Chile's Boric sworn in as president in sharp political shift

[peppertree]

Chilean leftist Gabriel Boric, 36, was sworn in as president on Friday, marking the sharpest shift in the Andean country's politics since its return to democracy three decades ago after the bloody dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

At the Congress building in the port city of Valparaiso, Boric, a tattooed former protest leader and lawmaker, took the presidential sash from outgoing billionaire President Sebastián Piñera, making him the country's youngest ever elected leader.

The leader of a broad leftist coalition including Chile's communist party, he has vowed to overhaul a market-led economic model to fight inequality that sparked violent protests in 2019, though he as moderated his fiery rhetoric in recent months.

The copper-producing country is also in the midst of redrafting its Pinochet-era Constitution, which supporters credit for underpinning growth - but has also been blamed for stoking inequality that led to months-long violent protests that gripped Chile in 2019.

At: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/hope-uncertainty-chile-shifts-left-under-boric-2022-03-11/

Chile's new President Gabriel Boric thanks attendees at his inaugural today, as his predecessor Sebastián Piñera applauds.

Boric, who defeated far-right candidate (and son of a Nazi fugitive) José Kast by 12% last November, has pledged to reform healthcare and pension systems many in Chile believe mostly benefits higher-income families.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Chile's president hears indigenous people's concerns on first day in office

By AFP
Published March 12, 2022

On his first day in office, Chile’s president broke new ground by participating in a ceremony with indigenous peoples at the presidential palace before attending mass in Santiago’s cathedral.

Seated in the center of a circle in a courtyard at the presidential palace, Gabriel Boric and the First Lady, Irina Karamanos, listened one by one to concerns and wishes from representatives of seven indigenous tribes.

“Generating intercultural work and a new relation between the government and indigenous peoples is vital to the construction of a just and dignified Chile,” Boric, 36, tweeted after the ceremony.

In a statement, the president’s office said the ceremony “is part of a new conception of the territory as plurinational where respect, dialogue and participation will be emphasized.”

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/chiles-president-hears-indigenous-peoples-concerns-on-first-day-in-office/article#ixzz7NOaUGZbP

[Judi Lynn]

2. Boric sworn in as Chile's youngest-ever President: "Violation of Human Rights will never happen agai

Saturday, March 12th 2022 - 10:43 UTC

Quoting Salvador Allende and with a message for Latin American leaders to work together, Gabriel Boric Font addressed the people in his first speech as head of state from the iconic balcony of the Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago, Chile. At age 36, Boric was sworn in Friday as Chile's youngest ever President during e ceremony many regarded as the beginning of a new era.

The leftwing Boric was not wearing a tie, unlike all of his predecessors. Decades ago, Allende was the first not to wear a tailcoat for his inauguration.

“Where we are speaking today, yesterday missiles were coming in.And that can never again be repeated in our history”, said the new president from La Moneda, where he made a brief historical review of the historical events that took place there.

The new President said that “before the people and the peoples of Chile, I do promise” to preserve the independence of the nation and to keep the Constitution, as stipulated by law.

More:
https://en.mercopress.com/2022/03/12/boric-sworn-in-as-chile-s-youngest-ever-president-violation-of-human-rights-will-never-happen-again