RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Gabriel Boric on Monday announced the broad outlines of his foreign policy and reiterated his desire to advance regional integration so that Latin America “once again has a voice in the world.”
At a press conference with foreign correspondents in La Moneda, the young president spoke about the mass exodus of Venezuelans, the climate crisis, relations with Bolivia on the eve of the Silala River hearings, the war in Ukraine, and the need to build solid and lasting regional organizations.
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Regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Boric acknowledged that he was “very concerned” and said that Chile’s vote in international organizations “will be a sanctioning of Russia.”
“We will take a clear position of respect for human rights and international law and humbly advocate dialogue and cessation of hostilities. We are talking with the Ukrainian representative in Chile to see how we can provide some assistance,” he said.
IMPORTANCE OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION
“We must stop creating organizations based on the ideological inclinations of incumbent leaders,” said Boric, who on Friday became the youngest president in Chile’s history at 36.
Forums such as “Prosur, Unasur or the Lima Group,” composed exclusively of governments of the same political persuasion, “have shown that they serve neither unification nor integration,” the progressive leader added.
The former student leader said regional integration is “essential” to solve common problems, such as the crisis in Venezuela and the exodus of more than 6 million citizens from that country to other neighboring countries such as Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile.
Boric, who has criticized the regimes in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua since the beginning of the presidential campaign, raised the possibility of introducing a “quota system” in the region, similar to the one presented by the European Union in the face of massive refugee flows following the war in Syria.
“I think we can all benefit from this, both the countries, by deepening our cooperation and many migrants who are doing this in a very desperate situation,” he added.
Chile has been experiencing an unprecedented migration crisis for the past year, with hundreds of Venezuelans entering daily through unauthorized crossings on the border with Bolivia and camping out in border towns, where xenophobic riots also occur.