Boric on CNN: The isolation of Cuba and Venezuela does not contribute to anything 8:28
(CNN Spanish) --
"The left has to embrace without complexes the unrestricted respect for human rights, the separation of powers, respect for freedom of the press," said the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, when interviewed by CNN in Spanish during the Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles.
During the conversation with Alejandra Oraa, the 36-year-old Chilean, who assumed the presidency of his country three months ago, referred to the situation in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, whose exclusions from the summit have been at the center of the debate.
"In this we must always act with an unrestricted defense of human rights, but also understanding that the isolation that has been pushed towards these countries does not contribute anything, but only ends up reinforcing their internal position," he said.
The need for a Latin American voice
The summit "are opportunities to establish trust that allow us to understand that beyond the ideological differences we have, when Latin America does not have unity, when we do not have a single voice in international debates, we stop importing and others speak for us" Boric said.
Gabriel Boric, among the 100 most influential people of 2022, according to Time magazine
Boric said that the region has spent practically a decade and a half debating Venezuela and Nicaragua, even more so Cuba, and has "lost sight" of the importance of the issues that unite the countries.
He gave as an example the purchase of vaccines against covid-19, which instead of being done collaboratively, was done by competing "for who got it first."
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"That's nonsense (...) I am in favor of respecting our differences, returning to speaking in a single language and leaving the adjective aside. There is a poet in my country, Vicente Huidobro, who used to say 'The adjective when It doesn't give life, it kills.' It seems to me that Latin American politics has been too full of adjectives lately," he said.
The Chilean referred to the situation of Venezuelan migrants, explained that they are working on a strategy and that he has spoken with other leaders in the region about addressing the crisis.
"Here we have to act together because if we all continue separately, we are going to sink alone," he said about a situation that by May 2022 affected more than five million Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean and 6, 13 million worldwide, according to figures from R4V, the Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela.
"It is possible to vindicate a new type of left"
"I think it is possible to vindicate a new type of left. A left that is profoundly democratic, that is egalitarian, that improves the quality of life of our peoples," Boric said when asked about comments made by some Venezuelans, for example on social networks, about having left his country and ending up in another where the government is in the hands of the left.
"I am a person of the left, I was politically trained in social movements, in mobilizations, and I believe that the left has to embrace without complexes the unrestricted respect for human rights, the separation of powers, respect for freedom of the press ", he added.
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For Boric, who defines himself as an "egalitarian socialist", the "very deep" differences with the right in Chile and Latin America are linked to the role that the State should play, the integration of the peoples of the region and the vision of history
When asked about what would have changed in Hugo Chávez's socialist model, Boric stated that it would be "arrogant" on his part "to make a categorical historical judgment regarding such complex processes."
"But what I do know is that I have to listen to those who think differently from me, respect them and also try to learn from them, not seek to annul them or simply isolate them," he said.
For Boric, youth gives "boldness" but it is not "virtue
per se
"
Boric became the youngest president in Latin America.
What gives youth?
"I throw," he answered.
I believe that "youth allows us to maintain a dose of discomfort with power, it allows us to continue being rebellious," he said.
But with one caveat: "I also claim that there is no virtue
per se
in youth and that is why what interests me is intergenerational dialogue, learning from the experience of those who preceded us and saying that this is not a fight of old people here against young people, young against old, but rather it is a joint learning".
Boric believes that at the end of his government they will evaluate whether they were able to improve the quality of life and mentions the tax reform they are working on, which, he says, aims to improve income distribution and access to rights such as health, education, housing and pensions.
In his first public account since taking office, Boric announced last week that the tax reform would be presented in June and that he would increase taxes on high incomes and mining taxes.
The reform of the pension system, an issue that has also generated controversy, would be presented in August.
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In the interview with CNN, Boric also highlighted the process of the Constituent Assembly that is working on a new Magna Carta that is going to be plebiscitated.
"Chile had a very big social crisis in 2019, we had protests that attacked the essence of our country and in the hardest moment of social crisis we opted for more democracy and that is the constituent process and that is something that I am deeply proud," he says.
It also emphasizes the need to "embrace" the country's diversity and look towards the region.
"For a long time we were looking far outside our region. I want to claim that our diversity and our Latin blood is what is going to take us forward. And the unrestricted respect for human rights. I think it is very important to emphasize it once and again, regardless of the color of the government that violates them, we have to raise our voices".
Gabriel Boric