Chileans Vote to Step Back from the Socialist Brink

Daniel RaisbeckBack in August of 2022, I  wrote about how a  small band of sanctimonious, sophomoric malcontents had—astoundingly—taken over the Chilean state. President Gabriel Boric, who was elected to his country’s highest office in 2021 at the age of 35, had assembled a team of former student activists. Since the early 2010’s, their main contri bution to Chilean society had consisted of leading numerous protests against the country’ssoi disant“neoliberal” model. First, it was against school choice and profit in the education sector. Then it was against the private pension system. Finally, in 2019,mild fare hikes for the Santiago metro led to some of the most violent riots in Latin America ’s recent history, euphemistically labeled a “social outburst” in the media.With80 metro stations partially or fully destroyed,dozens of toll booths incinerated, andeven churches set on fire, then president Sebasti án Piñera, nominally of the center‐​right, capitulated. He met with left‐​wing parliamentarians, Boric among them, andagreed to hold a  referendum on whether to summon a new constitutional assembly. When the vote was held in October of 2020, the option to get rid of Chile’s current constitution won with an overwhelming 78 percent of the vote.At the time, it seemed that Chileans had needlessly committed an absurd act of self ‐​harm. After all, the constitution was originally ratified in 1980, under the Pinochet regime, but it was amended...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs