Comments on: What the left really fears about Chile’s new president

By: Fausta’s Blog » Blog Archive » The Haiti special edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:44:13 +0000

[...] What the left really fears about Chile’s new president [...]

By: theCardinal

theCardinal — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:31:13 +0000

Went to Chile couple of times this year and talked plenty to people about it. There is definitely going to be a change in tone with the outside world but that is not why Pinera won. It was about a need for change in faces and personnel. The Chileans do want to get a little kick start to their economy but they don't really want Pinera to mess with anything Bachelet has done. I couldn't stand Bachelet but what shocked me was when I met a Socialist Party leader at their Commerce Dept. for a meeting - looking every bit the Socialist (beard, no tie, no jacket) he started by bragging how many Free Trade Agreements Chile had and how the US was too rigid.

The right/left paradigm isn't so easy to figure out in Chile for outsiders. It is more about tone and for pol more than anything else.

By: Cubanita

Cubanita — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:15:30 +0000

And the best of all is that Pinera "gets it" about Cuba and has publicly denounced the lack of democracy.

Caballeros, BTW, por que no agregan el boton the Twitter, please? It's way easier than C & P links, for us, Cuban-bloggers-recovering-and-don't-wanting-to-blog-lately... pliiiz

By: marc in calgary

marc in calgary — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:39:01 +0000

I very much wish there were more Canadian journalists like Mark Steyn, and fewer of these types such as Michael Warren. I did a brief search here, but it seems he hasn't written a lot. I remember when Pinochet came to power in Chile, here in Canada it was all my grade 8 teachers rage, and it seemed that I heard about this for a few years at all my families gatherings, I remain the sole rightist in my extended family. well actually.. the kids and I, are of the same..

What does the left fear the most?
a loss of control, they seek to control others, to control your future, your kids future... everything.

By: Larry Daley

Larry Daley — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:15:04 +0000

Hmmmmmmm On Pi~nera won with 52% of the vote and seeks moderation

Allende won with perhaps 36% of the vote and immediately tried to impose his extreme left ideas on the country

By: Lazaro

Lazaro — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:36:06 +0000

"This tone is clearly going to become an obstacle to building good relations with Bolivia, and certainly with Venezuela..." One has to wonder why building good relations with Bolivia and Venezuela must necessarily be a goal of Chile. How would such relationships benefit Chile? You can bet that Morales and Chavez will go out of their way to deliberately sour any relations with Chile and then exploit the friction.

By: La Ventanita

La Ventanita — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:35:42 +0000

The winner of this election is the Chilean people. Not for turning away from leftist/socialist ideology, but for its healing. Unless a good number of independents/centrists had healed wound from the dictatorship era (which remember in Chile its still quite recent), and recognized that no party should be in power for too long, decided to bet in favor of giving the right a chance.

I'm very proud to be married to a Chilean today, not because we believe or not in Piñera, but because of the great step el pueblo chileno dared to take.

Big Caveat: the left and right in Chile are very different from the left and right anywhere else.