Breaking with Regional Leftists, Chile’s President Condemns Russia, Iran, Nicaragua at U.N.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric made his debut at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, delivering a speech in which he admitted fellow leftists had engaged in “grave episodes of violence” during riots in his country and warned, “it could happen in your country, too.”
Boric came to power in late 2021, winning a violence-ridden and tense presidential race against conservative contender José Antonio Kast. Boric rose to prominence as a member of a far-left student protest movement that ultimately fueled riots in the capital, Santiago, beginning in 2019. The riots began in protest to a proposed public transit fare hike but rapidly evolved into terrorist attacks on police stations and churches.
Boric is one of several Latin American leftists to win their respective presidencies in the past three years — including Gustavo Petro of Colombia, Pedro Castillo of Peru, Alberto Fernández of Argentina, Luis Arce of Bolivia, and Xiomara Castro of Honduras. Unlike many regional leftist leaders, however, he has not used his platform to join with the past generation of Latin American leftist leaders including dictators Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. Boric also broke with the trend on the left in his region by condemning Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and extreme Islamist repression in Iran. Iran and Russia are closely allied to Venezuela and Cuba and enjoy friendly ties with the governments of Argentina and Nicaragua, among others.
Boric balanced his criticism of traditional leftist allies like Russia and Iran with criticism of former American President Donald Trump; he offset his condemnation of leftist violence in his country by arguing Chilean police responded with outsized brutality.
The Chilean president addressed the situation in Russia while arguing that his country, and most on the planet, were negatively affected by the Ukrainian invasion.
“No nations exist — all of them being represented here — that are isolated or immune to the shocks, to what happens at a global level. In this, of course, our country is no exception,” Boric said. “Thus, the unjust war of aggression unleashed by Russia on Ukraine, a people to whom we express our solidarity, pushed up the price of fuel and caused shortages of grain and fertilizer, causing a strong impact in our economy and surely in many of yours.”
Boric then abruptly turned to condemning former President Trump for seeing fairer trade with communist China.
“Also, and although this is sometimes hard to talk about, the trade war between the United States and China, unleashed in 2018 under the prior administration of Trump, as well as the pandemic, destabilized the global economy and affected ours, as I’m sure yours,” Boric said.
For most of his remarks, Boric discussed the leftist riots that brought him to power in Chile, justifying them by stating that “in those days, a great majority of Chileans manifested their disapproval peacefully of inequality and abuse.” Boric described Chile, one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries, as highly economically unequal. He warned that income inequality was “a latent threat to democracy.”
“What happened in my country was not casual, it was the consequence of innumerable stories of pain and deferment that incubated and affected the very heart of our society,” he said. “And it can happen in your countries, too.”
Boric, in a rare move for a leftist leader, admitted the riots prior to his ascent to the presidency were violent.
“Also, and we must say it, that discontent manifested in grave acts of violence, such as the unacceptable burning down of metro stations and vandalization of civic centers,” he said. “On the other hand, we were witnesses to uncontrolled repression,” he added, referring to the police response to the violence.
Boric offered introspective remarks on his victory and the decisive popular vote against a far-left draft constitution a month ago, noting that he supported the progressive document but, “with all humility, I say, a government can never feel defeated when the people pronounce themselves. In democracy, the word of the people is sovereign and the guide of all government.”
In another reflective movement, he offered, “it is simpler to express discomfort than to produce solutions.
Boric concluded by returning to international politics to condemn Nicaragua and Iran. The Chilean leader pleaded with the United Nations to “take the actions necessary to detain the unjust war by Russia against Ukraine and end all abuses by the powerful anywhere in the world.”
He also urged “mobilizing efforts to detain violence against women, whether it be in Iran in memory of Mahsa Amini, killed by police this week, or anywhere in the world.”
Amini died last week after Iran’s “morality police” beat her to death for not wearing a hijab, or Islamic headscarf. Her death has triggered nationwide protests against the regime.
Boric also issued statements in support of Palestinian leaders – after baffling Israel by rejecting its ambassador last week – and, surprisingly, calling for communist Nicaragua to free its political prisoners.
