RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The country’s former president and current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said that the future government of Chile’s president-elect, Gabriel Boric, “will be challenging” due to the polarization of Chilean society. However, she trusts in his abilities to “improve the political environment” after the protests of 2019.
“We saw that in 2019 there was a big social outburst with people in the streets, which was a difficult political moment. And it won’t be easy because he is young, but on the other hand, many people want to support him. I think he chose the right people to accompany him”, said Bachelet about Boric as a former president and Chilean citizen in an interview with CNN, reported by the newspaper La Tercera.
Read also: Check out our coverage on Chile
Regarding his youth, Bachelet argued that “it is not something intrinsically good or bad. It can be exciting, it could be a significant way of dealing with problems that are relevant” and added that there are many fronts on which she will have to work, such as social justice, women’s rights, improving the economic situation of Chilean citizens and the pension system, among others.
“We have to make people believe that they have to be part of the solution, that in some way they must be invited to discuss the solutions and that people feel represented and identified in participating in this government”, she expressed.
The High Commissioner announced her support for Gabriel Boric on December 15 and formalized her position through a video published on the social networks of her foundation, Horizonte Ciudadano, and stressed: “It doesn’t matter which candidate you vote for”.
This Monday, the outgoing Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, received the elected president, Gabriel Boric, winner of the second round of the presidential elections held on Sunday.
“Gabriel is going to be one of the youngest presidents in recent times. And one always has to know how to combine strength, idealism, the spirit of youth, with the prudence and experience of gray hair,” said Piñera.
Boric, who acknowledged that he accepted the invitation because “there is much to do in this transition process”, arrived at La Moneda Palace several minutes earlier to greet a group of supporters who had gathered at the entrance.
Once there, the president-elect was received by the government’s spokesman minister, Jaime Bellolio, who accompanied him to the presidential office, where Piñera was already in attendance.
“Welcome to La Moneda, may you have a very good government. I know you are going to do your best”, Piñera told him, according to the images shared by the government television channel, to which Boric replied that he hopes “to be up to this tremendous challenge”.