A new type of leftist

The new, freshly sworn-in President of Chile is called Boric and is 36 years old. He wants to draft a new constitution and end neoliberalism in the country. But Chile’s social problems have grown during the pandemic.

In Chile, left-wing politician Gabriel Boric has been sworn in as the new president. In the election campaign he climbed trees, he doesn’t wear a tie, but instead has a full beard and tattoos. Instead of living in secluded luxury like his predecessors, he will move to Barrio Yungay, a multicultural district of Santiago with ramshackle charm. The future home of the head of state used to be a hostel.

Street musician Felipe Fuentes is looking forward to his new neighbors: “I’m excited, I chose the Boric. This is a working-class neighborhood, there are tattoo studios, workshops, hairdressers’ shops here. Lots of migrants live here, Venezuelans, Colombians. That quarter reflects the reality of our country.”

Big social problems in the country

Gabriel Boric knows about the symbolism. His political career has a lot to do with the fact that Chilean politicians have increasingly lost sight of the country’s reality. Didn’t see how more and more people were being left behind in the economic model country – because education, housing and health became unaffordable, while wages and pensions shrank.

It was the reason for the massive social protests in 2019. Boric stands for the reform process that was initiated at the time – and for a generational change. He is 36 years old, making him the youngest president in Chile’s history.

“Don’t be afraid of youth, we have the experience of those who fought before us. If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, then it can also be the grave. But one where all the flowers bloom,” Boric said.

Boric has been working on a new constitution since 2019

Boric campaigned against neoliberalism, a legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship, first as a student leader and then as a member of parliament. Amid the street protests of 2019, he helped launch the referendum on a new constitution. Now he wants to rebuild the country.

Some celebrate the beacon of hope, while the arch-conservative side was shocked: is Chile now threatened by communism?

No, says political scientist Jaime Baeza. “It is a mistake to assign him to the left of the so-called socialism of the 21st century. Boric is not a Maduro, not an Ortega, on the contrary, he criticizes the regime. He is a new type of leftist, with different issues that are considered in Germany would describe as social democratic.”

More women than men in the cabinet

Social justice, climate protection, equality. 14 of his 24 ministers are women. A climate scientist occupies the environment ministry, a feminist the women’s ministry and the defense ministry Maya Fernández Allende, granddaughter of President Salvador Allende, who died in the 1973 military coup. As I said, Boric knows about the power of symbolism. His problem is rather: can he do justice to the image of the beacon of hope at all?

His coalition is a broad alliance, but it does not have a majority in Congress. That means he has to forge alliances.

The biggest challenge is the new constitution. Boric needs to make a project viable and implementable that emerges from the Constituent Assembly and passes a referendum. And there are big question marks.

Pandemic has intensified social crisis

Above all, there are question marks about the radical reform of Chile’s economic model – because the new government doesn’t have much room for manoeuvre. She is inheriting one of the largest budget deficits in recent years, the pandemic has intensified the social crisis in the country, the climate crisis is coming to a head – and now there is the new geopolitical situation.

The young leftist has already sent a signal to the markets: Mario Marcel will be responsible for finances. Until recently he was President of the Chilean National Bank. Certainly not the type for rapid radical change.