The anger and discontent displayed by hundreds of thousands of Chileans during the landmark 2019 protests turned into hope and celebration for many yesterday, as a joyful crowd took to downtown Santiago’s Constitution Square to welcome President Gabriel Boric into office.
Boric, a former student leader who came to prominence in Chile’s university protests a decade ago, was a member of parliament when the demonstrations erupted. He led efforts to stop police repression and draft a new constitution to replace the dictatorship-era text, eventually turning into one of the faces of political change and going on to become the youngest president in the country’s history.
“This Chile, in just a handful of years that you all lived through, survived earthquakes, catastrophes, crises, convulsions and a worldwide pandemic, as well as human rights violations that this country will never see again,” Boric told a jubilant crowd from the Palacio de la Moneda balcony. “But our country always marches on.”
His speech was punctuated by mentions of transformational moments in Chilean history, as well as some of its key national leaders, including leftists such as Salvador Allende, whom the 1973-1990 dictatorship infamously deposed, but also moderates like former Socialist Party president Michelle Bachelet and Christian Democrats Eduardo Frei Montalva and Patricio Aylwin.
The reference to Allende drew by far the loudest cheers, but the rest of the names reflected the broad ruling coalition that Boric is looking to form.
Nevertheless, Boric repeatedly emphasized the groups that mobilized for political transformation in the first place, and later backed his candidacy, as the cornerstone for the challenges ahead.
“We would not be here without your mobilization, you are an integral part of this process,” Boric said. “I don’t want to make visits to regions to inaugurate something and go back home after a couple of hours. I...
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