The Presidential Handoff in Chile: Goodbye Bachelet, Hello Piñera, Let the Earth Shake

 Piñera, his camera smirk/smile, and myself at Vendemia Santa Cruz

For the first time in over 50 years a member of Chile’s right wing alianza took the oath of office yesterday after being elected and the earth shook below. A billionaire airline tycoon, Sebastián Piñera, is now the president of Chile. But the entire changing of the guard has been overshadowed by the seismic activity. The big presidential hand off was no exception.

At about 11.30 am yesterday morning a 6.9 (also reported in the Chilean press as a 7.2 “aftershock” struck with a an epicenter near the coastline south of Valparaiso. It hit right as Piñera was taking his oath of office, and not too far away.

A tsunami warning was issued immediately afterwards the earthquake and people scrambled to higher ground. Taller buildings in Santiago were evacuated.

What a day to take office. But then again having to deal with a 8.8 earthquake in the last few days of office isn’t exactly an attractive proposition either.

Piñera’s assumption of president is rather significant. Chile’s right wing parties and the alliance the have formed, the Renovacion Nacional and the Union Democratica Independiente, haven’t had power since Pinochet was in control. But Piñera beat Eduardo Frei, with a pretty solid margin.

Piñera managed to win the election despite a high approval rating of Bachelet. The Concertación, the three center left group is made of three parities. The PPD, PS and the DC, wasn’t able to cash in on this popularity and the relatively smooth handling of a global financial crisis.

Piñera is a very wealthy man. He controls minority and majority stakes in some of Chile’s largest companies, among them the airlines LAN Chile, Chile’s most popular (and infamous) football team Colo Colo. He controls TVN, one of the largest Chilean broadcasters. His total wealth is somewhere up there around USD 1 billion.

His success as a business man has garnered him a lot of respect from many Chileans, not surprising considering the country’s now stable love of free market policies, even if they were instilled into the national character at gunpoint.

But Piñera’s name has also arisen in several investigations. He was fined in 2007 for using insider information to his benefit to sell stocks. Probably more dubious was his connection to the default of the Banco de Talca in 1982, while Piñera was general manager. He was cleared of wrong doing by the government, at that time the dictatorship that he supported.

Piñera’s 2010 campaign took on a mix of Obama’s “change” with some old fashioned Pat Buchanan or Ronny Reagan tough on crime talking points. In the end it was his positioning as the candidate of change that allowed him to win. The incumbent Concertación was not able to produce a new candidate, rather relied on an ex president, Eduardo Frei, who now is at best an elderly statesman. Despite the popularity that Bachelet enjoyed, it wasn’t enough to convince people that the status quo was the line to walk.

Personally I have some sort of distrust of Piñera. I don’t trust him to make good decisions as a statesman. Too much time as a shrewd businessman can skew one’s sense of public good. I’m not saying that just because one is a successful businessman they are somehow corrupt or evil. Hardly. But when one already has all the money and plenty of influence, what exactly is it about being president that they feel they lack? The influence? Is he into the idea of himself as some sort of guru? Some sort of neo-liberal Chavez? I can’t trust the guy. But in the end I think this is what happens when a political party has been in power too long, even if democratically elected. It entrenches the bureaucracy, the stale institutionalism that is all too prevalent in Chile. It does need a serious shaking up.

I actually met Sebastían Piñera once last year. I had been drinking wine at the Santa Cruz Vendemia (wine grape harvest) Festival and he ran up to shake hands. I snapped a foto of him. He looks much different in person, much shorter and smaller than on TV. His head is a bit too big and his arms really long. I think if we wrestled I could pin him no problem. But that’s besides the point right?

So here we are. The era of Piñera. Lets see how he handles this mess and devastation these earthquakes have left.

The Big Day

Today is the day. This is a huge election and such a crazy and unstable time. I think Obama is who we need to start the healing process of the last eight years, it won't be easy. It sounds like an awful job to have in fact, but I think he will move us in the right direction.

Five Years

Nothing to do with Chile, but worth mentioning anyways. Its been five years since the US invaded Iraq. Feel safer?

Reuters has put together a multimedia site telling some of the stories that its staff has experienced and witnessed over these last five years.

Chile In Headlines: Chile cracks down on Gringo "illegals"

The Chilean Interior department has deported three US citizens for working illegally in Chile as fly fishing guides in Aisén, located in the far south of the country.

According to a report in Emol the three gringos didn't have a work permit and weren't paying taxes either.

This comes right after the same department wrapped up an amnesty campaign for Latin American foreigners, granting thousands of visas to Peruvians, Ecudorians, Brazilians, etc, but not to US citizens.

In the Headlines: Bachelet calls on Colombia to explain itself after weekend attack on the FARC in Ecuador

So the political drama unfolding between Colombia and its neighbors has been at the center of attention in Chile, where the country’s President Michelle Bachelet called on the Colombian government to explain its actions following an attack on FARC rebels that spilled over into Ecuadorian territory.

According to a report on El Mercurio’s site, Bachelet spoke with other leaders in South America and is ready in intervene as an intermediary to resolve the conflict. She called it “worrisome” and said that Colombia owes Ecuador an explanation as to how and why it crossed into its territory.

If you missed it, Colombia bombed a FARC camp located about 2km into Ecuadorian territory on Saturday, killing the FARC’s #2 man: Luis Edgar Devia, aka "Raúl Reyes." The FARC have long been suspected of hiding out in Ecuador and Venezuela to escape the Colombia military.

The attack generated strong reactions from Hugo Chavez, who has recently clashed with Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe over negotiations to free FARC held hostages. Chavez warned Uribe that it would be war if he did the same in Venezuela started amassing troops at the border. He also accused the US as having backed the attack as well.

Colombia had a shot at one of its enemy’s at it took it despite the potential fall out that we are seeing today. Authorities in the US have accused Venezuela of providing shelter to the FARC to conduct their kidnappings and use as a corridor for drug trafficking, something Chavez has denied. Granted I wouldn’t expect Colombia to take any aggressive action. Let’s hope cooler heads prevail at this point.

Alberto what were you thinking?

So have you heard of Alberto Fujimori? The ex-President of Peru, he stands accused of several human rights violations in the land that he once ruled, excesses of power during his 10-year rule that ended in 2000 with him fleeing to his ancestral land of Japan.

BUT HE CAME BACK!

Despite the risk of falling in the hands of Peruvian authorities he showed up in Chile in November 2005 and was detained by authorities here in Santiago. An expedition process was started soon after, and he now awaits the final word of a judge who has already received a report recommending his extradition.

The question remains, what did he have up his sleeve? He is not stupid, Fujimori had to have known that he could and would fall into the hands of Chilean authorities. So there is plenty of speculation and rumors surrounding this.

But just when it couldn’t get much stranger, a Japanese political party announces that he will be there candidate for the Japanese senate in an election to be held on July 29! Now, they are claiming “political persecution” against Fujimori from his political enemies in Lima.

What still is not clear however, is exactly what was on this guy’s mind when he thought leaving a sheltered exile in Japan to make another run for Peru! In the meantime, he is under house arrest in his country home, which is far nicer than my apartment.