Page 15 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, DECEMBER, 2021

of the National Congress, 28 days after the social outbreak. “That catapulted him as a presidential candidate; Boric is reasonable, open to dialogue, and has learned from the complexity of politics. Boric spoke very badly of the parties but that has changed. He has shown the ability to do things that his bases do not like, like that agreement of November 15th,” summarizes Heiss.
She reveals that a conversation with the Unión Democrática Independiente, party senator Juan Antonio Coloma in the halls of Congress was one of the factors that made possible the change of the Constitution through a plebiscite. Boric went to socialize the mechanism with his party “You have to consult the rank and file,” Gael Yeomans, the president of his conglomerate told him. “There is no time,” Boric replied, adding that if his party did not support him - as it happened - he would sign in a personal capacity. “I already gave my word,” he said. His position was key to give legitimacy to the agreement. In fact, this distanced him from the Communist Party, which did not support the pact. And many of the students who were following him at the time considered him a “traitor.”
The Portuguese Model
“If he manages to implement half of what he promises, he will become someone who defines and inspires a new left,” said the German-Brazilian associate professor at the FGV School of International Relations in São Paulo, Oliver Stuenkel .
“Boric has a great capacity for dialogue and for reaching democratic agreements in very complex moments. He demonstrated it during the social outbreak, in very critical moments, ”said Juan Ignacio Latorre, senator of his left-wing coalition.
According to Claudia Heiss, director of the Political Science career at the University of Chile: “Boric’s triumph strengthens the option of a democratic left in Latin America. Brazil is an interesting case and, in the future, it could be an ally of the Chilean government at the international level in terms of reforms that strengthen social rights, but at the same time protect pluralism and freedoms. We have had in Latin America a non-pluralist left and not a guarantor of freedoms, which Boric has rejected with great force. The Uruguayan left has always been a benchmark for Boric. For something, the Frente Amplio got the name of the Uruguayan Frente Amplio. I believe that the alliances will be with the forces of the most democratic left in Brazil and Uruguay. I would say that in
the world there is a tendency to affirm an orientation towards Keynesian policies and of overcoming of neoliberal models. And Chile is inserted in that orientation”.
Many wonder, however, on which specific model the Boric government will be based and, more than anything, that new left. The circle of the President-Elect defends the so-called Portuguese model and hopes to implement it.
In 2011, Portugal was on the brink of ruin. The country had had to request a rescue of USD $ 91,000 million from the “troika” of the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank.
As with Greece, harsh fiscal austerity conditions were imposed, which a right-wing government in Portugal tried to enforce. Thousands of employees were laid off. Salaries were cut. Even many holidays were eliminated by a government trying to avoid national bankruptcy. Austerity was the rule and the supposed remedy. In that context, the 2015 elections seemed to herald more trouble for Portugal. The electorate rejected the restrictions implied by another conservative government and put a coalition of socialists with communists and other far-left parties in power. “It was a political novelty in Portugal,” says Andre Freire, an academic at the Centre for Research and Sociological Studies of the Lisbon University Institute. “The policies implemented by the Government of Antonio Costa went against the traditional recipe book. The salary cuts of the previous government were reversed. Not that wages were increased. They just recovered from the cuts they had suffered during the Troika era, ”Freire recalls. A 35- hour work week for public employees was also restored, pensions were recovered, and the minimum wage was increased. What is new is that these social programs were carried out “in a fiscally responsible manner,” says the expert.
The Strategy Employed
The way of operating was simple but effective: improve the salary conditions of the people to make growth take off and thus reduce the fiscal deficit, completely changing the prevailing dogmas.
Annual growth today is approaching three percent and, for the first time in a decade, unemployment fell to less than 10 percent. Exports and tourism receipts skyrocketed. The debt, however, is still high because it is equivalent to 130 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
The two obvious questions many are asking about the Portuguese economic miracle are:
will it last much longer? And also: can it be replicated in other countries? The answer is not clear in either case.
Regarding its sustainability, many wonder how long this unexpected harmony will last between a government of technocrats, and the parliamentary coalition of ultra-leftists that keeps them in power. “In 40 years of democratic life in Portugal, it is the first time that a similar alliance between the moderate left and the radical left has worked to form a national government, which arose as a reaction to the extreme austerity measures that the right wanted to impose”, says Freire.
The leader of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez pointed out that “the challenge for social democracy today is knowing how to understand each other with other progressive forces. The best example of this is Portugal. We must get out of exclusivism, and that is the great lesson that our neighbours have taught us: the left can be understood with social democracy as a great vector “.
For Andres Malamud, a professor at the University of Lisbon, “the‘ Portuguese model ’was based on two factors: low radicalization (ideological) and low ambition (for positions). Difficult to repeat ”, he maintains.
In Search of Governance
According to the senator of one of the Frente Amplio parties, Revolución Democrática (RD) and part of Gabriel Boric’s team, Juan Ignacio Latorre: “The Portuguese case inspires us because it constituted a political innovation in Europe and in the world. Not to copy and paste, because it is not the same context or experience, but to seek pragmatic and flexible governance formulas. In Portugal, the Executive is in charge of the Socialist Party, and in Chile, Apruebo Dignidad which is the government coalition and Gabriel Boric, the President- elect, chooses his cabinet with autonomy and freedom. At the same time, we need a pact in Parliament like Portugal so that the political and social forces support the Government. The distinction we make is that these forces do not necessarily have to carry political responsibility, but they can make certain political and technical cadres available to have a good cabinet, which provides a good government that allows for stability and for carrying out parliamentary agreements. . It is not a blank check, it is not unconditional support ”.
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