Santiago. With his government embroiled in a growing brawl with the right-wing opposition, which, being a parliamentary majority, blocks substantive reforms that it promised to promote, Chilean President Gabriel Boric assured this Thursday that “I will not give my arm to twist to fulfill the desires and the program that the people entrusted to us”.
Surprisingly and boldly, the ruler left the Palacio de la Moneda (government seat) to walk to a meeting of residents who, a couple of hundred meters away, were demanding housing.
Mixing among them, megaphone in hand and with little police escort, the president harangued the protesters: “I thank you and value your organization very much and I tell you that it is important that the people are organized demanding their rights and this is not just words, we come from the social movements and we cannot forget about this,” he said.
“Count on me as president to always continue talking, to continue working together and facing the difficulties we have together, because this ‘hit’ (work) is not easy, you have seen it, but I am not going to give in to fulfill the desires and the program that the people entrusted to us,” he added.
In Chile it is estimated that there is a deficit of at least 700,000 homes and Boric promised to deliver 260,000 during the four years of his presidency; he also to increase the Universal Guaranteed Pension, reduce waiting lists in public hospitals and a substantive reform to the pension system, going from the individual capitalization regime to one of intergenerational solidarity.
For all this, some 10 billion dollars are needed, which theoretically would come from a tax reform unanimously rejected by the right. The government is insisting on it now, reducing its collection expectations, but the right has already anticipated its refusal.
And while the reforms remain stagnant, the political climate has deteriorated substantially and social pressure is latent.
