LEFTIST LATIN AMERICA: Chile, the Success Story

Socialists, leftists, what have you, in Chile, they’re nothing new. What’s fascinating is that Chile is the country with perhaps the most successful economic relationship with the U.S. of any country in South America.

The former president Ricardo Lagos, and Michelle Bachelet, who just took over the country in March, have ruled the country with the same socialist party for 16 years. Jorge Castañeda has called Chile “a true model for the region.” Chile has recovered from horrible atrocities only 30 years ago, is smart about its economics and hardly kowtows to the U.S., yet still managed to keep the gringos on her side.

Lagos was a kind of free trade master. He signed agreements with the European Community, the U.S., South Korea, China and others. It figures, as he was an economic whiz-kid who wrote a thesis in 1960 that earned him the appellation from La Nación as “The Mozart of the economy.” His reforms reduced inflation after a millennium recession, and in 2005 the Chilean economy grew at an impressive 6.3%.

Bachelet is the country’s first female president. Since taking office, she’s instituted free health care for the elderly and recently dealt with massive student protests by addressing the nation and instituting measures to appease their requests: education for the poor.

Why Chile stands out as a success story in light of radical leaders like Morales and Chavez’s rise to power is that Chile has engineered a balance between its own economy, and more importantly, its infrastructure (education, housing and healthcare) while standing firm against Washington. The country vocally opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, yet did not suffer the kinds of repercussions often expected of such actions.

(Photo of Bachelet from Wikipedia.)

Comments

[Carlos]

Just a small clarification: The reference to Mr. Lagos is quite misleading.

The thesis Mr. Lagos wrote back in the 1960s dealt with the idea of how and why the State should run the entire economy and expropriate private ownership. I don't think Mr. Lagos would be proud of himself and writting anything like the thesis of the reference nowadays.

Being educated at Duke University in the U.S. and learning what free enterprise and free market can do to a country made him who he is now.

I convey my appreciation to all the American professors that taught Chilean socialists that their socialist dream never worked and never will.

Real democracy and free market are the tools that lead to success.

[Boli-Nica]

Chile had good economic management as well as a well established democratic tradition. Pinochet pretty much killed democracy for a decade, and destroyed the independence of the judiciary for a decade and a half, and the country was polarized by Allende.
But, the institutional underpinnings were there.

[digital dissertations]

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