On March 11, 2022, Gabriel Boric Font assumed power at only 36 years old and with his entire future ahead of him.
He was the leader of a new Latin American left, the president destined to heal the wounds of the Chilean revolt of 2019 and bury the Constitution born in the times of the dictator Augusto Pinochet.
In those days, in a continent always in turmoil, Boric embodied the southern hope of progressivism.
Two years later, without having lost his international aura, reality has taken its toll.
The former student leader governs with low approval levels, although higher than his immediate predecessors;
Two constitutional change projects have failed at the polls, and important traveling companions (and friends) have been struck down by scandal or crises.
And what is most disturbing, Chile, with a strong extreme right, faces a specter that it barely knew about: insecurity.
There are many problems and the time left in his mandate is short.
But Boric, far from throwing in the towel, appears determined to fight.
In the two years that remain, he has made it a priority to improve pensions, spark economic growth and quell crime.
“Democracy has to deliver;
and to the extent that we improve people's quality of life, we will be moving in that direction.
“This is how you have to confront the extreme right,” explains Boric in his office at the Palacio de la Moneda.
President Gabriel Boric dispatches from his office in La Moneda.
Tomas Munita
It's Saturday in Santiago de Chile and a crystal sun shines outside.
The president, in his shirt sleeves, comments that two nights ago he prepared a barbecue at his house for the head of the Spanish Government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, who was visiting the capital.
“I knew he defends the steak,” he jokes.
On his work table, piled high with papers, stands
The Birth of a New World
, a thick, well-thumbed volume by American historian Jeremy D. Popkin on the French Revolution.
Behind him stands a portrait of the liberator Bernardo O'Higgins (1778-1842) and in front, a large poster of the 50 years of Pinochet's coup d'état with the black and white faces of the disappeared.
“So as not to forget where we come from,” says the Chilean head of state before sitting down.
You will not get up during the hour that the interview lasts.
In the first minutes, the experimental
A Saucerful of Secrets
, by Pink Floyd, will play in the background, a vinyl chosen and played by Boric himself.
Then, late in the conversation, the record will end up spinning in silence.
Ask.
How do you judge these first two years of your mandate?
Is happy?
Answer.
This is not a space to talk about happiness, there are so many challenges, unforeseen events, tragedies... But I wake up every day very motivated and eager to work.
Q.
And did you expect the presidency to be like this?
A.
This is an unmatched, unique responsibility.
You never know what to expect;
Each presidency has different challenges, and these difficulties should not be seen from a perspective of victimization, but rather as specific to the position.
Q.
If you could go back, would you change anything?
R.
Back?
How much?
Q.
As of March 11, 2022.
A.
There are many things that could have been done better.
This Government has a peculiarity: the coalition that supports it was forged in the second electoral round and therefore lacked a culture of working together.
That is something that has been difficult to develop, but that we are going to achieve.
And regarding specific public policy decisions, I think that having bet so much on the outcome of the first constitutional process and having postponed important reforms based on it, is something that I would do differently today.
We suffered two very strong electoral defeats practically in the first year, 2022, and that implied a shift in priorities.
Sometimes I am criticized for veering in certain aspects, but that is necessary in politics and in a world that is changing very, very quickly.
One has to know how to adapt, one has to have a waist, maintaining coherence with the principles.
Q.
And where has it turned?
Towards a more moderate left?
A.
For progressive ideas of social justice and equality to advance, it is necessary for the left and the center-left to work together.
Here we have strengthened that alliance, we work in the same direction without denying that there may be different visions on certain points.
Q.
The two projects to change the Constitution undertaken during your mandate failed at the polls.
You yourself recognized the boredom and frustration generated by that process.
Was it wasted time?
What did they do wrong?
A.
Lost, in no case.
There was a learning.
No country is permanently successful in its initiatives.
And I believe that, at some point, not in this Government, the discussion will have to be resumed, because the constitutions have to be updated.
In both processes, both on the left and on the right, it was thought that a final result could be reached without considering the opinions of those who were, at that moment, circumstantially in the minority.
But minorities and majorities in democracy change permanently, and in the end the people did not feel represented.
Records and turntable of President Gabriel Boric, in his office in La Moneda.
Tomas Munita
Q.
And what does it mean for a left-wing president not to have been able to overcome the 1980 Constitution during his mandate?
A.
That is a question that should be asked of all the progressive former presidents of Chile.
Q.
You had the possibility of doing it.
A.
I don't think it is something attributable to personal responsibility.
Of course, I would have liked it: I wanted a new Constitution born in democracy from a public deliberative debate that would meet us as Chileans.
But that failed in the same deliberative process.
Q.
The project for a new Constitution was born as an institutional response to the 2019 protests. Aren't you afraid that its failure will deepen social disenchantment and favor far-right tendencies?
A.
In the 2019 crisis we managed to face the problem with more democracy and not less.
And that was a virtue of everyone, of the political system as a whole.
Even though the two constitutional projects have been rejected, the fact that we have followed that path and not another is a success and strengthens Chilean democracy.
But there is a reading that differentiates us from the right.
They talk about a criminal outbreak and a coup d'état, as if what happened in October 2019 was reduced to hordes of violence by irrational people.
I do not deny that there was unacceptable violence, but there was also a mobilization that put issues at the center of debate that politics has not yet been able to resolve.
The clearest example is the pension reform.
We have been arguing for more than 10 years.
But if that problem, like the housing deficit, mental health or women's rights, is not addressed substantively, as I believe we are addressing in our Government, but is simply swept under the rug, The conditions will be met for this unrest to grow and lead to authoritarian or populist exits of any kind, not just right-wing ones.
Q.
Do you fear that in the next presidential elections there could be a far-right phenomenon like that of Javier Milei in Argentina?
A.
This phenomenon already exists here and has influenced the positions of the traditional right: it is what the Chilean Republican Party represents.
It's not something new, in fact.
We won the second round of the presidential elections in 2022 against an ultra-conservative candidate who represents and feels part of that world of Santiago Abascal, Javier Milei, Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro... But the way to combat it is not only discursive.
Democracy has to deliver;
and to the extent that we improve people's quality of life, we will be moving in that direction.
This is how we have to confront the extreme right.
We have reduced poverty, reduced inequality, improved results in public education, increased the minimum wage, advanced the quality of life with the work-life balance law or the reduction of the working day to 40 hours... And there are challenges that are under development, such as security, which is the main priority of Chileans and where we are working very hard...
Q.
In security, what is being done?
A.
More than 30 laws have been approved.
We have been the Government that has carried out the most legislation in terms of security.
We have strengthened the Carabineros institution in a very significant way.
We have controlled the entry of migrants from the border, using the Armed Forces, and stopped the upward trend in murders.
The presence of organized crime, as we have seen in the Aragua Train case, is one of the main concerns.
I think we are moving in a good direction and those results will be noticeable.
Q.
Do you think Chile is better now than in March 2022?
A.
Without a doubt.
We received a country with more than 8% inflation and now it is around 4.5%.
We received a country whose economic prospects were negative and we have begun to grow again.
We receive a country with serious public order conflicts, with increasing violence in La Araucanía.
We receive a socially fractured country.
We receive a country with absolutely uncontrolled immigration... Without falling into complacency, but those who say that nothing has been done and that Chile is on its way to the cliff are completely wrong.
The country is better than how we received it.
Q.
And why does your Government have disapproval levels above 60%?
Sculpture of President Salvador Allende in the La Moneda Palace. Tomás Munita
A.
Our approval ratings are better than those of the last two governments.
Therefore, making an evaluation only with that seems whimsical to me and represents a lack of perspective on the general crisis of politics, the crisis of representativeness, which is a global phenomenon.
This does not mean that, as a Government, and I in particular, we could do better.
Of course I would like the Government to have higher approval ratings;
What's more, this will happen to the extent that we continue to advance, as the economy grows again, we have greater successes in terms of security and the social benefits of a progressive Government are demonstrated.
That's going to improve.
But the numbers we have, which fluctuate between 35% and 28% approval, are better than those of the last two governments;
Piñera reached 7%.
You have to see these data with perspective.
I don't get anxious or anxious about surveys.
I like long series more than the logic of going up a point or two or three in the weekend poll.
P.
The
Conventions case
[of political corruption, which was carried out by members of the Frente Amplio]
,
how much has it damaged your Government?
A.
It has been a disappointment for many people and it is unacceptable that it has happened.
Now, the reaction we have had to the
Covenants case
is totally different from what was customary in politics.
And we have made it clear that no one who has committed illegal acts is protected by the Government.
I, personally, have complete peace of mind that I have not encouraged or protected people who are involved.
Q.
This case caused the departure of your historical ally, Giorgio Jackson, from the Government, but he was not the only member of his original circle who no longer accompanies him.
Are you lonelier than you were two years ago?
A.
The exercise of the presidency always has a dimension of reflective solitude.
It is evident that Giorgio's departure was important, but he shows that people are not in the Government because of friendship or personal relationships, but because of what is most functional for public policies.
Q.
And personally, how did you digest it?
A.
Personally it was hard.
But personal feelings cannot direct the Government;
It is the common good that has to take precedence.
That is the role of leadership.
Q.
What has been the most painful episode of these two years?
A.
The most difficult thing and what meant a change of priorities and agenda was the defeat of September 4 [when a proposal for a new Constitution was defeated by 62%].
It was a call for order and to rediscover the common sense of the people.
That's why I say it's important to have a waist and be flexible.
Politics is not for fanatics.
Q.
There is a part of public opinion that thinks that “Gabriel Boric's political project has already failed” and that his “transformative purpose has been frustrated.”
What do you think about it?
A.
The principles of our Government remain completely firm.
Evidently, the depth of the changes that we imagined at one time went against the grain of what the majority of the population wanted.
That is undeniable.
And that means adjusting, but without deviating from our principles.
Priorities and speeds changed, but not the direction of our principles.
Q.
What is the top priority for the next two years?
A.
In specific public policies, the priority is to improve pensions, security and resume economic growth.
As a political project, it is to demonstrate that joint action by the left and the center-left is possible.
Demonstrate to the majority of the population that when progressivism governs their quality of life improves around principles that are very different from those supported by President Milei in Argentina or Bolsonaro in Brazil, Trump in the United States, Viktor Orban in Hungary or, here in Chile, José Antonio Kast and the sectors of the right influenced by that type of leadership.
Q.
What will be the legacy of your Government?
A.
Having normalized the country and materially improved the living conditions of the people at a time when pessimism had prevailed (we are going to be able to reverse that).
And have taken measures that advance greater social justice and a better distribution of income.
Furthermore, I hope that we can form a long-term coalition for a progressive project in Chile.
Just as it was at the time in the Popular Front in the 30s and 40s or the Concertación itself (1990-2010).
Q.
What do you think of Milei and the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele?
A.
I am not going to make personal references.
Clearly we have different projects, but the evaluations correspond to the people they represent.
Q.
You have often criticized regimes such as those of Venezuela, Nicaragua or Cuba for their human rights abuses.
But it is striking that other presidents of the Latin American left do not follow him.
A.
On the left in general, and in Latin America in particular, there has been a tendency not to take responsibility for one's own mistakes.
It is a mistake to defend certain regimes because they are understood as part of the same family.
I do not look at the political color of a person who violates human rights or restricts freedoms that are essential.
This arouses a lot of transversal criticism: they always hit you from one side and the other.
On the left when we criticize Venezuela or Nicaragua.
By the right and the
establishment
, with the complaints in the case of the very serious human rights violations that Israel is committing in Gaza.
Or in the case of Russia's war against Ukraine.
It cannot be that one closes one's eyes to one's own and is constantly denouncing what the other party thinks.
People are not stupid and these confusions or deviations are bad for politics.
Q.
With which international leaders do you feel most related?
A.
With Pedro Sánchez I have an excellent relationship, with Justin Trudeau we have developed a permanent dialogue and a lot of collaboration.
I really like what the general secretary of the Democratic Party in Italy [Elly Schlein], a young woman, is doing.
I think that Lula, without a doubt, is a reference in terms of her career and leadership.
Now, I don't have idols.
Politics is not a space for idols, we all have lights and shadows.
Q.
And what are your shadows?
A.
At first, we did not appreciate the importance of two fundamental aspects that are a priority in my Government today: economic growth and having a very clear perspective on security.
These are issues that mattered and where greater leadership could have been exercised.
They are learnings that I have had along the way.
Q.
You made an important recognition at the funeral of your predecessor, President Piñera, about the role that your sector played as an opposition in that Government.
Why did he do it?
President Gabriel Boric outside the La Moneda Palace, during the funeral of former president Sebastián Piñera.Sofía Yanjarí
A.
What I pointed out was: “As has happened on other occasions in our political history, there were times when as the opposition we went into our quarrels – referring to political disputes, not judicial ones – and differences beyond what was fair and reasonable.”
That's what I said and I stand by it.
Not, by the way, in the unrestricted defense of human rights when they were being violated in Chile.
But yes in personal accusations, even of lack of mental capabilities.
Comparing President Piñera, with whom I had many differences, with what the dictatorship was, trivializes what the dictatorship was.
And I would hope that the current opposition would also have that learning that we have had today as a Government from what we were as an opposition.
Q.
In the long term, do you see yourself being president a second time?
A.
Although it is never good to be too categorical regarding personal plans, it is in no way within my objectives or my personal aspirations.
I would like to continue contributing to improving the country and strengthening the political project of progressivism and the alliance between the left and the center-left, from my home, the Frente Amplio.
More personally, I would like to read a lot more, write and be able to take care of my body, which is something I clearly haven't been able to do in recent years.
Q.
Is it the right that has the best chance of succeeding him?
A.
Two years before the 2022 presidential election I was, according to weekly surveys, the lowest rated politician.
Therefore, trying to see the future when there is so much time left does not make much sense.
As a Government we are not only going to leave a better country than the one we found, but the people are going to appreciate these changes and this will translate into continuity of the progressive political project.
Q.
The best rated progressivism, according to surveys, is Michelle Bachelet.
A.
I have a high opinion of Bachelet.
But there are other figures who are going to make people talk in politics and who are going to make a contribution in the front row.
I think of Camila Vallejo, Carolina Tohá, Jeannette Jara..., I think of Izkia Siches, Daniela Cicardini, Karol Cariola... There is a replacement.
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