On Saturday, March 11, President Gabriel Boric celebrates one year as head of the Government of Chile. It has been a turbulent 12 months in which the politician has had to fight against high expectations and the lack of a majority in Congress, which has brought him strong setbacks against his main electoral promises. With the good management of the summer fires and a strong international agenda, he has regained popularity.
When Gabriel Boric assumed the Presidency of Chile at the age of 36 on March 10, 2022, it was all hugs among the Chilean left, which saw a former student leader arrive at the La Moneda palace. Gabriel Boric had won the runoff against José Antonio Kast with 55% of the votes and an agenda that proposed profound social changes in the country, laboratory of neoliberal policies.
At that time it was already warned that the performance of the government would not be easy. Without an absolute majority in Congress, Boric would have to negotiate to achieve the expected pension reform, universal health coverage, an increase in the minimum wage and a referendum for a constituent assembly, all among his main promises.
Failures of the president and his cabinet, as well as fierce opposition from the right, soon showed that the road was indeed going to be difficult and that the idyll with the new president was soon going to end even among his ranks. His latest setback, the rejection of the tax reform with which the president intended to finance his social program.
Congress says no to Boric’s tax reform
“When the country begins to show signs of recovery, we begin to get ahead of a long crisis, there is a sector that tries not to change things, to leave them as they are (…) It seems that the objective of some is to hit the Government and prevent the changes, but it is not the government that they hit but the Chilean men and women”. This is how forceful Boric was shown this Thursday, March 9, before the last of his setbacks; Congress’s rejection of his tax reform.
It has been a severe setback, because it will not be able to be processed again for a year. He could try it through the Senate, but he does not enjoy the necessary majority there either.
With it, Boric sought to raise some 10,000 million dollars in four years, the equivalent of 3.6% of GDP with which he could finance his social program. He was one vote away from approving it and now the future of his measures is uncertain.
The political analyst José Domingo Sagüés, asked by this medium, believes “that what happened with the Tax Agency should be de-dramatized and it should be taken into account that the Government has three years left to identify ways that allow it to carry out its agenda.”
“In this scenario, the president must deploy all his political ability to manage in the best possible way the impulses for change that the different sectors that make up his government have, as well as make them see that in one way or another the social and political situation of the country has changed times and even certain priorities. That is part of governing,” he says.
Two political setbacks and two cabinet changes
The ministerial cabinet that will arrive on March 10 will not be the same one that began its journey 365 days ago. Along the way, Boric and his government have suffered two severe setbacks that have given rise to two cabinet changes.
The first came on September 5, 2022. The Government had turned to defending the yes vote for the new constitutional text born from the Constituent Assembly. Chile clearly voted ‘No’ with 61% of the votes. A radical turn from the 78% who voted in 2020 in favor of writing this new text.
With the rejection, one of the pillars of Boric’s presidential campaign fell: a new president for a new Constitution.
Just one day after the result there was a change of cabinet. “This is one of the most difficult moments that I have had to face politically. And we will move forward for Chilean men and women and for Chile,” Boric said at the time.
The change was dramatic. Some important strongholds for Boric in his campaign left, such as the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches, and people related to the traditional left entered, close to Michelle Bachelet, such as the former mayor of Santiago Carolina Tohá, in front of whom social leaders like Boric had been so critics before reaching the Government.
Pardons and second ministerial reform
The second government crisis came after a series of pardons that provoked a strong reaction from the opposition to the government.
On December 30, 2022, Boric announced the pardon of a dozen people convicted after the 2019 protests, as well as a member of a former armed group that fought against the Pinochet dictatorship.
On January 7, 2023, the resignation of the Minister of Justice, Marcela Ríos, arrived after just 10 months in office. The resignation of one of her trusted men, the Chief of Staff, Matías Meza-Lopehandía, also arrived.
“When situations of these characteristics occur in politics, we must assume responsibilities,” the president said then.
The movements were a clear response to criticism from the opposition and part of society. In the case of Ríos, they also anticipated a constitutional accusation by the opposition to force her resignation.
But it has not all been bad news for Boric.
Good fire management and other achievements
The president’s image is still below 50%, but it seems to have slowed its fall at the beginning of 2023, partly thanks to one of the latest good news for him and his cabinet: the management of the large fires that have hit the country in this summer season.
Given the 439,000 hectares burned and the 26 dead, Boric opted for a quick declaration of a state of catastrophe, the permanent deployment of the ministers in the affected area, the suspension of the president’s vacations and his presence on the ground.
After this, and according to the latest Criteria survey carried out between February 23 and 28, Boric’s approval is at 39%, increasing by 6 percentage points. But his government also has other points to stick out.
“Contrary to what was expected, with Boric the majesty of the State has been recovered. It is observed in the management of the economy. A fiscal discipline has been established that has not been remembered for 12 years and therefore the results are very positive,” sociologist and political analyst Eugenio Tironi told AFP.
The political analyst José Domingo Sagüés affirms that Boric “has managed to carry out measures -some more attractive than others- relevant to people’s quality of life. An example of this is the increase in the minimum wage to 400,000 Chilean pesos, the highest increase in the last 20 years.”
The cartoon that was built, in reality, was nothing more than that
Sagués also highlights “the progress of the bill to reduce the working day from 45 to 40 hours a week, the ratification of the Escazú agreement or the promulgation of the TEA law, which promotes social inclusion and equal opportunities for people with Disorder of the Autism Spectrum”.
“Another relevant contribution has been to demystify that a rather left-wing government, like that of Gabriel Boric, would lead Chile to the abyss. It has been interesting how, despite the mistakes that may have been made, the caricature that was built, in Actually, it was no more than that,” adds the analyst.
The Mapuche conflict accumulates debts in Chile
In Chile there is a historical conflict that this government has also inherited: the struggle of the Mapuche people and other ethnic groups that claim ancestral lands as theirs against the Chilean State and big companies.
Before Boric’s arrival in the Government, he had harshly criticized the use of the state of emergency to stop protests and attempts at violence by some armed groups, especially in the Araucanía and Biobío regions. Two months after coming to power, Boric made use of this figure that allows the deployment of the Armed Forces.
Then he received criticism for betraying an electoral promise. In its defense, the Administration stated that the activation approach of the measure was completely different from that of previous governments.
Strong position in the international arena
In international relations, Boric has taken a leading role in the region. His position has been forceful against some leftist governments such as that of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela or that of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, sometimes breaking the classic line of blocks on the continent.
Regarding Ortega, he has had a clear position in recent months, which, as political analyst Guillermo Holzmann explained to France 24 on February 20, responds to the president’s own focus on human rights.
“What Boric does is be consistent with his personal convictions. That leads him, for example, to suggest that human rights are violated in Venezuela, the same also in Nicaragua and of course also in Cuba,” Holzmann assured.
In the case of Peru, he has criticized the action of Dina Boluarte and asked, together with other leftist leaders, for the release of Pedro Castillo.
Outside the Latin American sphere, he has also received a visit from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was pleased that the Chilean accepted his invitation to join the Climate Club, an initiative that tries to work on climate neutrality.
With EFE and local media
