While Bachelet's victory prevents the extreme right wing and its regressive 
policies from taking power in Chile, the nature of her presidency, from a 
progressive policy perspective, remains to be seen.  The Socialist Party in 
Chile of today is certainly not the same as that of Salvador Allende.  As 
part of the centre-left coalition in power in Chile, Bachelet may be very 
likely to continue with her predecessor's (Ricardo Lagos - also a Socialist) 
neoliberal agenda characterized by economic liberalization, privatization, 
and overwhelming support for the Free Trade Area of the Americas as 
conceived by the U.S. and Canadian governments.  The South American 
"leftward tilt" suggested in the Gallardo article should be contextualized, 
as the significant differences in approach between say Chile and Venezuela 
demonstrate.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=20&ItemID=9549
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1598

René

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dennis Raphael" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 8:47 AM
Subject: [SDOH] Victory in Chile: Michelle Bachelet


> WASHINGTON POST: Jan 15, 2006
>
> Socialist Bachelet Wins Chilean Presidency
>
> By EDUARDO GALLARDO
> The Associated Press
> Sunday, January 15, 2006; 6:19 PM
>
> SANTIAGO, Chile -- A socialist doctor and former political prisoner was
> elected Sunday as the country's first female president, with her
> conservative multimillionaire opponent conceding defeat in a race that
> reflected Latin America's increasingly leftward tilt.
>
> The victory of Michelle Bachelet _ a political prisoner during the
> dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and defense minister in the current
> administration _ extends the rule of the market-friendly center left
> coalition that has governed since the end of Pinochet's 1973-90 rule.
>
> With 97.5 percent of some 8 million votes counted, Bachelet had 53.5
> percent of the vote to 46 percent for Sebastian Pinera, who congratulated
> his opponent on her victory but vowed "to continue to fight for our
> principles, which do not die today."
>
> Sunday's runoff was necessary after a Dec. 11. election involving four
> candidates failed to produce a winner with a majority.
>
> Her political success has baffled many Chileans who thought a left-leaning
> single mother jailed during Pinochet's dictatorship stood little chance in
> this socially conservative country.
>
> Current President Ricardo Lagos made her his health minister, then in 2002
> named her defense minister. She won praise for helping heal divisions
> between civilians and military left over from the dictatorship.
>
> Bachelet had expected resistance from Chile's conservative military
> establishment when appointed defense minister. "I was a woman, separated, 
> a
> socialist, an agnostic ... all possible sins together," said Bachelet, who
> nonetheless became a popular figure among the admirals and generals.
>
> Bachelet's gender still prompts questions she does not like.
>
> "You wouldn't be asking that question if I was a man," she chided a 
> Chilean
> reporter who asked if she would marry again.
>
> But she did answer: "The truth is that I haven't had the time to even 
> think
> about that. My next four years will be dedicated to work."
>
> Bachelet, 54, will be only the third woman directly elected president of a
> Latin American country, following Violeta Chamorro, who governed Nicaragua
> from 1990 to 1997, and Mireya Moscoso, president of Panama from 1999 to
> 2004.
>
> However, Bachelet, unlike those two women, did not follow a politically
> prominent husband into power.
>
> Bachelet's father was an air force general who was arrested and tortured
> for opposing the 1973 coup that brought Pinochet to power. Alberto 
> Bachelet
> died in prison of a heart attack, probably caused by the torture, Bachelet
> says.
>
> A 22-year-old medical student at the time, Bachelet was also arrested 
> along
> with her mother and later forced into five years of exile, first in
> Australia, then in communist East Germany. She married a fellow Chilean
> exile while in East Germany. Back in Chile, they separated, and she had a
> third child from a new relationship.
>
> Lagos, the mentor she is following into power, has deftly balanced his
> socialist ideology with market-oriented economics and enjoys an approval
> rate above 70 percent. Lagos is constitutionally prohibited from seeking
> immediate re-election, but as he voted, his backers chanted "2010,"
> referring to the next election.
>
> In a speech to the nation after congratulating Bachelet on the phone, 
> Lagos
> said, "We now have a new Chile, we have for the first time in our history 
> a
> woman president."
>
> In spite of their different political backgrounds and ideologies, both
> Bachelet and Pinera outlined similar goals, promising to continue the
> two-decade-long free-market policies that have made  Chile's economy one 
> of
> the healthiest in the region.
>
> They two said they would fight to lower the 8 percent unemployment rate,
> improve public health, housing and education services and curb rising 
> urban
> crime. They also promise to reform Chile's 25-year-old private social
> security systems to ensure better pensions for retirees, though neither 
> has
> given details of how.
>
> Bachelet said she would stress efforts to reduce inequities among the rich
> and the poor.
>
> Lagos and Bachelet belong to the same Socialist Party as Salvador Allende,
> whose leftist policies prompted Pinochet's bloody coup. But the party
> allied with other major left-center parties in 1990 to oust the right 
> wing,
> and their coalition has held while leading Chile into a free-trade pact
> with the United States, cutting inflation and fostering growth of about 6
> percent a year.
>
> Chile's next president will be inaugurated on March 11, joining the ranks
> of Latin American leaders including leftists such as Venezuela's Hugo
> Chavez and newly elected Evo Morales of Bolivia.
>
> Bachelet indicated she would work with all the region's leaders. "We
> shouldn't take Latin America back to the Cold War. Chavez, Morales, they
> are presidents elected by their peoples. Chile must have relationships 
> with
> all of them."
>
> Pinochet, who dominated Chilean political life for a generation, was not a
> factor in the campaign, and his spokesman, retired Gen. Guillermo Garin,
> said he paid little attention to it. At 90, Pinochet is ailing and was 
> only
> recently freed from house arrest. He faces charges of human rights
> abuses and corruption stemming from his 17-year rule.
>
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