Izkia Siches, the doctor who forged Gabriel Boric's victory in Chile

When the covid-19 pandemic consumed the prestige of Chilean leaders with infections and deaths, a doctor who is now 35 years old was emerging as a figure on the political scene.

Izkia Siches was in March 2020 at the head of the Medical College, a union organization, and from television channels, radios and social networks she alerted whoever wanted to hear her of the seriousness of what was to come.

In the third week of that fateful month, Siches spoke personally with the president, Sebastián Piñera, brought the leaders of all the political parties to the same table, and met with legislators.

He ordered all of them to coordinate a national quarantine to prevent the spread of the virus. There were then less than 200 positive cases of covid and Siches was sowing in the desert. But the evidence proved him right. Cases skyrocketed, Chile closed itself down, vaccinated more than any other country in Latin America and finally redirected control of covid-19. The doctor Izkia Siches soon became the most popular woman in the country.

Gabriel Boric set his eye on this leader of the doctors aligned with the left, with a brief passage through the communist youth and student leader, but without a political party.

At the end of November, two days after going into the second round for the Chilean presidency, Boric asked Siches to join his team as campaign manager.

She said yes.

"I look at my daughter's face, and I know what I have to do," the doctor said then, to explain the step she was taking.

She resigned from the Medical College, took her newborn baby in her arms and took to the roads of the country.

In 12 days he toured every corner of Chile adding wills to the cause of the Broad Front, especially in the north, where Boric had been denied the vote during the first round.

Izkia Siches in a selfie during a campaign event Courtesy

Siches aroused passions in each town and mobilized young people and women, a traditionally abstentionist sector in a country without compulsory voting since 2012. On December 19, Boric won among women under 30 with almost 70% of the votes against his rival, the far-right José Antonio Kast. Siches had refreshed the candidate's campaign, and with simple words convinced those centrist voters who feared Boric for his alliance with the Communist Party. The woman who during the pandemic had warned of the risks and clearly recommended the solutions, was now one of the most powerful figures of Approve Dignity, the alliance of the new Government.

Izkia Siches is a leader out of the ordinary from the cradle. Born in Arica (north) to a medical technician and an accountant, her mother wanted a name for her that would attract attention. "That's why he made it up," Izkia said long ago. The woman mixed Iskra, a name of Croatian origin, with Iskay, number two in Quechua. Izkia is the second daughter of the marriage. The oldest, also a doctor, is called Vinsja, in honor of a Miss Chile of the time. If it was necessary to stand out, that was from the identity document.

Young Izkia did not disappoint her mother.

He trained at the University of Chile, where he was able to enter in 2004 thanks to his brilliant grades in a secondary school unsuitable for those who aspire to a career.

Siches always feared that the Bernardo O'Higgins Institute was not "emblematic" enough by the standards of Chilean educational elitism and that its qualifications would not be enough to enter the career of Medicine.

His personal effort, however, ended up breaking the barrier.

Izkia Siches speaks with Gabriel Boric during a press conference to present his foray to the team before the second round on November 26, 2021 in Santiago, Chile. Makro Agency (Getty Images)

At the university he became a student leader, joined and disaffiliated the Communist Youth (which he considered too dogmatic) and approached the young people of the Broad Front who years later have come to La Moneda as representatives of the new Latin American left. On the list were Boric and also Giorgio Jackson, a congressman and current right-hand man to the president-elect. Made up of young people born towards the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, the Frente Amplio does not carry the burden of fear of a return of authoritarianism to delay the changes that, it considers, the traditional parties of the democratic transition could not or did not know how to apply in Chili. These young politicians ask for more equality and a welfare state that shares the honeys of economic growth with equity.

As a doctor, Siches is dedicated to the care of patients with HIV in hospitals. It promotes the total legalization of abortion (today it is only in three cases), declares itself a feminist and defends an agenda of more rights for the LGTBI community. In 2017, she became the first female president of the Medical College in 70 years, and the youngest.

“The presidents of the Medical College were always men, white and mostly conservative. I am a woman, young, left-wing, brunette, from Arica, half Aymara, with slanted eyes, raised in Maipú [a middle-class commune in Santiago], educated in a racy school that no one knows, ”she said then. Siches had won in the union elections with 53% of the votes the candidate backed by the outgoing president, Enrique Paris, who had been in office for six years. Paradoxes of politics, Paris is today Piñera's Minister of Health, and as helmsman of the pandemic he has had to endure Siches's personal brand.

Her work during the pandemic made her a celebrity, albeit still apolitical. In February 2021, she was chosen by

magazine

as one of the 100 emerging leaders in the world. His review was written by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former socialist president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet. “At just 34 years old, Dr. Izkia Siches Pastén has already shown amazing leadership and enormous potential. Millions of Chilean voters share their dreams of a modern healthcare service, giving hope that Izkia is here to stay, ”wrote Bachelet. Unknowingly, the doctor was receiving the blessing of traditional Chilean politics to push her way to the top.

Izkia Siches and Gabriel Boric during a press conference in Santiago on November 26, 2021. Makro Agency (Getty Images)

During the closing of the campaign prior to the second round on December 19, held in Plaza Almagro in Santiago, Siches took the stage to shouts and applause from Boric's supporters.

The reaction was spontaneous, evidence of its popularity.

As Boric spoke, the crowd called for a presidential bid for Siches in 2026.

On the night of the electoral triumph, Boric had already taken note of the trump card that he had chosen as the opening act.

He took Siches's hand and raised it entwined with his own as the people celebrated the victory of the new left.

Days later, Siches was there again, along with the president-elect, on the first official visit to La Moneda, where President Piñera was waiting for them.

Boric has not yet defined the names of his Cabinet of ministers, but there is no doubt that Siches will be on the list.

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