Boric seeks to promote a “de-ideologized” Latin American voice

The new president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, on Monday defended regional solutions to the migration crisis generated by the Venezuelan exodus and to promote a Latin American economic and environmental agenda independent of the countries' political affinities.

In his first press conference with international correspondents, the 36-year-old leftist president emphasized that Chile “is Latin American”, that he is interested in being part of the region. These statements stand out from those of his predecessor, the conservative Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014 and 2018-2022), who before the social crisis of 2019 claimed that his country was an “oasis”.

“It is necessary and important for Latin America to once again have a voice in the world, which for a long time we have been losing it,” said the president, who took office on Friday.

“That does not depend, of course, on a single person, we are going to contribute humbly in that direction in the region,” he said.

Boric said that “we must stop creating organizations based on the ideological affinities of the current leaders”.

“In that sense, Prosur, Unasur or the Lima Group and the series of acronyms that you know, where they are often grouped according to affinities, (...) have shown that they do not serve to unite us or to advance integration,” he added.

“Our relations with countries are institutional,” he said, without hiding his affinity with the Brazilian Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva; with the Colombian left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro, or with the postulates of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) in the Bolivian government.

- Migration crisis -

Faced with the migration crisis that Chile is going through on its border with Bolivia, where thousands of people have entered through clandestine crossings since the end of 2020, mostly from Venezuela, Boric said it is an issue that the current authorities have been analyzing since the left's electoral victory in December.

They have studied the quota system implemented by the European Union “in connection with the crisis resulting from the war in Syria, which we know is the largest exodus in the world at the moment,” he said.

He said that he will soon talk about it with his Latin American peers.

In a migration crisis, “in this case of more than six million people who have immigrated from Venezuela in particular, the burden cannot fall on one or a group of countries,” he said, referring to Colombia, Peru and Chile.

“We have to express Latin American solidarity, and there all the countries of the region, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and also Bolivia, have a role to play,” he added, after clarifying that these are proposals to be put on the table in a multilateral dialogue.

- Slow, without “arrogance” -

The president, who reiterated that he did not come to power with refoundational spirits, also referred to the environmental issue and trade and energy agreements.

“Our government is going to be a government that faces the climate crisis, we are going to advance in greater conversion to renewable energy, in a more efficient use of resources, hopefully moving towards a transformation of the development model that is compatible and sustainable with nature,” he said.

On trade treaties, he advocated that they be reviewed and discussed between the parties but assured that his Government “strongly believes in multilateralism”.

“There are not going to be unilateral treaty reviews here. We respect and will respect the obligations we have undertaken. What we have said is that we would like, with our counterparts, to improve some aspects,” he said.

Expectations among the population are high in social terms and are compared with those of the time of socialist president Salvador Allende (1971-1973), so Boric said: “Profound changes are slow and we must act without arrogance.”

“I believe that we are building on what was built before, and therefore the profound changes we want to face is not starting from scratch. Here we are not talking about a refounding, this is more like a big ocean liner that when you make a turn you move rather slow (...) so keep the helm very steady”, he said.

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