Gabriel Boric – Without redistribution of wealth, there is no peace

The new president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, promised this Friday in his first speech at La Moneda to “redistribute” wealth in Chile, one of the most unequal countries on the continent.

“When wealth is concentrated only in a few, peace is very difficult. We need to redistribute the wealth produced by those who inhabit our country,” Boric said before thousands of supporters.

He added that his government will promote respect for human rights“regardless of the colour of the government that violates them”, in a clear reference to the regimes of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. “From Chile, in our Latin America (…) we will make efforts so that the voice of the south can be heard again firmly in a changing world,” said the former student leader, who at 36 has become the president. youngest in Chilean history.

At another point in his speech, he stated that it is necessary to “repair the wounds of the social outbreak”, the largest wave of protests that began in 2019 and that left thirty people dead and thousands injured. “We need to repair the wounds left by the social outbreak, and that is why we have withdrawn the complaints by Law of Internal Security of the State”, he affirmed.

The day before, his Executive announced that he would eliminate almost 140 complaints against protesters who were arrested during that wave of demonstrations, which shook the foundations of the country and put the government of Sebastián Piñera in check.

“I want you to know that we did not come here just to fill charges, to generate unattainable distances, but to give ourselves body and soul to the commitment to make our country better”, he proclaimed from a balcony in the Palacio de La Moneda, the seat of government.

The Ibero-American left embraced Boric

Among the presidents who attended the investiture in the Chilean Congress, located in coastal Valparaíso, 120 kilometres east of Santiago, was the Peruvian Pedro Castillo, who described Boric as “brother”. “That not only the history of our peoples unites us, but also the commitments and challenges and, in this framework, we want to tell you that you have our support,” Castillo told the Spanish agency EFE.

Who also spoke to the media after the ceremony was the Argentine president Alberto Fernández: “Chileans must be very happy today because they have experienced moments of great social commotion and have resolved the discussion respecting the institutions and that is a merit (…)It speaks well of the democratic quality of the country”, he added.

For his part, the Bolivian president, Luis Arce, stated that “we congratulate the new president Boric and the people of Chile, with whom we share a long history of Latin American struggle and resistance. We are certain that his investiture will allow us to strengthen our ties of brotherhood, creating more bridges of integration”, he indicated.

Neither Ortega nor Maduro

They weren’t invited though the leaders of Nicaragua and Venezuela, with whom Gabriel Boric has distanced himself since he embarked on the presidential race and has repeatedly criticized.

“I have great hope that this new left will become a new alternative in Latin America because we need it,” said Nicaraguan writer and former Sandinista guerrilla Gioconda Belli, one of the main opponents of the Daniel Ortega regime.

Belli was one of the personal guests at Boric’s inauguration.