On Bachelet's Win in Chile

The socialist Michelle Bachelet has been elected as the new president of Chile and her supporters have taken to the streets all over the country to celebrate the election of Chile's first female leader. The country's newspapers have been almost unanimous in celebrating the historic event, in what is generally a very conservative country. Her defeated opponent, the right wing Sebastian Pinera, congratulated her and noted that it was a great day for the hard working women of Chile. She takes over from the socialist Ricardo Lagos, who has been president since 2000 and who retires from the post with a very high approval rating and has left one of the regions most stable economies in Ms. Bachelet's hands. Yet some have criticised Lagos for being too cautious and for not doing enough "to fundamentally alter or reform the “savage capitalist” economic system imposed by the Pinochet dictatorship." Earlier this year, Ms. bachelet called for even greater equality in the distribution of the countries wealth, but major reforms will need to be implemented by Ms. Bachelet if the huge gap between the rich and poor of the country is to be narrowed significantly.

One of her first challenges will be to sort out territorial disputes with her neighbours, and she has insisted that she wants to avoid 'cold war' style politics with their leaders, including newly elected Bolivian president Evo Morales. Bolivia lost it's only connection with the sea in the Pacific War of the late 19th century, and the two countries have had difficult relations ever since. It will be interesting to see what kind of alliances she forms with other left wing Latin Ameican leaders over the coming months.

Bachelet is the daughter of air force general Alberto Bachelet, who was tortured and died in jail because of his support for the socialist Salvador Allende, the democratically elected President of Chile. Allende died during the violent coup which brought General Augusto Pinochet to power on the 11th of September 1973. In 1975 Michelle herself was beaten and tortured. She and her family fled to Australia, and then Germany, before returning in 1979 to continue her studies and her political work against the Pinochet regime. With Bachelet now in power, the day when Pinochet will be tried in court for at least some of the horrible crimes committed by his regime seems to be drawing closer.