04-24-2006

MODERNIZATION MOVES FORWARD IN CHILE, WITH WOMEN IN THE LEAD

Michelle Bachelet is the first woman president of Chile. She was interviewed for Global Viewpoint by Diogo Schelp of Veja at the presidential palace in Santiago, Chile.

By Michelle Bachelet

Michelle Bachelet, 54, took over the presidency of a country with an exceptional economic performance: Chile has been growing 6 percent per year for more than 10 years. A Socialist, Bachelet was elected by the center-left alliance that has been governing the country since the end of the dictatorship, in 1990, and which has become a warrantor of the open and stable economy that guarantees national stability.

Bachelet started to pave her way to the presidency when she took over the Ministry of Health and, later, the Ministry of Defense during the government of her predecessor, Ricardo Lagos, who left office with a 70 percent approval rating. Bachelet is the daughter of a general of the Chilean Air Force who died in jail after the military coup that deposed Socialist President Salvador Allende, in 1973. She herself was imprisoned and was eventually exiled, along with her mother.

A physician twice divorced and with three children, Bachelet speaks five languages and insists on talking about her election as a conquest of women and as proof of the modernization that Chile is going through.

Global Viewpoint: How, in a few words, can Chile’s economic success be defined?

Michelle Bachelet: Chile progressed a lot thanks to the high fiscal discipline, to the economic and political stability and to a very strong social cohesion. The growth is also due to businessmen who were able to identify opportunities to do business inside and outside the country. Chile, with all this stability, has become a low-risk country, which attracts significant foreign investment.

The adoption of the exporting model also has produced good results. We invested in better skills and education of our population, thus adding strength to the effort of becoming an exporting country. We have a capable and committed working class. In this new stage, we are going to make sure that things also turn out right for small and mid-size entrepreneurs.

GV: Despite the fact that Chile is growing very fast, part of the population has not managed to improve its living conditions with the same rapidity. How do you intend to take the benefits of growth to the poorest citizens?

Bachelet: First of all, the country has to continue growing. Then, we have to decide what to do for the benefits of growth to reach everyone. Strengthening education, improving the skills of our children, youngsters and workers, so that they are able to obtain better quality jobs with higher salaries: These are mid- and long-term policies.

It is also necessary to increase the participation of women in the job market. There are two reasons for this. First, because when women are the heads of the family, the guarantee of a good job is the best way to improve the living conditions of their families. Second, when the woman is not the head of the family, having two people working in a family is the easiest way to earn a better income.

GV: You gave half of your ministry offices to women. Why?

Bachelet: A commitment of my government is the parity between men and women. The reason for this is that the population of Chile is made up half by men and half by women. There are incredible, very talented women who were waiting for a clear sign from the president to make sure that they would have a place and an opportunity. It is not only in my cabinet. This is happening in my entire government. The parity is in the heads of government bureaus, in regional and ministerial departments. This is an important step towards a more democratic country, which really integrates its more valuable people, both men and women. 

GV: Your mother and you were put in jail and your father died in the hands of the dictatorship. Are the wounds caused by dictatorship in you and in the Chilean people already healed?

Bachelet: The wounds never heal. They reopen sometimes in difficult moments of the society and the country. We must learn to live with these wounds, as a person and as a society. What we must do, with a lot of strength, is to try and close the wounds well. As long as they are clean, because, as a physician, I know that dirty wounds do not heal.

How do we manage to do this? With what is already being done: seeking truth, justice, reparation to all the victims of violence. On the other hand, we must maintain the historical memory, because what we actually want is never to have to go through what we went through again. In order to achieve this, we must not only be able to develop democracy on the representative point of view, but also democratic culture. This means learning that, if the other person thinks differently from you, this does not mean that this is a bad person. Only that he or she thinks differently and that part of what he or she defends may be perfectly acceptable. This is the most difficult thing to achieve.

GV: What is there in common with and different from Dr. Bachelet, who studied in Communist East Germany, and President Bachelet?

Bachelet: When I studied in the Democratic German Republic, I was 23 years old, and now I am 54. I am still the same, in the sense that I want the same, a fairer country. I want a country where people want to do business and where I can support them, where businessmen get along well and workers also have honorable jobs. These are the same dreams that I had when I was 23. I would say that now I am older, wiser and more mature — we all learn — but I have the same energy, strength and commitment to seek my ideals.

GV: What does being a Socialist, or a leftist, mean today?

Bachelet: It means, as always, working every day so that each one of our countries is fairer, more humanitarian, more sympathetic and less unequal. The specific tools, strategies and models may vary. But the purpose of making people live better continues to be fundamental.  

GV: How do you see the different forms of the left currently struggling for power in Latin America?

Bachelet: What I see is governments that were elected in a legitimate way, all striving in their way for progress with the common objective of achieving better living conditions for their peoples, more justice, more security, more peace and more equality. Obviously, each country is different and, therefore, the strategies may be different. Diversity is not only found in the social and economic development conditions of each country. It is also found in the laws and the social structure. What we do have in common is that we want societies and nations that are more inclusive and less discriminatory of gender, ethnicity or social-economic situation.

GV: Despite being leftists, the candidate who won the elections in Bolivia and the one who may win the elections in Peru have spouted nationalist and anti-Chilean messages. How to face this challenge?

Bachelet: The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, and I have a common challenge, which is offering a better life to our peoples. I am convinced that we can construct an agenda for the future from which both countries can benefit. I always say that the best that can happen to Chile is that my neighbors are well. I want that everything be always well with Peru, with Bolivia and with Argentina.

GV: One of the priorities of the Brazilian foreign policy is to obtain a permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council. Does Chile support the Brazilian candidacy?

Bachelet: Chile has the commitment, adopted for many years now, and which I reiterate, to consider that Brazil must be a permanent member of the council. There are countries from other continents that also have our support. For us, Brazil is an important economic power and a factor of stability, development and integration in the region and, therefore, it deserves to be permanently at the Security Council.

GV: We all know the flaws of dictator Augusto Pinochet. Do you acknowledge some good about his government?

Bachelet: He took charge of promoting the modernization of the state, which was necessary at that moment. Some of the measures he took still work, but they created problems because they were imposed, instead of being the product of a process of social maturation. It must be remembered that certain measures were ideas that came from before, from President Salvador Allende, whom he deposed in the military coup. The idea of regionalization and the idea to grant more power to the municipal governments, for example. It was, in fact, necessary to reform the social security system, as Pinochet did. However, because of the way it was done, we have today a crisis in the retirement system. Now we have to make a new reform.

GV: When the reforms were made by Pinochet, did you already consider them necessary?

Bachelet: I was a great critic of municipalization, for instance. Today, I see that, as a concept, it was not bad. Yes, I recognize that some changes were necessary. Pinochet was able to do it because he had absolute power. I believe that, in a democracy, we have to search for mechanisms that can convince other people of the need to do something. To be successful, political processes have to count on the will of citizenship and, therefore, I prefer democracy.

GV: Do you believe that the transition to democracy in Chile is complete, or will it be necessary to wait for Pinochet’s death?

Bachelet: It is complete, but it is not perfect. We have pending tasks. We need to reform the electoral system, to acknowledge the identity of the indigenous peoples, to promote a deeper administrative decentralization, just to mention some of the problems. This is why I say that we are in an achieved but imperfect democracy.

GV: Some governments, like Brazil’s, have adopted a firm stance against ALCA (the Spanish acronym for the free-trade area proposed by the United States). What is your government’s position?

Bachelet: There are many differences inside the American continent, and they are reflected in the construction of a series of regional structures, such as the Mercosur (a trade agreement among South American countries). Each one of these countries has different tax and customs structures and legislation. I was present when President Lagos introduced, during the meeting in Mar del Plata, his thesis that we could move, at least, towards a kind of basic ALCA. The necessary requirements for this have already been met by most countries. After that, little by little, we could see how to improve the levels of integration and the agreements, always respecting the diversity and the differences between the countries.

GV: In your opinion, the Unites States is a menace or a partner?

Bachelet: We, the Chileans, have a goodrelationship with the United States. We managed to sign very good commercialagreements with them. Our free-trade treaty is doing very well. On the otherhand, we share common values with the Americans, such as democracy, respect forhuman rights and the option for an open world. We are going to maintain thissmooth relationship with the United States, under the logic of a relation offriendship in what unites us, and a relation of independence andautonomy in relation to foreign policy whenever Chile considers that it has adifferent position.

(c) 2006, VIEJA/Global Viewpoint
Distributed by Tribune Media Services, INC.(Distributed APRIL 24, 2006)