Page 7 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, OCTUBRE 2021 (English)

Presidential Race
One of the most interesting elements of recent times is that as the November 21st elections in Chile rapidly approach, the presidential race was radically changed by the meteoric rise of the ultra-conservative Jose Antonio Kast, considered for months as a marginal candidate , but that now leads the polls, according to the research of Camdem, a company that nevertheless warns that, at least until now, in the second round the leader of the extreme left Gabriel Boric will win. But there are other entities and analysts who already venture to predict that even in the second round Kast will triumph.
For the political analyst and professor of Literature, Sergio Muñoz Riveros, this presidential election is unlike any of the seven held since 1989. The determining factor is the crisis caused by the outbreak of large-scale violence on October 18th, 2019, which produced immense material damage, disrupted coexistence, weakened legality, fostered parliamentary demagogy and was on the verge of collapsing the democratic regime.
“We still do not know the complete history of what happened, but the story that the citizen discontent broke out is no longer supported, and not because there was none, but because there was more or less the same as during the period of Bachelet, and she did not face anything similar. Revolt, not outbreak, was the very protagonist of the vandalism, and also those who want to pardon them. Revolt, no doubt, that is, sedition. The objectives of the political / criminal forces that drove the destruction and looting were transparent: to create a situation of ungovernability and, where possible, to bring down Piñera. Since then, we have seen the hesitant march of the country in the midst of the pandemic, the violence that became customary and, above all, the disloyalty of the opposition forces towards democracy. In this way, and as a consequence of the precariousness of the leadership, the country is today in a constitutional quagmire ”.
Kast’s Success
For observers, what is taking Kast to the top is primarily his ability to channel the anger of the Chilean middle class at the disorder and chaos of protests and politics. Some experts consider this candidate as a populist and not Boric, who, contrary to what many people thought, speaks of the need to respect democratic institutions and is a critic of the Venezuelan, Nicaraguan and Cuban regimes. He also supported a November 2019 inter- party agreement aimed at rewriting Chile’s Constitution, something that his communist coalition partners rejected. Kast came to lead the polls, four years after finishing fourth in the 2017 presidential race with just eight percent of the vote. Since then, he founded his own party, the Republican Party, frustrated by what he saw as the failure of the right- wing, Unión Democrática Independiente (Independent Democratic Union, UDI), to defend the legacy of the military government with sufficient enthusiasm. In recent weeks, he has overtaken the candidate chosen by the traditional right, Sebastián Sichel, who, with origins in the Christian Democratic Party, hoped to attract disgruntled voters from the centre, but failed in his attempt.
Some of the issues that differentiate the conservative candidate is that he criticizes immigration, minimizes the demands of the country’s indigenous communities and promises to combat “gender ideology.”
His campaign proposes measures to promote “natural methods” of contraception and involve Christian churches in the treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. On the international front, Kast questions “globalism” and sees the United Nations as a tool of the left, blaming it for Chile’s migration problem. He promises to withdraw Chile from the UN Human Rights Council. He is seen as a representative of the new nationalist and populist right wing.
Pandora Papers
Likewise, an Ipsos poll showed that 60 percent of Chileans were in favour of initiating the impeachment process against President Sebastian Piñera for what they called “dark agreements” by which his name ended up included in the so-called Pandora Papers. These documents detected that the President’s business included the sale of a mining company through the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. Opposition lawmakers collected signatures to start the impeachment and a congressional vote on the issue is expected in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the Head of Government has already presented his defence in writing to Congress, thus fulfilling the period of 10 working days. The opposition-controlled lower house will vote shortly whether to approve or reject the accusation.
If given the green light, the case would go to the Senate, where there is a greater balance of forces between the ruling party and the opposition, which would have to act as a jury.
According to an investigation by local media Ciper and LaBot and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), an entity of the President’s children sold Minera Dominga to businessman Carlos Alberto Delano, Piñera’s close friend, for USD $ 152 million, to through a partially sealed agreement in the British Virgin Islands. The payment for the operation had to be made in three installments and contained a controversial clause that conditioned the last payment to “not establish an area of environmental protection over the area of mining operations, according to environmental groups.” The business took place in 2010, during Piñera’s first term as president (2010-2014), who did nothing to protect the area. In his defence, Piñera claimed that he had left the administration of his companies in 2009, before assuming his first term, so he did not participate in the sale of Dominga.
Social Unrest in Colombia and Chile Piñera and the Pandora Papers